In the past year, the team at The Sopris Sun and Sol del Valle have successfully raised over $378,000 to fund local journalism through 18 grants, both solicited and unsolicited. 

It’s not by luck; it’s by design. It’s an upward trend that can be attributed to a strategic combination: a community-driven approach, collaborative partnerships and youth engagement. This remarkable 90% success rate is something Todd Chamberlin, executive director of The Sopris Sun, attributes to carefully aligning grant proposals with their mission and highlighting their proven community impact.

“People are seeing the good we’re doing in the community, and they want to support us,” he said.Founded in 2009 in response to the closure of a local newspaper, The Sopris Sun has grown into a nonprofit weekly newspaper based in Carbondale, Colorado, serving the Roaring Fork and Colorado River Valleys. The Sun was one of 14 news organizations in the Colorado cohort of the LMA Lab for Journalism Funding. , a partnership between Local Media Foundation and Colorado Media Project, with additional funding support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

The cohort completed six months of curriculum with a Pitch Day in December. The Sopris Sun earned first place on Pitch Day.

Its recent success in fundraising can serve as a model for other local media organizations seeking to fund local journalism initiatives. At the heart of this is The Sopris Sun’s mission: to inform, inspire and build community by fostering diverse and independent journalism.

Community focused journalism

The Sopris Sun is deeply rooted in the region it covers. Within this diverse community, approximately 30-40% of the population is Latino. However, this group has long been underserved by local media. In 2021, The Sopris Sun team created a new Spanish-language news product called Sol del Valle to fill that gap. The next year, a partnership blossomed with the Aspen Daily News, who began distributing the content through an expanded standalone product.

“We take the community-based approach to heart,” said Chamberlin.

From that initial partnership grew a larger, regional collaboration. In 2022, eight media organizations serving the Roaring Fork Valley chose Sol del Valle as their collective vehicle for delivering Spanish-language news. Sol del Valle’s first full-time editor was hired thanks to grant funding via Colorado Media Project’s “Advancing Equity in Local News” initiative. 

“Sol del Valle is more than just a news source. It’s a bridge between cultures. We’re giving voice to stories that haven’t been heard before and connecting our community in meaningful ways. It’s inspiring to see how deeply people resonate with the content, and the support we’ve received reflects how important this work is,” said Sol del Valle editor Bianca Godina.

In recognition of its impact, The Sopris Sun received a $100,000 grant from the state of Colorado’s nonprofit support fund. The City of Aspen also awarded $25,000 for the publication’s community-focused work.

“By providing news in Spanish through Sol del Valle, we’re not just filling a coverage gap — we’re empowering a vital segment of our community with the information they need to stay connected and engaged,” Chamberlin added.

Sometimes, when the community’s needs are at the forefront of an organization’s approach, grants come without even applying. A recent unsolicited $20,000 grant came from the Western Colorado Community Foundation’s Colby Fund after Chamberlin delivered a presentation on nonprofit news at a conference. Another $20,000 unsolicited grant from the Rhodes Foundation, which had supported The Sopris Sun previously, was given to the publication to keep their impactful work going.

More collaborative partnerships

Partnerships and collaborations play a pivotal role in The Sopris Sun’s ability to meet its community-driven mission, and funders have taken notice.

The partnership to create Sol del Valle between The Sopris Sun and Aspen Daily News has continued gaining momentum and resulted in two recent grants: a $35,000 local grant from Rose Community Foundation and a $100,000 grant designed to “close persistent coverage gaps in their communities thanks to funding from Press Forward, the nationwide movement to strengthen communities by reinvigorating local news,” according to a Press Forward press release.

Another notable collaboration is the Parachute to Aspen Giving Guide, which The Sopris Sun sponsors through the COGives statewide initiative. Over 95 nonprofits participated in 2024, raising over $1 million. Chamberlin works with each nonprofit to compile the guide, which highlights local organizations and encourages donations. The guide not only sparks giving to local nonprofits, but it also reminds the community that The Sopris Sun, also a nonprofit, is worthy of philanthropic support.

“If we can collaborate, then we are all better off,” said Chamberlin. “When we collaborate and engage with the community, we can create something truly impactful.”

Engagement through a youth journalism program

In 2020, The Sopris Sun responded to the closure of local high school journalism programs by creating a Youth Journalism Program. Students from across the region travel 45 minutes or more to participate in weekly sessions. 

According to the program’s description, The Sopris Sun offers free mentorship in journalism, photography, videography, blogging and cartooning. Thanks to donations, students are paid for their published works that are published in either Sol del Valle or The Sopris Sun. This year, the Aspen Community Foundation awarded a $10,000 grant to support the program.

“We wanted to create an opportunity for young voices to flourish,” Chamberlin said. “We hope to expand this to have programming in other towns.”

If you build it, they will come

As the saying goes. Of course, that’s easier said than done. But The Sopris Sun’s fundraising success does point to an overall strategic approach: Build a foundation based on listening to the needs of the local community, and then create partnerships and solutions to address those needs. Fundraising will follow.

Other grants The Sopris Sun received in the last year include a $20,000 Google News Initiative for participation in the Independent News Network program, a $20,000 Local Independent Online News grant for sustainability, and grants from the Journalism Trust Initiative, the Town of Carbondale, the Brett Family Foundation and even a local thrift store dedicated to supporting nonprofits.

It is clear that funders ranging from local to national want to support a news organization that is grounded in serving the needs of its communities and collaborating strategically.

Want to add your support to the community-focused journalism done by The Sopris Sun and Sol del Valle? Donate here today.