Institute for Nonprofit News

Institute for Nonprofit News
Formation2009
Type501(c)(3)
27-2614911
Registration no.C3250040
Membership (2024)
475
Staff
20-30
Websiteinn.org

The Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) is a non-profit consortium of nonprofit journalism organizations. The organization promotes nonprofit investigative and public service journalism. INN facilitates collaborations between member organizations, provides training in best-practices and fundraising, and provides back-office services.[1]

History

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INN was founded as the Investigative News Network in 2009 at a summer conference held at the Pocantico Center in New York with journalists from the Center for Public Integrity and the Center for Investigative Reporting, among other newer organizations. The result of that conference was the Pocantico Declaration with the intent to share resources and collaborate on projects.[2]

Two papers in 2010 described a trend in news media where watchdog journalism was being done increasingly outside of mainstream newsrooms.[3][4]

INN was granted 501(c)(3) nonprofit status by the IRS in March 2012, 19 months after applying.[5]

In November 2014, the board of INN met to conduct a strategic review of the organization. During that meeting the board decided to refine the organization's and to change its name from "Investigative News Network" to the "Institute for Nonprofit News". In March 2015, the board voted to terminate the organization's first CEO, Kevin Davis, and appoint data reporter Denise Malan as the interim CEO while a search was conducted to find a permanent replacement.[6] In September 2015, Sue Cross, formerly a consultant and before that a long-time employee of AP was hired as the new Executive Director and CEO.[7]

Members

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As of November 2024, INN has 475 members,[8] up from 189 in March 2019[9] and 60 in 2011.[10]

In 2023, 48% of newsrooms that applied to become members were accepted, with others not meeting membership standards like editorial independence, quality of journalism and transparency around who funds their work.[11] Most outlets, as of 2023, were focused at the state and local level.[12] A growing number of outlets also reported having volunteers play a significant role.[12] As of February 2024, the median member had 4 staffers and $271,000 in revenue.[13]

Notable national or international members

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Regional or local

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Rural News Network

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As of 2024, the network reported having 80 INN-member newsrooms across 47 states.[14] In 2021, The Associated Press reported on how INN was helping to form The Rural News Network, a collaboration that started with 60 rural nonprofit news organizations[15] before it reported growing to 70 in 2022.[16]

Activities

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As a 501(c)3 non-profit education organization, INN provides coordination, training, support services and financial sponsorship to its membership. It has published educational resources and training materials, including a whitepaper, "Audience Development and Distribution Strategies",[17][better source needed]

In 2011, INN joined the Thomson Reuters media platform.[18]

In 2011, INN also launched the INNovation fund with the Knight Foundation to support experimentalism in nonprofit journalism.[19]

In 2012, INN developed "Project Largo", a WordPress theme and CMS platform for news websites based on NPR's Project Argo that is used by member organizations in New Orleans, Connecticut, Maine, Iowa, Oklahoma and elsewhere.[20][21]

In 2013, INN's CEO Kevin Davis consulted on a nonprofit media working group for the Council on Foundations to produce a report titled "The IRS and Nonprofit Media." The report urges the IRS to update its approach to granting charity status to non-profit journalism organizations.[22]

In 2013, INN member I-News merged with Rocky Mountain PBS and Denver-based NPR affiliate KUVO in what was a first of its kind merger between public broadcasters and INN members.[23]

Since 2016, INN has partnered with NewsMatch, an initiative supported by several national foundations that match donations from individuals to nonprofit news organizations.[24]

In 2021, The New York Times highlighted how communities where local newspapers were shuttering followed INN's playbook for how to start a nonprofit news organization, which it found were becoming more prevalent.[25]

In November 2024, the Institute for Nonprofit News secured press credentials for all of its 475 member organizations in a partnership with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.[8]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Anderson, C. W.; Downie, Leonard; Schudson, Michael (2016). The news media: what everyone needs to know. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 106. ISBN 978-0-19-020619-2.
  2. ^ Houston, Brant (2015-02-20). "21st Century Muckraking: Investigative Reporting Unleashed". Global Investigative Journalism Network. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  3. ^ Hunter, Mark Lee; Van Wassenhove, Luk N. (2010). "Disruptive News Technologies: Stakeholder Media and the Future of Watchdog Journalism Business Models". SSRN Electronic Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.1582324. ISSN 1556-5068.
  4. ^ Houston, Brant (April 2010). "The future of investigative journalism". Daedalus. 139 (2): 45–56. doi:10.1162/daed.2010.139.2.45. ISSN 0011-5266.
  5. ^ Myers, Steve (March 20, 2012). "Investigative News Network gets IRS nonprofit status". Poynter. Archived from the original on April 22, 2012.
  6. ^ Lichterman, Joseph (April 9, 2015). "INN splits with CEO Davis as it refocuses its efforts to promote nonprofit journalism". Nieman Journalism Lab. Retrieved 16 April 2015.
  7. ^ Lichterman, Joseph. "The Institute for Nonprofit News hires Sue Cross, formerly at the AP, as its new CEO". niemanlab.org. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  8. ^ a b Merid, Feven (November 1, 2024). "A New Press Pass Aims to Fix a Broken Credential Landscape". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 2024-11-02.
  9. ^ Hare, Kristen (March 6, 2019). "Spirited Media is selling its three local newsrooms". Current. Poynter. Retrieved March 13, 2019.
  10. ^ Cho, Minhee (2011-08-30). "ProPublica Joins the Investigative News Network". ProPublica. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  11. ^ Scire, Sarah (September 5, 2024). "The Institute for Nonprofit News rejected more than half of newsrooms that applied for membership in 2023". Nieman Lab. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
  12. ^ a b ""Neither feast nor famine": In 2023, nonprofit news continued to grow — but the audience picture is more complicated". Nieman Lab. June 10, 2024. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
  13. ^ "Hundreds of nonprofit newsrooms will get free US election results and graphics from the AP". AP News. 2024-02-14. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  14. ^ "Newsrooms". Rural News Network. Retrieved 2024-06-15.
  15. ^ Bauder, David (2021-11-18). "Independent websites team up to boost rural journalism". AP News. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  16. ^ "The State of Nonprofit News". Institute for Nonprofit News. 2022. Retrieved 2023-08-05.
  17. ^ Newton, Eric. "More recipes for success of nonprofit news ventures" Knight Foundation Blog, 14 March 2012.
  18. ^ "Press Release: Investigative News Network joins the Reuters Media Platform". Reuters. 2011-06-17. Archived from the original on 2011-06-17. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  19. ^ "Investigative News Network » Encyclo » Nieman Journalism Lab". Nieman Lab. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  20. ^ Beatty, Steve (2013-02-15). "Now in our fourth year, The Lens has new website, office, funding". The Lens. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  21. ^ O'Donovan, Caroline (March 5, 2013). "Project Argo, meet Project Largo: Open source code finds new use in the sites of nonprofit news orgs". Nieman Lab. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  22. ^ Waldman, Steven (March 4, 2013). "Opinion: IRS should allow news to evolve: Column". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
  23. ^ Albert, Sarah (25 March 2013). "A Perfect Marriage?". American Journalism Review. Archived from the original on May 15, 2013. Retrieved 2013-09-04.
  24. ^ Scire, Sarah (April 5, 2023). "Local NewsMatch funders outpaced national donors for the first time in 2022". Nieman Lab. Retrieved 2024-11-02.
  25. ^ Seelye, Katharine Q. (2021-06-20). "When the Local Paper Shrank, These Journalists Started an Alternative". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-07-25.
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