By Jesse Holcomb
By the numbers
• Median revenue saw little decrease year over year at $525,000.
• Nearly half (49%) of members draw upon at least four distinct revenue streams, up from 38% just three years earlier.
• Revenue generation is larger as a share of total expenses across INN membership — 16% in 2025, up from 10% in 2019
• Outlets that rely most heavily on philanthropy are also most likely to be those whose primary mission is to serve communities of color
The INN member roster expanded in 2025, and with that came the largest annual revenue total on record across the board. Median revenue per outlet was flat compared to 2024 levels. At a business level, the overall revenue mix remained consistent — philanthropy is still the single largest driver of income, and outlets still devote a majority of their expenses to editorial operations. But there may be subtle evolutions underneath these topline figures. Individual donor giving has inched upward as a share of total revenue. And revenue generation has steadily crept up as a share of total expenses across all INN membership.
Financial health is steady for now
For the second year in a row, a majority of INN members (51%) generated at least $500,000 in annual revenue. Median revenue per outlet was $525,000, down slightly from $532,000 in 2024, but still one of the strongest years on record. At the same time, median expenses per organization rose to $449,000 from $434,000 in 2024, possibly a result of inflation. INN members had to stretch their dollars a little further last year.
Overall, INN estimates that the more than 400 digital-first nonprofit newsrooms in its membership took in more than $750 million in combined revenue in 20251. That makes 2025 the most successful year on record for the nonprofit news field by that particular metric. This figure does not include startups that began publishing in 2025 and did not have a full year of financial accounting on record, nor the several dozen public media outlets within INN’s membership.
Organizations that take in larger amounts of revenue tend to differ in geographic focus and years of operation from more modest operations. For instance, INN members with annual revenue of at least $2 million in 2025 were more likely to be national or global in geographic focus, editorially oriented toward analysis and explanatory journalism, and older. INN members that generated less than $250,000, by contrast, tended to be more local, focused on general news content and younger.
Most INN members draw upon multiple revenue streams to support their operations, and this pattern hasn’t fluctuated much over the years. Still, there are signs that revenue diversity within the field is increasing: Between 2022 and 2025, the share of INN members drawing on four or more distinct revenue streams increased from 38% to 49%. Outlets with at least four revenue streams are disproportionately local and statewide, focus on general news topics, and are much less likely to prioritize serving communities of color as a mission. By contrast, outlets that rely on a single revenue stream are more likely to be nationally or globally focused, emphasize explanatory content, and heavily rely on foundation funding. And more than half of outlets reliant on a single revenue stream say that serving communities of color is their primary focus.
Foundation grants remain the single largest revenue stream INN members draw from, at 48% of total intake across the group. Individual giving, including small and major donors, accounts for another one-third (33%). Earned revenue, — a category that includes sponsorships, advertising, events revenue and more — amounts to 17%. Finally, other charitable revenue — a category containing miscellaneous sources that don’t fit elsewhere, including grants from nonprofits, universities, businesses or government — accounts for 2%.
In a sector dominated by philanthropy, signs of a subtle shift?
One of the most consistent findings over the last eight years of surveying INN members is that foundation funding accounts for about half of all fieldwide intake. Last year was no different, with foundation funding accounting for 48% of total INN member revenue. The median INN member brought in about $200,000 in foundation revenue in 2025.
Some outlets rely on major philanthropic investment much more than others.
For the purpose of this report, we categorize members’ reliance on foundation revenue in the following terms:
Heavily reliant: At least two-thirds of their revenue came from foundations.
Moderately reliant: Between one-third and two-thirds came from foundations.
Minimally reliant: Less than a third of their intake from foundations.
Outlets that are heavily reliant on foundation funding tend to be disproportionately national or global, focus their coverage on analysis and explanatory journalism, and fall into a middle age range — no longer a startup but with fewer than 15 years in operation. They are also more likely to serve communities of color as a primary focus. About 38% of outlets that are heavily reliant on foundation funding characterize their mission as focused on serving communities of color. That percentage drops to 8% for outlets that are minimally reliant on foundation funding. Nearly 70% of the minimally reliant outlets are local.
Individual giving has inched slightly upward in recent years, from 29% in 2023 to 33% in 2025. Individual giving derives from small, mid-level and major donors. Across INN membership, about two-thirds of individual giving (64%) comes from major donors. While the typical size of a major donor gift is sizable, INN members tend to secure a small number of these donors, a median of five per outlet in 2025. By contrast, members had secured a median of 12 mid-range donors and 317 small donors per outlet in 2025. At an average of $32,000 in 2025, a single major donor gift is roughly 20 times the size of a mid-level donation ($1,600) and nearly 300 times the size of a small donation ($110). Both small and mid-level donations have grown modestly in average size over the past few years. Small donations rose from $96 in 2022 to $110 in 2025, and mid-level donations grew from $1,300 to about $1,600 in the same period.
Other charitable revenue remains marginal, but worth following
The median outlet took in around $25,000 in other charitable revenue in 2025. This includes a mix of corporate donations and grants, funds from other nonprofit support groups for services rendered, and some state-level tax credits. At 2% of total INN membership revenue, this still amounts to a rounding error, but is worth noting as nonprofit news outlets continue to experiment with business sustainability solutions.
Earned revenue is stable, with signs of advertising headwinds
Earned revenue is a broad category that encompasses all noncharitable sources of income. Across INN membership, it accounted for 17% of all revenue in 2025. As far back as 2019, this figure sat at 11%, illustrating how the membership base has evolved to include more local outlets and even community newspapers, which historically tend to rely more on advertising and sponsorships.
These two earned revenue streams, advertising and sponsorship, account for nearly half (43%) of all earned revenue across INN. This is down slightly from 47% in 2024, perhaps reflecting a broader challenging climate for advertising and sponsorship-driven media businesses today.
Subscriptions and events are the other two significant contributors to the earned revenue portfolio. Subscription revenue accounts for 21% of earned revenue in 2025, up from 19% in 2024. This source, which accounts for just 4% of total revenue across all members, is likely concentrated in the small number of newspapers that have converted to nonprofit status in recent years.
Events revenue now accounts for 10% of all earned revenue, up from 8% since last year. Other income that didn’t fit any other category accounted for 23% of all earned revenue; members frequently cited investment yields and merchandise sales as examples.
On the expenses side of the ledger, a slight shift toward capacity-building
Aside from revenue, operating expenses are another important part of the financial picture for nonprofit journalism. In 2025, a majority of all operating expenses across all INN membership (62%) went to editorial operations, including reporting and editing. The rest went to administrative, revenue generation and technology-related work.
An organization that devotes resources to revenue generation (fundraising, donor development) can build capacity for future business growth. Resources devoted to revenue generation have increased incrementally over recent years among INN members. In 2019, just 10% of membership-wide operating expenses went to revenue generation. By 2025, the share was 16%, the highest on record, which shows a modest and incremental shift.
High-investment outlets, which devote a substantial portion of their expenses to revenue generation – defined here as at least 25% of their budget – tend to be older and well-established. Nearly half (46%) of this group are older than 15 years. Only 23% of the low-investment group – defined here as outlets devoting less than 25% of their budget to revenue generation – have been around as long. The high-investment group is slightly more likely to contain high-earning outlets overall: 41% of these high-investors generate at least $1M a year, whereas 33% of low investors bring in that much annually. Otherwise, these outlets look like their peers in most ways.
INN members were also asked, for the second year in a row, how much of their budget is devoted to marketing for audience growth. Each of the past two years, that number was a median of 1%, suggesting room for growth.
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