Local foundation leaders from the Colorado Media Project Funder Table will co-chair
Press Forward Colorado, as part of a nationwide campaign to strengthen local news
Today five Colorado foundations are jointly announcing their involvement in a nationwide philanthropic campaign to catalyze a local news renaissance over the next five years and re-center local journalism as a force for community cohesion, civic participation, and government accountability.
The Colorado Health Foundation, The Colorado Trust, Gates Family Foundation, The Gill Foundation, and Rose Community Foundation have stepped forward to lead Press Forward Colorado as a local affiliate of the nationwide Press Forward initiative. Most of these foundations have been pooling funds since 2020 through the Colorado Media Project, a community-informed philanthropic initiative launched in 2018 and housed at Rose. As the “home” of Press Forward Colorado, CMP will expand its efforts to introduce more place-based funders to the value of investing in local journalism.
“In Colorado and beyond, more funders and policymakers are recognizing that for community members to be engaged in solving the most important challenges facing our communities — from public education to healthcare, from affordable housing to wealth building, from water sustainability to climate resiliency — they need reliable access to verifiable, trustworthy, independent sources of credible information,” said Press Forward Colorado co-chair Taryn Fort, Senior Director of Communications for The Colorado Health Foundation. “Through Press Forward Colorado, we aim to expand the tent for community-based and statewide funders to make a positive impact in our communities, by joining forces to support a healthier and more inclusive ecosystem of trusted local news and civic information providers.”
Launched in September 2023 by a coalition of national funders and donors, Press Forward announced an initial commitment of $500 million to revitalize local news over the next five years. In November 2023, Press Forward leaders announced an initial group of six local chapters, which are anchored and driven by local funders but operate as affiliates of the national initiative with shared goals and funding priorities.
Today at the annual Knight Media Forum in Miami, Colorado funders are joining philanthropic leaders from Lancaster, Pa., Lexington, Ky., Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, South Florida and Wyoming in the expanding network of Press Forward local chapters to 17.
“The challenge of rebuilding America’s local news landscape is vast, and will depend on multi-layered solutions at the local and national level,” said Dale Anglin, Press Forward Director. “Press Forward Locals are critical to our success. These leaders are closest to their communities and can identify authentic approaches for their cities and states.”
Press Forward offers Locals a suite of support to help them succeed. For example, the initiative also announced Wednesday that Press Forward Locals can now apply up to $250,000 in Catalyst Funds to accelerate local work. In addition, the national Press Forward Pooled Fund will have multiple open calls through 2024, with the first opening in April, in one or more Press Forward priority areas.
As the home of Press Forward Colorado, the Colorado Media Project will continue to pool funds at Rose and offer open-access grant opportunities that are designed to address urgent opportunities within Colorado’s innovative and collaborative local news ecosystem:
Advancing Equity in Local News Fund: Since 2020, CMP has made 97 grants totaling $1,813,090 to build and sustain an inclusive local news ecosystem that reflects and serves Colorado’s diverse communities of color, non-English speaking residents, and rural residents. In 2024, CMP’s Advancing Equity cohort includes 27 Colorado newsrooms, journalists, and media entrepreneurs who are launching new projects and strengthening existing efforts which you can read about here.
Ecosystem Innovation & Sustainability Fund: One of CMP’s founding objectives is to be a catalyst for building a more collaborative, sustainable, and responsive local news ecosystem. Through this fund, CMP supports initiatives such as #newsCOneeds (which since 2018 has provided matching grants to dozens of newsrooms for use in their local fundraising campaigns), the Colorado Trust for Local News (which purchases and modernizes independent, community newspapers to keep local news in local hands), the Colorado News Collaborative (a resource and collaboration hub for newsrooms statewide), and a new statewide community engagement initiative led by newsrooms across Colorado with support from Rocky Mountain Public Media, CSU’s Center for Public Deliberation, and the Colorado Press Association.
Spotlight: Colorado Fund for Accountability Journalism: This new fund is being co-designed with the state’s leading nonprofit and public newsrooms to support more investigative and deep-dive journalism that originates from smaller newsrooms operating at the community level. Funders can contribute to the new CMP pooled fund at Rose Community Foundation, which will offer open-access grant opportunities to support projects that shed new light on critical issues and have the potential to catalyze positive change in our institutions and communities. A committee of journalists and First Amendment experts will review applications and recommend grants, and also provide coaching, editing, legal support, and/or technical assistance to grantees.
“We are proud to serve as the fiscal sponsor for CMP and Press Forward Colorado,” said Sarah Kurz, Chief Impact Officer at Rose Community Foundation. “This is an incredible expansion of CMP’s role as a catalyst, funder and advocate for innovations that make Colorado’s local news ecosystem more sustainable and collaborative.”
New Commitments to CMP Fuel Transformative Impact
In addition to joining the nationwide Press Forward campaign, several longstanding members of CMP’s funder coalition — including the two Press Forward Colorado co-chairs — recently made or will make new multi-year funding commitments to fuel CMP’s next phase:
Democracy Fund committed $800,000 over three years (2023-2025)
The Colorado Health Foundation committed $900,000 over three years (2023-2025)
Gates Family Foundation plans to commit $900,000 over three years (2025-2027)
Press Forward Colorado leaders aim to build on this momentum throughout 2024 and beyond, seeking new commitments from peers across the state — either by contributing to CMP’s pooled funds, making grants directly to vital statewide and community-based newsrooms across Colorado, or via aligned funding to support “big bet” initiatives and transformational change.
In addition to grantmaking, in 2024 and beyond CMP will advance Press Forward's objectives to grow the field of philanthropic and public funding for local journalism by convening monthly meetings where funders — local and national foundations, public funders, and impact investors — can hear directly from media innovators across Colorado and the U.S., strategize together via a peer-funder network, and leverage resources via pooled funds and aligned funding to address big issues that extend beyond any single newsroom, organization, topic, sector or community.
“You don’t have to be a journalism or media funder to join Press Forward Colorado,” said Melissa Milios Davis, CMP Director and Vice President for Informed Communities at the Denver-based Gates Family Foundation. “Whatever issues your foundation cares about most — reliable information from trusted sources on that topic is vital. Even small contributions can be put to work by joining our funder coalition. Through this peer-to-peer network, our goal is to unlock new and untapped support for public-service newsrooms and innovative initiatives in Colorado that have the potential to transform our state’s local news and civic information ecosystem within the next five years.”
“The pivotal role of hyperlocal journalism, by virtue of its trusted news sources, stands as a cornerstone in sustaining the vibrant tapestry of community life,” said Johanna Ulloa Girón, Advocacy Program Manager for The Colorado Trust. “Moreover, when journalism centers voices that have historically been sidelined, it not only bolsters the pillars of our democracy but also paves the way for the advancement of health equity and civic engagement.”
Among the group of 11 new local chapters announced today, four local chapters (CO, NC, NJ, and NM) were originally launched as partnerships between local funders and Democracy Fund, a national foundation that champions an ecosystem approach to funding local news.
An October 2023 Democracy Fund impact report on its funded sites recognized Colorado as poised for systemic change, after more than five years of CMP efforts to support the field through convening stakeholders, identifying needs, aligning priorities, building capacity & infrastructure, and mobilizing resources.
For more information about Press Forward Colorado, contact Melissa Milios Davis at mdavis@gatesfamilyfoundation.org or Taryn Fort at tfort@ColoradoHealth.org. For more information about the Colorado Media Project, contact Sam Moody at sam@coloradomediaproject.com.