Sumi Aggarwal
Chief Strategy Officer
The Intercept
The INN Board of Directors represent INN, and the entire 425+ member-strong INN Network. Each deeply understands the value that nonprofit newsrooms bring into the communities served, and to democracy itself. As such, they are often invited to take on a larger leadership role within the field of journalism.
Under the bylaws, the board is composed of up to six executive directors appointed by the board, and six executive directors elected from and by member organizations. Each elected member representative director serves a three-year term. Two seats open annually for election. The board instituted eligibility requirements, and annually identifies key traits that address immediate needs or advances its goals around diverse representation.
Voters are encouraged to consider how a candidate engages with INN; that publication types, organizational stages and regions are well-balanced, and whether the candidate’s vision for their role aligns with INN’s values. The current board is listed here.
Ballots will be distributed to members via email starting Oct. 31. One voting representative from each member organization can vote for up to TWO (2) candidates. Voting is restricted to the top leader at each member organization. Voting closes at 12 p.m. ET on Nov. 15. The two candidates receiving the highest number of votes will be elected.
All eligible candidates provide candidate statements. This information includes: 1) endorsements they received, 2) their bios, 3) their engagement with INN, 4) their ability to represent local and hyperlocal organizations, 5) their background with finance and budgeting and 6) how they will advance board diversity. Read more about each candidate below. If you are not sure whether you are the correct person to vote for your organization, please reach out to membership@inn.org.
Click on a name below or keep scrolling to read candidates’ statements and bios. Candidates are listed alphabetically, and responses may have been edited for length.
Sumi Aggarwal
Chief Strategy Officer
The Intercept
How many years have you held your current role leading an INN member organization? 1.5 years
Endorsed by:
Dana Coester, Founder & Editor-in-Chief at 100 Days in Appalachia
As Founder and Editor in Chief of 100 Days in Appalachia, I enthusiastically endorse Sumi Aggarawal’s candidacy for the INN Board. Sumi has earned the respect of our newsroom for her deep listening, trust building and collaborative engagement, demonstrating a thorough understanding of the concerns, needs and challenges impacting local and nonprofit news.
Kate Looby, Chief Development Officer at CalMatters
I worked collaboratively at a leadership level with Sumi at CIR and in her consultant role at CalMatters. I highly recommend Sumi for the INN Board as she’s a strategic, experienced, and savvy newsroom leader who understands what nonprofit newsrooms need to not only survive but thrive, in today’s challenging environment.
Bio
Sumi Aggarwal is The Intercept’s chief strategy officer and an investigative reporter/editor. She bridges editorial and business operations, manages partnerships and leads audience efforts. Sumi also spearheads – from ideation to execution – innovative programs that expand the reach of investigative journalism, including a student journalism project that mentors and trains student reporters. Prior to that, she was the editor-in-chief at Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting. While there, she developed a podcast with the COVID Tracking Project, which won a DuPont Award and facilitated another podcast that received an RFK Award. Prior to that, she led CIR’s local efforts, including an innovative program that brought together local newsrooms to investigate a significant issue in their community.
Sumi’s extensive career includes nearly a decade at CBS News’s “60 Minutes,” producing stories from civil rights investigations to scientific deep dives. She has also worked for the “Today” show, led executive communications for the Google Search and Maps teams, and was an adjunct professor at the City College of New York. She began her journalism career at her hometown newspaper and local TV stations.
Sumi has won many awards: the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, several News Emmys, and an Edward R. Murrow Award. She has also been a judge for many prestigious journalism awards, including the Pulitzer Prizes and National Magazine Awards. She serves on the boards of Type Media Center and A Future for Every Child. Sumi is a graduate of UC Berkeley and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.
Engagement with INN
Since I joined The Intercept, the organization has increased engagement with INN significantly, including collaborating on a digital security program in the summer of 2023. The program offered free support for journalists who were facing online intimidation or needed personalized guidance on security protocols ahead of publication of sensitive stories. The Intercept has always had a deep focus on national security reporting, which required the newsroom to develop sophisticated security protocols and build a team with deep security expertise on how to protect reporters. As part of this, we were happy to share that expertise with other INN members.
In addition to that program, four Intercept staff members have participated in INN’s ELC program. Annie Chabel, The Intercept’s CEO, participated in 2020 and I did in 2021, while Kate Miller and Celine Piser participated while at The Intercept. In 2023, The Intercept became an independent nonprofit and began to focus on diversifying revenue streams. Kate’s project in 2023 focused on building a pipeline from The Intercept’s significant membership base to a new major donor program. Celine’s project focused on bridging communication gaps between editorial and business by developing learning materials for nonprofit newsrooms on fundraising best practices.
On Representing Local & Hyperlocal Organizations
My extensive background in investigative journalism at both local and national levels, coupled with leadership and board roles in nonprofit journalism organizations, has provided me with a foundational understanding of the unique needs and opportunities facing local news outlets. By developing partnerships at both The Intercept and CIR, I have hands-on experience with collaboration opportunities and the challenges faced by smaller outlets. I also recently created and launched an innovative student journalism project, which aims to build a pipeline of skilled student journalists from public universities.
In 2022-2023, I served as a consultant to several hyperlocal news start-ups, including Notivision, Courier Eco Latino, and Pasa La Voz. I worked with them to refine their business models, broaden editorial scope, grow their teams and launch new products. This experience provided insights into the challenges confronting start-ups, particularly in the areas of audience acquisition, optimizing distribution, and strategically leveraging social media platforms for growth. My work in audience engagement has taught me how to develop strategies that resonate with audiences across platforms and products.
Over the past five years, my professional focus has centered on developing sustainable models for high-impact journalism. My responsibilities have encompassed crafting and implementing strategies for philanthropic engagement, cultivating major donor programs, and spearheading membership initiatives. These efforts have been instrumental in bolstering the long-term viability and impact of news organizations. My diverse professional background equips me to advocate effectively for local newsrooms, with a particular emphasis on identifying opportunities for growth and sustainability.
Finance & Budgeting Experience Offered
While my background is not primarily in finance, my career demonstrates a strong practical understanding of financial management in media organizations. My experience with budgeting ranges from managing a significant newsroom budget with a team of 60+ at CIR to story and project budgets at 60 Minutes and NBC.
I understand how to balance competing priorities with limited resources, while also following sound financial guidelines. I’ve also, unfortunately, been in the position at both CIR and The Intercept of being part of a leadership team that has had to execute layoffs and other cuts due to funding shortfalls. Having worked in the nonprofit media ecosystem for over five years now, I also keenly understand various fundraising avenues – philanthropy, major donors and membership. I have relationships with many of the large foundation funders, have spent a significant amount of time pitching them, and understand their priorities and processes. These insights could be valuable for INN member organizations.
