Timely Topics

By Michelle McLellan

Each year, INN’s Index survey examines topics of particular relevance to the field at that moment. In 2025, those topics were the adoption of artificial intelligence in nonprofit newsrooms and the effects of the current political climate on nonprofit news. 

Artificial intelligence use is widespread

AI use among INN members has grown rapidly, rising from 34% of outlets in 2023 to 81% in 2025.

Publishers use AI for a variety of fundraising and editorial support activities, most commonly for summarizing or transcribing meetings (60%) and data analysis (36%). Reported use of AI is rare for editorial tasks such as writing (3%) or editing (12%) stories.

Fundraising: Some organizations use AI as a fundraising tool. About one-fifth of outlets (22%) use AI to personalize emails to funders or to draft grant applications (18%). One-tenth (11%) use AI to identify potential funders.

Outreach: 1 in 4 organizations (26%) say they use AI to draft social media copy or personalize emails to members of their audiences. 

Editorial: It’s less common among nonprofit publications to report using AI for editorial tasks typically done by journalists. That’s the case amid controversy about accuracy, plagiarism and threats to the jobs of working journalists. One recent study by the Center for News, Technology & Innovation detailed the concerns.   

Among INN members, editorial uses of AI include editing stories (12%), identifying sources or story ideas (11%), drafting interview questions (9%), tailoring content for newsletters (8%) or other platforms (5%), and drafting stories or editorial content (3%).

Nonprofit news outlets also use AI to translate stories or other copy (14%). Some publishers reported using AI for tasks including web development, editing images, recruiting and marketing.

Only 13% of outlets said they use AI to scrape data from websites. Conversely, 19% block scraping of their own websites. Many publishers, including news organizations, have begun using tech tools to block scraping by AI because of concerns about copyright violations and plagiarism.

Organizations with more staff are more likely to be using AI: 90% of organizations with five or more full-time equivalent (FTE) employees compared to 71% of outlets with fewer than five FTEs. AI usage is fairly consistent across market size, geographic scope, and coverage priorities. 

Impacts from the 2025 political climate were felt across the network

Nonprofit news organizations are strictly nonpartisan. But they have not proven immune to negative impacts of today’s divisive political climate, contending with decreases in charitable funding and more misinformation in their communities.

Three-quarters (76%) of nonprofit news publishers in our survey said their organizations have experienced negative effects in the current political climate. They most frequently cited reductions in charitable revenue (36%) and growth in misinformation targeting their markets (35%).

Charitable giving from individuals has been declining across the U.S. as residents face economic uncertainty, new tax laws and a shift toward donating more to political candidates and causes. Meanwhile, social media platforms such as Facebook and X have loosened controls, allowing misinformation by political figures and other actors to occupy a prominent place in political discourse.

Other harms reported by INN members include declining audience trust and engagement (18%), online harassment of staff (17%) and threats to staff safety (16%). 

National and global outlets were more likely to report negative effects. Organizations that focus on a narrow range of topics, typically covering government or policy issues, were also slightly more likely to experience problems. These factors suggest, as one might expect, that political coverage is a trigger point for heated responses.