Throughout 2020, Coloradans have flocked to local newsrooms for vital news and information on the most pressing public health, economic, and social issues of our time. Perhaps never before have local newsrooms been so clearly center stage as an essential public service -- providing potentially life-saving information and accountability journalism on the evolving COVID public health and economic crises, and holding a mirror to our communities in a national reckoning for racial justice.
For these reasons and more, Colorado Media Project is excited to announce that this year, in partnership with the Colorado News Collaborative (COLab), News Revenue Hub and NewsMatch, our year-end #newsCOneeds campaign will become an ecosystem-wide, public awareness-building opportunity for Colorado newsrooms to join forces to amplify the positive impacts they are making in their communities, and to build trust in and support for their local public-service journalism. Colorado newsrooms selected for the cohort will work with COLab and News Revenue Hub to co-create messaging, graphics, and collateral.
In addition, CMP will offer $5,000 matching grants to selected nonprofit and locally-owned Colorado newsrooms, in collaboration with the national NewsMatch campaign. Applications are due by 5 p.m. MT on Monday, September 28.
NOTE: Newsrooms should submit only one of the above applications;
nonprofit and locally-owned Colorado newsrooms eligible for a grant will apply through the grants portal at Rose Community Foundation, CMP’s fiscal agent.
All other newsrooms will apply through a Google form. To complete the application offline, a downloadable pdf version is available here.
Full details for the #newsCOneeds awareness campaign and matching challenge are here, including eligibility information, participation and reporting requirements, meetings and project timeline, rules for meeting the match, and additional support offered to participants via CMP, COLab, and News Revenue Hub. Here is a quick link to frequently asked questions.
While more people have tuned into local news in 2020, the financial crisis has further weakened local newsrooms, especially those most dependent on local advertising. Yet seven in 10 Americans still believe that their local news outlets are doing “very or somewhat well financially,” and only 14% are currently paying for local news, according to a new Pew Research survey.
Building trust and greater transparency with audiences is often the first step to deeper engagement and sustained membership for local newsrooms. Recent research has shown that most Americans desire a deeper personal connection to their local news, but often don’t feel like they have one. While American skepticism of the media runs deep, local journalists can increase transparency and trust by explaining to readers how their newsroom works, and how editorial and financial decisions are made.
The #newsCOneeds campaign aims to help reverse these trends -- and build trust and support for local news. The public awareness and year-end fundraising campaign will launch on Giving Newsday (a.k.a. Giving Tuesday, December 1) and Colorado newsrooms selected to receive a matching grant will have until Dec. 31 to raise at least $5,000 from individual supporters (in gifts of $1,000 or less) to meet the match.
Questions? Here’s audio from the recorded session and access the slide deck.
CMP’s 2020 #newsCOneeds matching challenge is made possible by a $25,000 grant from Delta Dental of Colorado Foundation and unrestricted support to CMP from Bohemian Foundation, Democracy Fund, and Gates Family Foundation. CMP’s fiscal sponsor, Rose Community Foundation, is providing oversight and administration for the funds.
CMP’s year-end matching challenge launched in 2018, when seven Colorado newsrooms participated in a first-ever joint appeal to readers – which raised nearly $50,000 for local news from about 300 people in a single day.
Last year, 18 local outlets came together to brainstorm ways to leverage 2019 #GivingNewsDay and the year-end giving season, in order to increase individual donations at each outlet – while also amplifying the vital role that community support plays in sustaining high-quality local news in Colorado. We checked in with several of members of the 2019 cohort about their experiences in the matching challenge.
For questions about the 2020 #newsCOneeds awareness campaign or the matching gift challenge, please email Philip Clapham.
Foundations and major donors who wish to contribute to the matching fund, please email CMP Acting Director Melissa Davis.