I also serve on the board of two other nonprofits – Type Media Center and A Future for Every Child (where I chair the organization’s Fundraising Committee). As part of my work with both of these, I play an important role in financial oversight and governance. I will bring this experience to the board, offering insights into sustainable financial models for journalism, resource allocation, and strategic budgeting.
On Advancing Board Diversity
There are many ways that I would advance the diversity of the INN Board. First and most importantly, I have had an expansive career working in many different settings and mediums. I got my start in local newspapers and local television stations, moved onto network television, then led a newsroom that had a successful investigative radio show (broadcast nationally on public radio stations), produced Emmy-winning documentaries and published impactful long-form investigations. Currently, I work at a digital first news organization and help lead our podcast and audience/social teams. In between, I’ve also been in academia and corporate communications. Having worked with large corporations, nonprofits, and small startups, local and national newsrooms and in various mediums, I have a wide-ranging perspective that I believe would be beneficial in supporting member organizations.
As a South Asian woman in executive positions, I also bring important demographic representation to the board. My own experiences have shaped my commitment to centering equity in newsrooms. I am dedicated to creating inclusive environments and coverage and have done so whenever possible. As a mother of young children and the primary support for my elderly mother, I represent the “sandwich generation” balancing career demands with family responsibilities. I firmly believe that if leaders model and normalize balancing these competing needs, it can change the culture in newsrooms. My unique combination of experiences enables me to understand a wide range of members effectively, while advancing the goal of a more inclusive and equitable journalism industry.
Corinne Colbert
Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief
Athens County Independent
How many years have you held your current role leading an INN member organization? 3.5 years
Endorsed by:
Steve Schewe, Publisher at Eden Prairie Local News
Corinne Colbert plays well with others, embodies the values of hyperlocal news coverage at the Athens County Independent, and has a spunky sense of humor. She regularly contributes to the INN listserv and has been an eager learner about new practices and technologies; INN’s board would be lucky to have her regular perspective as a director as we collectively reinvent how local news gets reported and delivered.
Ashton Marra, Executive Editor at 100 Days in Appalachia
Corinne’s work at the Athens County Independent is essential in Appalachia, as it’s one of very few leading a newsroom that’s rooted in accountability and investigative journalism in a rural community and region that desperately needs it. She lives the experience of a local newsroom and will be invaluable in bringing that perspective to INN.
Bio
Corinne Colbert is co-founder and editor in chief of the Athens County Independent in southeastern Ohio. Her career begins and ends in journalism, from a high-school internship on the sports desk of The Times-Leader in Martins Ferry, Ohio, to editing the Athens News, an alternative newsweekly. She was fired from that job eight months into her tenure for warning readers about misleading advertising in the publication. Her tweets about being fired went viral, inspiring a crowdfunding campaign that raised $18,000 to launch an independent nonprofit news organization in Athens County.
Her four-decade career also encompasses work in nonprofit communications and marketing, association publications, project management and consulting, and teaching technical writing to engineering students. She operated a freelance communications practice for nearly 10 years, including work for BF Goodrich, Progressive Insurance, Rodeway Express, Hilferty and Associates exhibits design, and just about every school and department at Ohio University.
Colbert lives in rural Athens County with her husband, a miniature bull terrier, and two adult sons who need to leave the nest so she can stop working in her living room (and build the craft room of her dreams).
Engagement with INN
We originally joined INN to take advantage of NewsMatch, which remains a pillar of our contributed revenue. With guidance from Stephanie Schenkel, we’re compiling a list of potential donors to submit for wealth screening. And I’ve used the Range of Gifts Table from the News Giving Roadmap not only to map out donations but also to plan earned revenue.
I have found the Index Pods data invaluable for benchmarking our progress against other INN members in hyperlocal small markets. This summer, we conducted a reader survey based on the Audience Survey Template. I’m looking forward to the release of the Compensation Study! The Independent is a member of the Rural News Network; we’re currently onboarding to use Text RURAL. Many thanks to Alana Rocha and Andrew Haeg for their leadership of these initiatives.
This year, I completed the Google News Initiative lab, presented at INN Days in San Diego, and attended the Post-Platform Era of News event in NYC. Our staff all signed up for free DeleteMe accounts. Since my co-founders include a trans woman and a nonbinary individual, those accounts have given us all some peace of mind as we report on our communities. And of course, I enjoy posting and commenting on INN’s Slack channels and on the Listserv.
On Representing Local & Hyperlocal Organizations
Every newsroom job I’ve ever had — from intern to editor in chief — was in hyperlocal news. Across my career, I’ve worked for six newspapers in Ohio and West Virginia, none of which served a population greater than 50,000. Those papers’ owners included Ogden, Gannett and Adams Publishing Group. I know what it’s like to report, edit and publish news in a small town, often without the resources and support needed to be most effective.
In 2022, I co-founded the Athens County Independent, which serves the poorest county in Ohio (in the poorest region of the state). We’ve benefited greatly from the advice and insights of other hyperlocal publishers — and I’ve enjoyed meeting my colleagues virtually and in person to share triumphs and frustrations. I’d love to bring those shared views to the INN Board, which lacks a voice for rural and small-market organizations.
Finance & Budgeting Experience Offered
In the early 2000s, I managed a $1.4 million federal flood mitigation project for the village where we lived. That experience later landed me a job with a consulting company, handling grant compliance for recipients of stimulus funding following the 2008 market collapse. I know my way around a spreadsheet.
As director of publishing for the National Business Incubation Association, I not only managed my department’s budget but also frequently wrote about the financial challenges facing startup enterprises. That experience has greatly informed my role as the Athens County Independent’s chief financial officer. I build our annual budget, monitor our revenue and expenses, and create financial reports for our board. I’m also currently drafting internal controls for the Independent.
For what it’s worth, our board treasurer — a consultant who works with news startups — has said that the Independent is one of the best-managed organizations he’s worked with. Might not carry weight with you, but it always makes me stand a little taller.
On Advancing Board Diversity
I’m a middle-aged white woman, so I don’t bring much in the way of racial, ethnic or gender diversity. My contribution is more related to class and geography: I come from working-class people in Appalachia. I was born in West Virginia and raised in eastern Ohio, with a strip mine a half-mile behind the house. I’ve spent most of my adult life in Athens County, in the heart of Ohio’s southeastern Appalachian region. Athens County is rural — our largest town has 23,000 people — and we live with the economic and environmental legacy of two centuries of extractive industry.
I also would add a much-needed small-market voice on the board. The Athens County Independent is at the lower end of INN’s hyperlocal, small markets pod, with a total audience of about 53,000. The Indy is young and growing: This year, I project expenditures of around $230,000, an 80% increase over FY23, our first full year of operation.
