Colorado newsrooms seeking to inform, engage, and build connections and trust with local residents through in-person engagement events can apply for up to $1,500 in credits for hosting at Rocky Mountain Public Media’s new Buell Public Media Center.
Whether it’s a panel discussion on a hot topic, a political debate between candidates for office, or a fundraising event showcasing community impact, in-person events have a special way of connecting audiences to important issues, and to the journalists who cover them. As revenue from advertising continues to decline across the local media sector, in-person events also can become important revenue streams – by selling tickets or sponsorships, and/or leveraging special events as a way of thanking members and contributors.
Gates Family Foundation has seeded the Community Events Fund in order to subsidize COLab tenants and media partners that host community events at RMPM’s new building in downtown Denver. The purpose of the fund is to help newsrooms spotlight important issues, add value to the civic conversation, and in some cases bolster sustainability of the newsrooms themselves.
Here are the details:
Requests of up to $1,500 per event will be considered, and each newsroom may receive no more than one event subsidy per year.
Awards may only be used to subsidize hard costs to RMPM (including staff time and facility use fees, set at 2022 nonprofit rates) and not for other vendors (such as catering).
The fund will accept requests on a rolling basis, with priority given to:
COLab newsroom tenants and partners
Events that have a clear civic or community value, especially those that intentionally reach diverse audiences
Newsrooms that are smaller in size and have fewer resources to put on public events, and/or those that specifically reach underserved communities
Newsrooms that seek to leverage the events to increase membership and/or revenue
RMPM staff vets and approves or declines requests based on these priorities and provides event support to selected newsrooms.
This opportunity will remain open until all funds have been allocated.