Colorado Media Project is pleased to announce one of two new 2025 grant opportunities for local Colorado newsrooms. The 2025 Newsroom Sustainability Grant supports projects that strengthen newsroom financial, staffing, and operational sustainability in Colorado. Applications are open now, and the deadline to apply for this grant is 5pm Mountain Time, Monday, June 30, 2025. CMP will be hosting an information session about this grant opportunity via Zoom on Friday, June 13, 2025, from 10:00-10:45 a.m.
Background and Purpose
Sustainability is the core issue facing local newsrooms in Colorado. Our communities rely on resource-constrained newsrooms and journalists to provide vital local coverage and civic information. While best practices, tools and strategies for diversifying revenue streams, growing ad and donation-based revenues, and cutting newsroom costs are increasingly available to the industry, implementing them requires start-up investments of staff time and money that many local newsrooms can’t afford, while also keeping up with the daily news.
Colorado Media Project is currently accepting proposals for projects to strengthen newsroom financial, staffing, and operational sustainability in Colorado. The Newsroom Sustainability Grant will provide project-specific funding for sustainability initiatives, including staff roles, technology investments, and revenue-generating and cost-saving initiatives.
CMP will prioritize proposals that could be expected to generate sufficient revenue and/or cost savings to increase overall operational sustainability, and that demonstrate how the initial one-year projects funded by this grant are integrated into the organization’s broader plans for long-term sustainability beyond grant funding.
This opportunity is made possible through generous contributions from The Colorado Trust, Gates Family Foundation, The Colorado Health Foundation, Rose Community Foundation, Press Forward, and Democracy Fund to CMP’s Community News Innovation and Sustainability Fund.
Newsroom Sustainability Grant Application Deadline
The application deadline for CMP’s Newsroom Sustainability Grant is 5pm Mountain Time, Monday, June 30, 2025.
Newsroom Sustainability Grant Amounts
CMP anticipates awarding one-year grants ranging from $30,000-$50,000 from the 2025 Newsroom Sustainability Grant Opportunity for sustainability, revenue-generating, and/or cost-saving investments serving Colorado newsrooms. Funding will support projects running from August 2025 - July 2026.
Who May Apply for a Newsroom Sustainability Grant?
Applicants must meet all of the following requirements:
In operation and publishing since at least 01/01/2023
A commitment to editorial excellence, editorial independence, and transparency
Located in Colorado and/or projects must primarily serve Colorado communities
Have completed the 2025 Colorado Local News Survey administered by the Colorado Local News Collaborative (COLab). Please contact Alison Cooper at alison@colabnews.co for more information.
Applicants can be:
501(c)(3) nonprofit newsrooms and organizations
University or college student newsrooms producing original reporting that is community-facing
For-profit organizations with an established 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor
Note: fiscal sponsorship is not required for for-profits to apply, only to complete the contract if approved. Fiscal sponsorships are readily available to Colorado newsrooms from the Colorado News Collaborative (COLab). Please contact Alison Cooper at alison@colabnews.co for more information.
Collaborative Applications to the Newsroom Sustainability Grant:
CMP encourages collaborative applications, including shared revenue-generating, cost-saving, or staff and service-sharing sustainability initiatives that would impact multiple newsrooms. CMP will accept one application per involved newsroom, collaborative or individual - so please do not submit an individual application if you are also a part of a collaborative application.
Newsroom Sustainability Grant Application Process and Timeline:
May 19, 2025: Announcement of Open Call
June 30, 2025: Application due date
July 1 - July 31, 2025: Application review process
August 6, 2025: Grant decision notifications sent
August 13, 2025: Signed grant contracts (and for-profit fiscal sponsorship verifications) due
August 14, 2025: Grantee Cohort Announcement at CMP Summit
July 31, 2026: All grant funds must be expended
August 31, 2026: Final financial report due
Additional Notes
Grantees will be invited to join Colorado Local News ecosystem partners and engage in peer-to-peer learning at the Colorado Press Association Convention on August 14-16, 2025. CMP will provide travel support for grantees.
To apply
To apply for this grant, please create or log into your existing Rose Community Foundation grants portal account, and then select “Colorado Media Project – 2025 Newsroom Sustainability” from the list of available grant opportunities.
If you have any questions about this grant opportunity, issues accessing the Rose Community Foundation portal, or need this application translated into another language, please contact Kimberly Spencer, Colorado Media Project Director, at kimberly@coloradomediaproject.com or 970-213-0408.