Beth Daley
Executive Editor & General Manager
The Conversation U.S.
Watch Beth Daley’s candidate video.
How many years have you held your current role leading an INN member organization? 5.7 years
Endorsed by:
Stacy Palmer, Chief Executive at The Chronicle of Philanthropy
Beth Daley is an outstanding journalist and nonprofit leader who I got to know as a key player – and fiscal sponsor – of a partnership she forged with the Chronicle of Philanthropy and the Associated Press bringing smart ideas to shape a fellowship for local journalism outlets covering philanthropy. Beth’s creativity in building her own organization, which is an excellent model for how nonprofits can thrive, her leadership in collaborative journalism efforts, and her mentorship of fellow nonprofit journalism leaders like me will bring significant skills and expertise the INN board.
Tom Fiedler, Reporter at Asheville Watchdog & Board Member at The Conversation
Over the years I have observed Beth’s outstanding leadership qualities applied to a variety of situations, all in the pursuit of journalistic excellence. She honors me by asking that I submit this much-too-brief letter of recommendation on her behalf, but I will point to her work at the New England Center for Investigative Reporting (an early member of INN) which was instrumental in cementing the non-profit Center’s outstanding reputation for producing accountability journalism at a time when many news organizations were scaling back in that area.
Bio
Hi, I’m Beth Daley. I was a long-time science and climate reporter at The Boston Globe when I got bitten by the nonprofit journalism bug while doing a Knight Journalism Fellowship at Stanford. Soon after, in 2014, I quit the Globe to join the New England Center for Investigative Reporting where I wrote articles and ran partnerships. It was so exciting to be on the brink of something in journalism that was new, exciting and a bit scary (from a job security point of view) but so important.
I left for InsideClimate News three years later to do something I knew nothing about: strategic development. It was a great learning experience, marked by exciting efforts to launch a high school climate journalism program and a local news network. There, I got the bug to really run a non-profit journalism team, seeing it as a critical part of the future of news. In 2019, I was hired to run INN member The Conversation U.S. – a site whose model still gives me goose bumps because it is so innovative. We aim to bring knowledge to the public from academic researchers by having them collaborate with journalists/editors.
Other parts of my life that fulfill me include walking a lot, learning about New England geology and Ethiopian history, and watching the stars. I am married to the best person I know – Peyton Fleming (former local journalist!); have two wonderful step children, Nate and Amory; and an amazing and adventurous 18-year-old daughter Minti.
Engagement with INN
In the last two+ years, The Conversation team has benefited greatly from INN’s services and generosity. Most recently, our head of newsletters, Martin LaMonica, attended the INN session on email newsletter strategy before and after the election. He also attended the INN Survey bootcamp in January 2024.
We’ve collaborated with the Rural News Network and before then, also contributed to collaborative series on the Great Lakes and rural hospitals. Our staff has judged the INNYs and always attends INN Days each year. We also work with a wide variety of INN members who republish our stories – and some we find experts for. We also are participating in the GNI fundamentals lab.
On Representing Local & Hyperlocal Organizations
I, and my family, have always consumed local news. Early on, it was for usefulness: my mom, after reading an article about how to make money recycling newspapers, made all her six kids collect hundreds of pounds of papers each week. Newspapers also got me my first job at 11 after I read an ad to deliver the Pennysaver in Long Island, NY, where I grew up. My mom also would clip articles from Newsday and make one the topic of our family dinner. (She still clips at age 94). These were conversation and debate starters, and it brought us together. This is, in part, why I believe local news is so important. It provides information, insight, news, and analysis that is so critical to a vibrant community. And the conversations that flow after the news does need to be built around respect, even with those we disagree with.
On a personal level, I don’t take on tasks lightly. I will work tirelessly for INN, knowing that the answers that will help journalism flourish lie in innovation and collaboration to help deliver important news to the public in ways that we may not even know yet. One priority seems clear: we must engage communities we aim to serve – a challenging and likely expensive task that will require thought and bold ideas and action – and an understanding that failing is just one part of success. And we must, above all, figure out diversifying revenue with the understanding it is complicated.
Finance & Budgeting Experience Offered
My background is in journalism but over the last 8 years, I have become, by necessity and desire, deeply interested and engaged in budgets, forecasting, P&Ls and ensuring financial stability for the long run, starting with my experience as a Stanford-Knight fellow in entrepreneurial journalism. It is literally all I think about these days and have been fortunate to have a former business manager and current CFO who has taught me well. I have some amazing board members who are finance gurus and lean on them all the time. We are a fiscal sponsor to the Associated Press, and former sponsor to The Chronicle of Philanthropy (now a 501(c)3. I also have benefited from strategic guidance from a pro bono management group. We can’t achieve our mission without a strong financial base and a plan for the future. I will work hard to help INN and its members survive for the long run.
On Advancing Board Diversity
I believe deeply in inclusion and diversity but it is only since I have been running The Conversation I have been able to act on in terms of hiring, etc. I bring 5+ years of a strong commitment to inclusion in all we do at The Conversation – in attracting staff, board members and authors (so that researchers writing for the public look like the public – not the make-up in universities). I am a white caucasian woman from Long Island who lives in Greater Boston. The Conversation is a national news organization with a $6.1 million budget, but we are republished in about 1,000 news outlets a month with 15 million readers who are diverse in every sense of the word. We started with far fewer readers and my team and I have worked very hard to figure out how to engage new readers of all backgrounds, and how to diversify income while always staying true to our independence and transparency.
Will Doig
Executive Editor
Reasons to be Cheerful
How many years have you held your current role leading an INN member organization? 2.5 years
Endorsed by:
Lucas Grindley, Executive Director at NextCity & INN Board Member
Will Doig knows firsthand what it takes to launch and grow a news organization, bringing the kind of innovation and scrappiness that’s essential in our field. He embodies the collaborative spirit that defines INN newsrooms, always willing to share insights or work together when the opportunity arises, and I’ve enjoyed his openness and admire his journalistic expertise as Executive Editor of Reasons to be Cheerful.
Matthew Wheeland, Managing Editor at Civil Eats
I have talked with Will many times over the last couple years about our various efforts to grow reader revenue and build a sustainable nonprofit newsroom, and as an INN member from a micro-sized, nationally focused newsroom, I can say that newsrooms like ours need more representation within INN. Will has shown a remarkable ability to build reader support at Reasons to be Cheerful, and he has always been willing to share his experiences and eager to ask questions from other newsrooms to help continue his progress.
