Delaware Spotlight was one of four organizations to receive funding from the American Journalism Project.
In addition to funding, the venture philanthropy will give the nonprofit news organizations support in growing their revenue, strengthening their organizations, and expanding their local reporting capacity, a release stated.
Since its founding in 2019, AJP has committed $55.3 million to a portfolio of 44 grantee partners, including 40 established news organizations and four concepts under incubation. With these new grantees, AJP’s portfolio represents nearly 20 percent of the Institute for Nonprofit News members focused on local or statewide news.
“We are in the midst of a rebirth in local news across this country, driven by a new generation of local news innovators changing the way we sustain community journalism,” said Sarabeth Berman, CEO of the American Journalism Project. “Each of these organizations have compelling visions for journalism that strengthens their communities. We’re thrilled to partner with them to help them build enduring organizations.”
Since its founding in 2019, AJP has committed $55.3 million to a portfolio of 44 partners, including 40 established news organizations and four concepts. With the newest grants, AJP’s portfolio represents nearly 20 percent of the Institute for Nonprofit News members focused on local or statewide news.
Delaware Spotlight will receive $1 million to launch what is described as a first-of-its-kind collaborative, community-powered nonprofit newsroom for the state. Spotlight Delaware will focus on how public policy affects the daily lives of Delawareans, particularly in underserved communities. Through the new partnership with AJP, Spotlight Delaware will build its founding business team, including development, membership, and operations roles.
Spotlight will be headed by Allison Taylor Levine, founder of the news site. Jacob Owens, formerly with Delaware Business Times will serve as editor
Also receiving funding was Deep South Today – ($2 million) to build business infrastructure that will support the growth of local newsrooms across the Deep South.; Grist ($925,000) to increase the volume of climate journalism in local communities, and New York Focus ($1.5 million) to support the expansion of its statewide coverage on issues affecting residents.
The American Journalism Project will provide each of these organizations with venture support, coaching, peer learning and capacity building. Over the three-year grant period, these local news organizations will be able to reinvest their increased revenue back into the newsroom to expand their ability to do more original reporting. AJP’s first group of recipients grew their combined revenue by $15 million over three years, resulting in a 4.9x return on the organization’s annual investment, and grew their news budgets by 66 percent.
Since 2019, the American Journalism Project has raised $168 million to fund local news.
