Local Media Foundation will launch the 2023 Local News Fund in September 2023 for independent or family-owned news organizations looking to raise money for local journalism projects via tax-deductible donations from the public.

Program overview

The 2023 Local News Fund is a program administered by Local Media Foundation (LMF), a 501(c)(3) organization affiliated with Local Media Association. In this program, LMF will work with independent and family-owned local news organizations on campaigns to solicit tax-deductible donations from their communities. Each news organization will identify one or more critical local issues and, using proceeds from the Local News Fund campaign, execute a journalism project or increased coverage on those issues.

We will use the donation platform Givebutter with which we had great success for our COVID-19 and previous Local News Fund campaigns.

Who can participate

This program is open to any local news organization in the United States that is: 

  • Independent and/or family-owned 
  • A bona fide local news organization, or group of them, in each location for which we set up a Fund campaign. This means:
    • You must be engaged in regular, original news reporting.
    • You must not be predominantly focused on advocacy or opinion content (regardless of point of view) or any other form of non-news content.

Organizations do not have to be Local Media Association members to participate. 

How funds raised may be used

Donations for 2023 Local News Fund campaigns are made to LMF, not directly to participating news organizations. Since LMF is a 501(c)(3) charitable trust, contributions made to support our programs are tax deductible for the donors to the full extent of the law.

Local News Fund proceeds cannot be used for anything other than the stated and approved purpose. Funds can’t be used to subsidize continuing operations; current payrolls; any journalism efforts an organization would provide anyway; political opinions or support for candidates for public office.

Project Focus

For this campaign, each participating organization will select a coverage topic or project focus to which funds raised will be applied. Potential topics and projects include:

  • Climate (ex., local issues, misinformation)
  • Education
  • Healthcare (ex., disparities, COVID-19, mental health services)
  • Investigative reporting
  • Social justice (ex., race, criminal justice, housing segregation, homelessness, poverty, immigration) 

Learn More

Watch the Local News Fund Information Session. Passcode: 75$%G2Zw

You can also learn more by reviewing these Frequently Asked Questions.

Apply

Applications are now open and will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

Questions?

Please contact Terese Kartholl, director of journalism funding initiatives, at terese.kartholl@localmedia.org.