Bio
My name is Will Doig, I’m a lifelong journalist and I love nonprofit news. For nearly 20 years, I worked mainly in for-profit journalism, cutting my teeth as a fact-checker at New York Magazine, serving as Editor-in-Chief of the pioneering online magazine Nerve, and helping to launch the scoop-hungry Daily Beast. Exhilarating experiences all, but sometimes deadeningly factory-like. In 2017 I went on hiatus, wrote a book and kept my eyes peeled for something different. I found it when I became part of the tiny, scrappy team that launched Reasons to be Cheerful in 2019. Since 2022 I’ve served as the magazine’s Executive Editor. Today, as one of very few publications to practice solutions journalism exclusively, we’ve become a leader in the field with over one million annual readers and 130,000 newsletter subscribers. We’ve built a reader-supported, paywall-free model driven by pay-what-you-wish memberships – our single biggest source of revenue – as well as foundation funding and live events. In October, we marked our fifth anniversary with a wild, sold-out variety show that succeeded as both a fundraiser and a raucous celebration of nonprofit journalism. I’m deeply grateful to have found my way into the world of nonprofit journalism. In many ways, it restored my faltering faith in what news can do, and I don’t plan on ever looking back.
Engagement with INN
Reasons to be Cheerful has been an active INN member since 2023. We attended INN Days in San Diego in 2024, and participate (both posting and responding) in the INN email listserv. We participated in NewsMatch in 2023 and will do so again this year. While we are a relatively new member of INN, we have already formed valuable connections with many of you and look forward to becoming more deeply involved with each passing year.
On Representing Local & Hyperlocal Organizations
Unfortunately, other than my early-career job as a fact-checker at New York Magazine, my background does not include much experience in local journalism.
Finance & Budgeting Experience Offered
When I helped launch Reasons to be Cheerful, I had spent my entire career working as a writer and editor. I had little experience in finance or budgeting, and little interest – or so I thought. Since becoming Executive Editor, I’ve discovered an unexpected zest for the granular, unglamorous work of keeping the lights on. It’s been invigorating to lead this publication’s evolution from a shoestring operation into a debt-free, surplus-running project with a budget that grows larger and more sustainable with each passing year. One of the most important parts of my job is to stimulate, cultivate and future-proof the magazine’s growth. On an almost daily basis, I work hand-in-hand with our finance team and our parent organization, Arbutus, to budget boldly yet meticulously. To that end, I oversaw the creation of a successful membership program that is now our single largest revenue source. Today, we have multi-year funding from major foundations, and host live events that drive revenue. I’ve also worked to generate innovative new revenue streams, such as a commissioning model that allows us to act as a “wire service” for solutions content for other magazines. Five years ago I wouldn’t have believed I could muster enthusiasm for numbers on a Google Sheet. Somehow, however, I’ve come to love the exacting job of making our publication not just solvent, but financially resilient.
On Advancing Board Diversity
In my first journalism job, I was as the lone writer for a free LGBTQ publication in Washington, DC called Metro Weekly. A small but mighty “bar rag,” we punched above our weight with the type of investigative reporting, long-form feature writing and artful photography that made us better than we needed to be. Over 20 years later, as the queer leader of a non-queer publication, as a husband in a mixed-religion marriage, and as the father of a Latinx daughter, I grapple with questions of identity often. How much should my personal experience inform the work of Reasons to be Cheerful? Should it factor into my decision-making at all? These are complicated questions, but I’ve come to believe the complexity of one’s lived experience can enhance their values and deepen their empathy.
Cynthia Friedman
Managing Director
Jewish Currents
Watch Cynthia Friedman’s candidate video.
How many years have you held your current role leading an INN member organization? 1 year
Endorsed by:
Ari Bloomekatz, Executive Editor at In These Times
Over the last several years, Cynthia Friedman has emerged as one of the most reliable, creative, and diligent thinkers and leaders surrounding nonprofit news operations, and I frequently rely on her advice and camaraderie in how In These Times should orient different parts of our operations. I can think of only a few other people in publishing who are more willing to offer the kinds of substantive help and support that she does, and I believe that as a member of the board of directors she would bring a special combination of thoughtfulness, collegiality, creativity, and optimism that is so desperately needed in our industry.
Rebecca Klein, Publisher at New York Focus
Cynthia is extremely well-regarded in the nonprofit operations space, spearheading a listserv of small publications to provide operational support to these publications while providing strategic advice to publications like our own.
Bio
I’m Cynthia Friedman, the managing director of Jewish Currents. I joined the staff nearly five years ago as our operations manager—the first non-editorial hire following the magazine’s relaunch in 2018. As part of that role, I built many of our operational systems from scratch, including logistics related to staffing and HR, freelancer contracts, and print fulfillment.
In my time at Jewish Currents, our staff has doubled from seven full-time equivalent roles to fifteen. In my current role, I have had the privilege of supporting the growing organization through a combination of people-oriented and systems-oriented work. In addition to direct supervision, financial tracking, and grants management—my most overt responsibilities—I also help steward the organizational culture and act as a resource for ongoing projects. There are many learning curves, and I’m grateful to JC for investing in my skills.
Before working for Currents, I had a smattering of logistics, teaching, and restaurant jobs. Much of my time was also spent volunteering, either as an abortion doula in the Planned Parenthood system, developing a consent curriculum for my peers, or—most directly the predecessor for my work at Jewish Currents—coordinating weekend-long orientation trainings with the IfNotNow movement. I moved to Brooklyn from my home state of California over a decade ago, after finishing an undergraduate program at UC Santa Cruz. To now find myself in a stable and fulfilling adulthood—and one which brings together the threads of many meandering years—is a humbling outcome based on a combination of luck, work, and fabulous mental healthcare.
Engagement with INN
Over the last two years, Jewish Currents has participated in several INN programs. Each year, we submit to the Nonprofit News Awards (INNYs), the INN Index Survey, and the INN Compensation Survey. We also routinely take advantage of the networking and resource-sharing capacities of the job posting board and the listserv. With every hiring process under my tenure, we have included the job description on the INN job posting platform as a reliable way to spread the word among peer organizations. And since joining the INNED-L email listserv in the spring, it has been useful to refer to information offered by various publications and occasionally send inquiries of our own.
Last year, for the first time, we participated in the NewsMatch program. While we are not eligible for the matching grants as an organization with a budget above the $1M threshold, we met the criteria for goal-based bonus awards. We were also part of the inaugural Google News Initiative cohort last fall. My colleague attended the sessions to learn about technical and programmatic tools for organizing and promoting our work, and the grant we received through that participation has been impactful.
While not in the last two years, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that one of the most substantial ways that INN has contributed to our project is through the support crafting our editorial independence policy, in the spring of 2021. It remains on our website and as an active pillar of our work to this day.
On Representing Local & Hyperlocal Organizations
While Jewish Currents’s regional span is not local, several of our core beats can be considered niche: the internal dynamics of Jewish communal organizations; the politics of Israel/Palestine; analysis and reporting on antisemitism and its weaponization; Jewish diasporic cultural expression and, occasionally, exploration of Talmudic texts. In part, these subject areas have their own merit based on our readership’s interests.
