Local community foundations create funds for local news

Report for America has issued a report that identified what it called "a major new trend – the creation of 'Community News Funds' – and outlined how the new funds can be created," Sam Kille reports for Report for America. "The new strategy involves community foundations working in conjunction with local news leaders in creating a single, permanent fund that draws upon donations from multiple sources, to support local news for years to come."

Several case studies in the report show how such funds are making a difference in communities. That matters more than ever when the pandemic has accelerated rural newsroom closures. The seven communities in the report that use variations on the community news fund model have raised $15 million in three years, Kille reports.

In addition to a specifically rural example—the Traverse City Record-Eagle in Michigan—the paper highlights a newsroom that covers statewide issues in Pennsylvania, and one that covers the state's Lancaster County (which has a substantial Amish population).