As more local newsrooms pursue philanthropy as one way to sustain essential journalism, these fundraising novices could apply lessons from their colleagues on the sales side of the media business when it comes to overcoming common objections from funders.
Since 2020, the LMA Lab for Journalism Funding, with continued support from Google News Initiative, has trained more than 100 newsrooms in best practices and strategies for supporting local news via philanthropy. Those newsrooms have collectively raised more than $24 million to support local journalism. This year, LMA formed partnerships in both Pennsylvania and Colorado to add state-specific cohorts of the fundraising lab, and by the end of 2024 will have trained 150 newsrooms. Here are some of the lessons those newsrooms have learned about the most common funder objections and the best ways to respond to those concerns.
1. ‘We don’t fund journalism.’
If you’ve dedicated your career to journalism, you probably take for granted that journalism is essential to civic health and democracy itself. News organizations new to philanthropy can be shocked to hear funders say, in so many words, they don’t see that same value.
In reality, despite an increase in philanthropic support for journalism, data from Media Impact Funders suggest that, as of 2022, only about 7 percent of philanthropy goes to journalism. So, in fact, most funders don’t directly support journalism.
One good response to this objection: Reframe the conversation to be less bound by the specific term “journalism” and instead talk about the role journalism plays in a community and the positive effects of trusted, accessible local journalism.
The term itself may turn off or even scare funders. But most funders, whatever their priority, care deeply about civic health, engaged communities, trustworthy information and ways to reach audiences with both accurate and actionable information. Those are all outputs and effects of journalism, and that’s a way to start a conversation about the shared outcome goals of journalism and philanthropy.
2. ‘Our philanthropy is focused on supporting a different issue.’
Whatever your first issue, journalism should be your second — because that’s how people find out about it. Outgoing Knight Foundation CEO Alberto Ibarguen made this compelling argument at Knight Media Forum in Spring of 2023 and it really can’t be said better or more plainly.
It is common for funders to have an area of focus — health, social justice, education, climate change. Usually, it’s a matter of just asking: “How do people find out about the good work that you are doing in this area?” and that question alone connects the dots in ways that enable funders to easily see the essential role of journalism in informing people in a community about not just their issue but all kinds of need-to-know issues.
Trusted, local information sources with established ability to reach large audiences, put information in context and make it actionable — that’s what journalism adds as a “second priority” to ensure a funder achieves impact with its first priority.
3. ‘We fund only nonprofits, not for-profits.’
This objection was once more common. But a NORC survey in 2023 found that, while about two-thirds of funders still “preferred” to support nonprofit news outlets, 38% also supported for-profit news organizations.
The reason is that, more and more, all of us who are working hard on the sustainability of healthy local news ecosystems have come to recognize that nonprofit/for-profit is a tax status, not a business model.
As Steve Waldman of Rebuild Local News has noted, the most important feature of a local news organization is not its tax status, it is the news outlet’s track record and capacity for civic journalism. Does it have a trusted brand? Does it have a track record of holding the powerful to account? Does it have the kind of audience reach that ensures its reporting will have impact? Answering these questions in the affirmative says far more about a news outlet’s potential for positive impact than their tax status. And impact is what funders care about — or should care about — most.
4. ‘We don’t know how to give money to for-profits, even if we wanted to.’
Newsrooms in early cohorts of the LMA Lab for Journalism Funding encountered this objection frequently. When The Seattle Times was one of the very few for-profit newsrooms that had secured philanthropic support for journalism, most local community foundations and funders quite honestly did not know how to structure an agreement with a for-profit news organization.
Several years later, there is now much more institutional knowledge about how to structure these agreements responsibly and legally, thanks to the willingness of The Seattle Times, Central Valley Community Foundation in California, Wichita Community Foundation in Kansas and others who have generously shared their learnings. A number of organizations (Local Media Foundation included) are also able to serve in the intermediary role as fiscal sponsor to ensure all funds are spent in service of the public good.
This objection, therefore, can really be heard as an ask for help. Many peer funders are now willing to share with other funders the “how” to enable support for essential local reporting that serves civic health.
5. ‘Large journalism funders are already solving this need, so we’re not necessary.’
There is no question that a few national funders like the Knight Foundation and MacArthur Foundation have played a vital role in supporting and sustaining journalism for years at both the national and local level.
At the same time, whenever these national funders speak with cohorts of the LMA Lab for Journalism Funding, they stress that national funders cannot and will not be a magic bullet, especially for local news outlets. For news organizations that are located in the communities they serve, those local relationships and the local support of place-based funders are essential. In fact, a national funder reviewing an application from a local news outlet will typically start by asking: “Who supports you locally in your community?”
Indeed, leaders of the Press Forward initiative have publicly suggested that in the long run, the most sustainable effect of the initiative may turn out to be the creation of a series of local Press Forward chapters, emphasizing the importance of local philanthropic support as the foundation for sustaining local news outlets.
So, in truth, local funding support is foundational to sustaining a healthy local news ecosystem.
6. ‘We have allocated all our funding for this quarter/year.’
As LMA’s co-CEO Nancy Lane would say: “This [objection] is a buying signal!”
A funder that tells you its budget is spent for the quarter or for the year may of course be using that as an excuse to avoid saying “no.” But it is important to notice the funder is not saying “no,” only, in effect, “not right now.”
A news outlet that encounters this objection can use that moment as an opportunity to learn more about the timing of the organization’s funding cycles, whether those are open-call or by invitation applications, the types of supporting materials that might be helpful, and to solicit any input or feedback about how to re-approach the funder at the right time.
As the saying goes: “Ask for advice and you might get money.”
So if the worst objection you encounter is that you’re making a good ask but at the wrong time, take that as an opportunity to learn more about getting the timing and format of your ask to align with the needs of the funder.
Any objection is in fact an opportunity — it’s a lesson journalists can learn from their colleagues in sales. A news outlet seeking philanthropic support can use objections to engage more deeply with funders, help funders better understand the broad value of local journalism to civic health and engagement, and explore ways to structure funding relationships that meet the requirements of both the news organization and the funder so that, in partnership, they can better serve their communities.
For more information on building philanthropic revenue as a pillar, download the free industry report Pathways to Philanthropy here.
For more information on building an advanced fundraising strategy, down the free industry report Sustaining Philanthropy for Journalism here.