We may say, “dayenu”—this alone suffices. But our editor-in-chief has also discussed the ways in which we can aim to reach the universal through the particular. Our work can provide a model for other forms of diasporic cultural expression, for example, or for any community navigating its own central divisions. I imagine that local and hyperlocal news organizations experience a similar duality: while serving their communities is at the heart of their work, every locality is connected or nested together; none exists in a vacuum. A network of thriving local publications benefits not only their specific readerships, but everyone in the surrounding area, in overt and covert ways.
Additionally, as was the case with many members of our staff, when I joined the staff, I was passionate about our project but did not have prior experience running a publication. Much of the knowledge and skills I developed were trial by fire, such as finding out about paperwork required by USPS only upon missing the deadline or learning how to balance a budget. I hope I would be a resource to organizations navigating new terrain on a limited budget.
Finance & Budgeting Experience Offered
In the last year in the managing director role, I have taken on managing Jewish Currents’s finances and budget. This included revamping our budget’s “chart of accounts” towards the end of 2023, to make the overall system more intuitive by restructuring the flow of categories and adding necessary subcategories. Each month, I work with our bookkeepers on the monthly financial reconciliation: coding past transactions, parsing reports for errors, and formatting reports for review by our publisher and—quarterly—by our board’s finance committee. We use Quickbooks as our bookkeeping software. I have experience with the platforms it directly syncs to (such as our bank accounts and our subscriber database) and with creating independent systems to track the breakdown of charges (such as within our online shop or with payments by check).
In addition to the monthly reconciliations, I have spearheaded our annual auditing process. This included finding a new accountant to remedy several shortcomings of the firm we were using, and working with them to move our fiscal year to the calendar year, rather than an October through September cycle. While Jewish Currents is a small enough organization that I can become intimately familiar with our accounts and charges—such that I can largely review line items and fulfill audit requests solo—I believe that going through these processes equips me to support larger organizations that allocate budgets by departments. I have helped our publisher create an annual budget and propose mid-year changes. All of this to say—I’m interested in it!
On Advancing Board Diversity
I imagine that as a white woman in my thirties in NYC, I am well-represented in the leadership of nonprofits and would not necessarily increase the diversity of INN’s board of directors as it relates to identity. I would be part of a queer cohort within the board. And—though it may not be advisable to share here—I have a mood disorder called cyclothymia, which is a milder form of bipolar disorder. Through a combination of medication, therapy, and behavioral measures, I maintain a stable mood, and it’s from this solid foundation that I feel confident taking on responsibilities at work and in my personal life.
Often professionalism and candid discussions of disability do not happen in tandem, and I recognize that with the stigma that exists generally around mental illness, it is a risk to share. However, my own process of navigating mental health was so helped by others’ transparency, so in this question about diversity—from within an organization made up of people passionate about accuracy, information, and relationship-building—I feel safe to err on the side of its inclusion.
Regarding race, I had the privilege of studying in the Feminist Studies department at UC Santa Cruz, which is led by women of color and fundamentally shaped my perspectives on questions of social justice, especially regarding how race and class intersect with gender, disability, and legal status. With this and other tools, I hope that I will be equipped to support board members of color however I’m best positioned to.
Schlonn Hawkins
CEO & Publisher
Shelterforce Magazine
How many years have you held your current role leading an INN member organization? 4 years
Endorsed by:
Lucas Grindley, Executive Director at NextCity & INN Board Member
I wholeheartedly support Schlonn Hawkins for the INN board who has shown she deeply understands the power of media to amplify the voices of those most often marginalized and has rare expertise in how philanthropy can meaningfully support this work. Schlonn doesn’t settle for outdated approaches or surface-level solutions—she pushes for transformative change with integrity and collaboration, making her leadership an invaluable asset to INN as we collectively work toward a more just and equitable media landscape.
Josie Gonsalves, Founder & Executive Director at Public Square Amplified
Public Square Amplified fully endorses Schlonn Hawkins for the INN board. As CEO and Publisher of Shelterforce, Schlonn’s visionary leadership and commitment to social justice have consistently uplifted marginalized voices, and her deep understanding of both journalism and philanthropy positions her as a transformative leader who will push for meaningful, equitable change in the media landscape.
Bio
Schlonn Hawkins is a powerhouse in communications and nonprofit leadership, currently serving as the CEO and Publisher of Shelterforce, where she leverages over 15 years of experience to advance the organization’s mission to report on and elevate critical issues in affordable housing and community development. Under her leadership, Shelterforce continues to grow and innovate in its approach, amplifying voices that address systemic challenges, fostering impactful solutions, and driving critical conversations on housing equity and justice.
Prior to Shelterforce, Schlonn made a lasting impact as the Director of Delaware’s Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, where she developed transformative strategies that helped children from low-income families achieve grade-level proficiency, ensuring their long-term educational success. Her expertise also extends to her pivotal role at the United Way of Delaware, where she pioneered innovative digital storytelling and spearheaded a one-day giving campaign that generated over $800,000, consistently driving millions into the nonprofit sector.
Schlonn is a strategic leader who excels in fostering employee engagement, culture transformation, and people-centric training. With a proven track record in branding, marketing, and development, she is also a dynamic mentor and thought leader, dedicated to expanding opportunities for the next generation. She serves on several boards, including Habitat for Humanity (local) and the Delaware Local Journalism Initiative. A distinguished graduate of Delaware State University, Schlonn’s unwavering commitment to social impact and community advancement continues to shape the future of nonprofit leadership, making her a key figure in both local and national conversations around equity and social justice.
Engagement with INN
Over the past two years, on behalf of Shelterforce I have been actively involved in a variety of INN programs that have significantly supported our mission to amplify underrepresented voices in affordable housing and community development. We participated in INN Days, gaining valuable insights into nonprofit journalism strategies and fostering meaningful connections with peers across the field. Through NewsMatch, we’ve strengthened our fundraising efforts, which has been instrumental in sustaining our mission-driven work. I was honored to serve as a judge for the Nonprofit News Awards, where I had the privilege of evaluating exemplary work that uplifts underreported issues, a process that both inspired me and deepened my commitment to the power of nonprofit news.
We have also engaged in INN’s Compensation Study, using the findings to evaluate and improve our own practices, ensuring equitable pay within our organization. Additionally, we’ve partnered with Bridget Thoreson on an exploration of housing collaboration initiative that connected us with newsrooms interested in leveraging Shelterforce’s expertise in housing reporting, thereby expanding our reach and impact. These programs have been invaluable in reinforcing Shelterforce’s work and allowing us to continuously evolve within the nonprofit journalism ecosystem, while simultaneously contributing to the greater INN community.
On Representing Local & Hyperlocal Organizations
My background in working closely with local nonprofit organizations has given me a deep understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities that arise when addressing the needs of marginalized communities. Over the years, I’ve been on the ground, not just as a leader, but as a listener—building trust with communities to ensure their stories are told in a way that creates meaningful change. Whether it was through my work with Delaware’s Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, where we helped children in low-income families reach educational success, or my efforts at Shelterforce, amplifying voices around affordable housing and community development, I’ve always focused on the power of storytelling as a tool for transformation.
In my experience, hyperlocal organizations are the heart of community change. I’ve fostered environments where people can connect deeply to the issues that matter most to them, and I’ve empowered change by mobilizing communities, building coalitions, and driving awareness that leads to actionable outcomes. This approach has generated funding, increased visibility for local issues, and helped create a bridge between community needs and policy solutions.
My ability to understand local concerns and amplify them on broader platforms allows me to represent the needs of hyperlocal organizations effectively. I know that lasting change comes from grassroots efforts, and I am dedicated to ensuring these voices are heard, respected, and positioned to drive the change they seek—whether through strategic funding, increased awareness, or mobilizing communities to advocate for their rights.
Finance & Budgeting Experience Offered
As a leader deeply committed to transparency and accountability, I believe financial stewardship is essential to driving an organization’s mission and ensuring its long-term success. My philosophy is that numbers should not only be accurate but also tell a compelling story—one that aligns with and supports the organization’s strategic direction. It’s crucial for the board to understand how the financials reflect and reinforce our mission, operational priorities, and vision for the future.
Throughout my career, I’ve overseen multimillion-dollar campaigns and initiatives, ensuring that financial transparency was integral to each effort. I focus on communicating financial data in a way that highlights how resources are being used to achieve strategic goals, ensuring that every dollar is supporting the organization’s impact. By breaking down complex reports into meaningful insights—equipping the board with the necessary tools and knowledge, I empower board members to engage actively in financial discussions and make decisions that align with the organization’s long-term objectives.
By fostering a culture of transparency, I ensure that the board’s financial oversight goes beyond just reviewing numbers, working to ensure that the organization’s financial health not only remains strong but is in direct support of our strategic direction. In doing so, I aim to maintain the legacy of sound governance while ensuring the board plays an active role in steering the organization toward greater impact and sustainability.
On Advancing Board Diversity
As a woman of color, I understand the critical importance of diversity in governance and decision-making. To advance the diversity of the board of directors, I would start by assessing our current composition to identify gaps in representation across race, ethnicity, gender, geography, and budget diversity. This analysis will illuminate areas where focused efforts are needed.
Diversity extends beyond demographics; it encompasses a range of perspectives that reflect the communities we serve. To enhance our recruitment strategy, I would partner with fellow members to implement outreach methods such as hosting community forums and panel discussions with underrepresented groups, showcasing the value of board participation. Collaborating with diverse organizations and educational institutions can create mentorship pipelines, encouraging potential candidates to engage with our mission.
Once diverse members are recruited, creating a welcoming onboarding process is essential. I would collaborate with members to provide comprehensive orientation and mentorship tailored to the unique needs of newcomers, potentially pairing them with established members to foster relationships. Regular training on diversity and inclusion will cultivate a culture of collaboration and respect.
Additionally, establishing digital platforms for ongoing feedback will empower members to share their ideas and experiences. Ultimately, advancing diversity transcends mere representation; it’s about fostering a culture where all voices are valued and heard. By identifying gaps, implementing innovative recruitment strategies, and nurturing a supportive environment, we can create a board that truly reflects the richness of our communities and drives impactful change.
Cassandra Hemenway
Editor-in-Chief
The Bridge
How many years have you held your current role leading an INN member organization? 3 years
Endorsed by:
Sky Barsch, CEO at VT Digger
Casandra has steered The Bridge as it has transformed from a for-profit to a not-for-profit organization, as well as during coverage of one of the community’s most severe natural disasters. She’s committed to keeping the readers at the center of The Bridge’s journalism, and has made the paper’s reporting noticeably more inclusive and equitable.
Stacey Peters, Website Manager at New Haven Independent
I heartily endorse Cassandra Hemenway for the INN board. As an editor at a small, local town who has seen natural disaster and other massive news events the past few years, Cassandra is in the trenches of INN’s membership.
Bio
Cassandra Hemenway has been the Editor-in-Chief of The Bridge Newspaper (Capital Region Community Media) since 2021. She has led the small local news organization through its post-pandemic revival, a flood disaster, fiscal challenges, and its transition into becoming a 501(c)3 nonprofit. Under her leadership, The Bridge has grown its distribution by 10%, increased readership (in print and online), and amplified its fundraising efforts. She has developed a team of dedicated writers and photographers, covering all aspects of life in central Vermont, and engaged in partnerships with several sister news outlets. Her approach is to partner and collaborate with like-minded organizations to amplify everyone’s work.
Engagement with INN
We have participated in News Match starting in 2023. We have used INN’s information rich website as a resource to guide us as we develop important policies and procedures. We haven’t yet — but would like to — participate in INN’s cross-newsroom collaborations. The Bridge is also participating in the Google News Initiative, which we learned about from INN. We also worked closely with INN throughout the process of applying for 501(c)3 status, and found the help from INN invaluable. In general, we look to INN as a resource as we move toward organizational sustainability.
On Representing Local & Hyperlocal Organizations
The Bridge is a hyper-local news organization covering central Vermont with a focus on Montpelier, the nation’s smallest capital city. I am more familiar than I would like to be with the realities of skeletal budgets, declining ad sales, the scramble for freelance writers (because our budget doesn’t yet support even a part-time staff writer), and building out a fundraising team. Perhaps most importantly, I’m familiar with the important role partnerships between media organizations play in our survival. My background in leading this community news outlet has given me a deep inside look at what small news organizations need, what our challenges are, and how we might work together to get there.
Finance & Budgeting Experience Offered
I am interested in budgeting as a planning tool, using the budgeting process to advance the organization’s goals and initiatives. That being said, while I am interested and engaged in budgeting, I do not bring a strong financial background to my role. It’s an area of interest I would like to develop however.
On Advancing Board Diversity
To advance the diversity of the board of directors, I would take a proactive, multi-faceted approach to ensure broad representation in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic background, and geographic diversity. First, I would review the current recruitment process and identify areas where we might be unintentionally limiting the pool of potential board members. Expanding outreach efforts to include diverse networks, such as community organizations, affinity groups, and professional associations, would be part of that approach.
Second, I would advocate for mentorship and leadership programs within INN to cultivate diverse talent from within and encourage board participation. I would also promote a culture that welcomes differing perspectives by ensuring that discussions around diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) are integrated into board development and training programs.
Lastly, I would recommend creating transparent policies for board appointments that prioritize a range of lived experiences. By combining intentional recruitment with a commitment to fostering an inclusive environment, I would work to ensure that diversity is not only a priority but a consistent practice.
Harry Jaffe
Founder & President
SpotlightDC
Watch Harry Jaffe’s candidate video.
How many years have you held your current role leading an INN member organization? 6 years
Endorsed by:
Nancy Shute, Executive Editor at Science News
He has covered local news and politics for decades, advocating for strong news and investigative journalism. The District of Columbia is becoming a news desert, and through Spotlight DC he is leading efforts to ensure that city residents are getting the news coverage they deserve.
Chris Kain, Editor at DCLine.org
Harry brings not only a wealth of experience as a journalist covering local and national affairs, but also knows firsthand about the hard work required to build and sustain a nonprofit news organization. His perseverance has made Spotlight DC a vital part of the local media ecosystem in the District of Columbia, providing funding and support for investigative and accountability reporting by startup organizations as well as established media outlets — essential coverage that almost certainly would not have been undertaken otherwise.
Bio
Harry Jaffe, founder and president of SpotlightDC: Capital City Fund for Investigative Journalism, is honored to be considered as an INN board member. My journalism career began in 1974, as a general assignment reporter for the Rutland (Vt) Herald. Covering cops and politics, land use and farming, I first took photos then wrote on deadline with a manual Royal typewriter. After working in the Senate in 1978 I returned to reporting for States News Service and covered the capital, from Congress and White House to Supreme Court and agencies. As a feature writer and National Editor at Washingtonian Magazine from 1990 to 2018, I wrote features that won investigative awards and were turned into documentaries. Along the way I co-wrote Dream City, the seminal political history of local Washington, DC; wrote a biography of Bernie Sanders; and authored many other books. In addition to running SpotlightDC, I am writing freelance articles for The Atlantic and finishing a novel.
Engagement with INN
SpotlightDC has benefitted from Newsmatch for the last three years and all of the counseling that INN provides along the way. Our entire fundraising apparatus grew out of guidance from INN. We are currently re-evaluating our insurance policies with INN’s guidance. We have applied for and won INN journalism awards. INN encouraged SpotlightDC to participate in recent Google News Initiative labs with great results. And we have attended INN Days, where we built important relationships.
On Representing Local & Hyperlocal Organizations
As founder of SpotlightDC I have brought our nonprofit from startup — building a board, getting IRS designation, standing up the website, pursuing our mission — to handling day-to-day operations, board matters and fundraising. Working the basics helps me understand the small and large struggles INN members face. Beyond managing SpotlightDC, I work with journalists and editors, from conceiving of story ideas, to getting worthy ones funded, to helping guide them to publication. Then amplifying on social. I am, at heart, a reporter who saw the need to revive local, accountability reporting in the nation’s capital city. I have by needs become the leader of a news nonprofit. I find myself advocating for public funding of local news organizations and convening a local news collaborative. SpotlightDC is considering moving from funding projects to publishing them, as well. That would be a new challenge.
Finance & Budgeting Experience Offered
On finance, I have a long-standing relationship with Jim Brady, having covered his rise from Washington Post reporter to Knight Foundation official. Many know Brady, of course, but go way back, which could help raise INN funds.
On budgeting, we have a small budget, which became even tighter because of the closing of local news outlets. I learned to do more with less. That could serve me well on the INN Board.
On Advancing Board Diversity
My dedication to diversity in leadership is evident in SpotlightDC’s Board of Directors. Please see spotlightdc.org/board. We recently brought on Kojo Nnamdi and Wes Lowery, two of the most accomplished African American journalists in the region and nation. Our board of nine members represents my devotion to diversity. Moreover, I can see advocating for members of our board to become members of the INN board.
Trip Jennings
Executive Director
New Mexico In Depth Inc.
Watch Trip Jennings’ candidate video.
How many years have you held your current role leading an INN member organization? 12 years
Endorsed by:
Dylan Smith, Editor & Co-Publisher at Tucson Sentinel
Because of his demonstrated success — with finances, being reflective of a diverse community, and committing journalism with deep impact — in building an amazing nonprofit local news outlet for New Mexico over the past 12 years, I enthusiastically endorse Trip Jennings for the INN Board. He’ll be an excellent representative for members, as he readily advises other publishers, encourages more to become involved with the nonprofit news movement, and shows the skills that make him a great journalist by being a curious, caring listener and engaged participant in the constant conversations that make INN members better together.
Irene McKisson, Principal Executive & Co-Founder at Arizona Luminaria
Trip Jennings is a perfect addition to the INN Board as a longtime independent news leader who has the experience to understand what nonprofit organizations need. Trip is a generous member of our news community and is often the first person to offer support to other leaders across the country; I am so happy to endorse Trip for the INN board.
Bio
Hi, I’m Trip Jennings, executive director of New Mexico In Depth. For 20 years I worked at newspapers reporting on everything from the changing face of healthcare to government corruption — one governor went to federal prison, another withdrew his nomination to a presidential cabinet.
In 2012, I co-founded New Mexico In Depth, an investigative digital nonprofit media outlet intent on bettering the lives of New Mexicans, particularly underserved, low-income communities. Our work has changed state laws and regulations, prompted federal and state investigations, exposed racist practices in policing and hospital care and exposed harsh disciplining of Indigenous students at a local school district. In 2022, a series we published documenting elected officials’ inaction despite New Mexico leading the nation in alcohol-related deaths led to the creation of the state’s first-ever office of alcohol prevention.
I picked up my inclination toward challenging power as a kid growing up in Georgia who learned the potency of asking “why are things the way they are,” particularly around race, and from my parents, particularly my mother, who challenged the way things were as a woman making her way in a male-dominated profession. (She was a Presbyterian minister.)
I am running for the INN board to give back to a community that has repeatedly helped New Mexico In Depth over the last 12 years. When I’m not working, I love reading, hanging with my family, long conversations, listening to music and, most importantly, watching my kids grow into inquisitive, compassionate adults.
Engagement with INN
I served on INN’s Rural News Network’s advisory board in 2023. I attended INN Days in San Diego this year, participated as a panelist at INN Days in Washington, D.C. in 2023 and attended INN training at the Online News Association 2022 conference in Los Angeles.
Over the last two years, New Mexico In Depth has participated in three INN collaborations:
New Mexico In Depth participated in 2022 and 2023 Newsmatch campaigns and is enrolled to take part in this year’s campaign. In 2023, New Mexico In Depth won Best Investigative Journalism Award – Small division in 2023 INN awards — and was a finalist in the Breaking Barriers category this year.
On Representing Local & Hyperlocal Organizations
I’ve helmed a small nonprofit newsroom for 12 years and know what it’s like to juggle multiple responsibilities: editing, reporting, back-end administrative work, fundraising, keeping up with industry trends. This work is not only overwhelming at times but isolating. And the pressure to perform is only increasing. Nonprofits are being asked to take on even more responsibility in local news ecosystems as newspapers and other legacy outlets continue to lose staff, even close. Suddenly, many of us are asking ourselves, can we help fill the coverage gap without sacrificing our original mission.
I would hope to apply what I am learning from my participation on an advisory council for a New Mexico organization that is trying to figure out how to respond to expanding news deserts amid the collapse of legacy news. I won’t sugarcoat it. There aren’t any easy answers. Discerning the needs of communities in one state, let alone across the country, is difficult. But gathering data is a good place to start, which is why the advisory council recommended doing a landscape analysis to determine New Mexico’s journalistic needs.
Regular training is more needed than ever. The exodus of experienced journalists has left a gap in mentorship and on-the-job training for a lot of reporters and editors who, despite their passion and smarts, are often being asked to tackle complex stories without backup. Could INN partner with an organization like the Associated Press to provide regular, systematic training? Could it start a mentorship program employing retired journalists?
Finance & Budgeting Experience Offered
I’ve helped to build a 12-year-old nonprofit from scratch. This means I am intimately familiar with budgeting and finance. Every year, I help to put together our organization’s line-item budget, as well as the conversations that precede its creation, i.e.,what are our journalistic/fundraising/administrative goals for the year, how much money do we need to raise, and how do we prioritize spending — while at the same time set aside a portion of revenue into operating reserves. (In today’s environment, we try to keep robust operating reserves due to the many uncertainties that come with running a media outlet. Multi-year grants aren’t always guaranteed and major donors take time to develop. At the same time we’re being asked more frequently how our organization will help to plug holes in local news coverage.)
My interest in budgeting and finance comes after spending years as a statehouse reporter and regularly digging into multi-billion state budgets, comparing policy goals with the money state lawmakers appropriated to help achieve them. Rhetoric doesn’t always match reality, as you might imagine. (Because policy makers are working with finite sources of revenue, there is often much debate over how to appropriate dollars. Even so, the finished product — the state budget — demonstrates how a state assigns value to competing programs and various populations.) I would bring the same analysis to INN’s budgeting process.
On Advancing Board Diversity
I spent my first 20 years in journalism at mostly white newspaper newsrooms around the country. It was foundational to my upbringing as a journalist. It is important to acknowledge this. I see now how mistaken it was to view the journalism we produced as a stand-in for reality when it merely reflected a particular view, i.e., more often than not, white and middle-class.
As more BIPOC-led newsrooms focused on underserved communities have joined INN, it has put into sharp relief how much was missed by those newsrooms. The same influence could be said of newsrooms led by and focused on LBGQT+ communities and women, as well as outlets centered on rural areas rather than city cores and suburbs. This diversity of perspectives has expanded my understanding of the world — perhaps the highest compliment one can pay to journalism. I want an organization that does the same.
If elected, I commit to listening more than I speak. (As a person who’s lived all over the country and met all types of people from all walks of life, I feel my life has become a contradiction: the more I know, the more I realize how much I don’t know.) I would work to expand on INN’s previous work of welcoming more nonprofit outlets run by people of color, LBGTQ+ and women — and rural areas. — as members. I also would advocate for continuing and strengthening INN’s efforts to identify and prepare people from all backgrounds for leadership roles in the organization.
Christiaan Mader
Founder & Editor
The Current Media Inc.
How many years have you held your current role leading an INN member organization? 6 years
Endorsed by:
Richard Young, Executive Director at CivicLex
Christiaan is a tireless news leader that understands the importance of local news journalism to small and midsize cities, not just doing innovative work in the south — he goes above and beyond by bringing more eyes and attention to other outlets through events like their big towns conference. His perspective and his experience running an organization of his size, geography, and scope, would bring an invaluable perspective to the INN board.
Lucas Grindley, Executive Director at NextCity
I’m proud to endorse Christiaan Mader, who knows firsthand the challenges of running a startup local newsroom as founder of The Current in Lafayette. Next City partnered with The Current to launch their Big Towns conference, which is an ambitious idea indicative of Christiaan’s creative and collaborative spirit, experience, innovative thinking, and connection to the South that make him a perfect fit for what the INN board needs right now.
Bio
Christiaan Mader is the editor and co-founder of The Current, a nonprofit news organization serving Lafayette, La. Before launching The Current in 2018, he worked as a reporter covering local government and the arts for an alt-weekly. His work has appeared in The New York Times, NPR, Gambit, Offbeat, 64 Parishes, USA Today Network and The Advocate. He is a member of the INN’s Emerging Leaders Council class of 2024.
Under his leadership, The Current has been recognized for its in-depth journalism and community-oriented reporting, as profiled by IRE, Quill and Poynter. The Current is also an active member of LION and the Louisiana Press Association.
Today, The Current punches well above its weight as a small-scale publication with a track record of editorial excellence and entrepreneurial savvy. The Current has a full-time staff of five and was among the first newsrooms to receive funding from Press Forward.
Engagement with INN
Christiaan is a member of the 2024 Emerging Leaders Council class. The Current participates annually in NewsMatch, and in 2024 joined INN’s audience survey bootcamp.
On Representing Local & Hyperlocal Organizations
Growing a news organization in the Deep South is tricky, especially in a small market like Lafayette. The Current developed without the aid of seed funding or national philanthropy. Lafayette isn’t a big place. The landscape of local foundations is small and relatively undercapitalized. Our environment looks like the operating environment for INN members who don’t hail from large coastal capitals or who pursue national editorial scopes.
Tens of millions of Americans live in towns like Lafayette, and those communities present challenges unique to publishers at that scale: We have a lot of ground to cover, but relatively few resources at hand to cover it. Those headwinds forced us to build a diversified book of business — events, memberships, sponsorship, earned revenue — to bootstrap The Current into a robust operation. In short, we run an award-winning newsroom that’s both effective and on the path to sustainability despite some tall hurdles.
Nonprofit news serving local communities like mine needs more business talent. I’m equipped to advocate for INN programs and policies that can help publishers in small- and mid-sized markets.
Finance & Budgeting Experience Offered
I serve as The Current’s executive director, responsible for managing both near-term and long-term financial planning. The Current grew primarily through conservative budgeting and smart investments into our newsroom’s business operations. Since 2018, The Current’s budget has grown more than ten-fold, and through responsible management accrued a healthy operating reserve. We’ve established realistic revenue and expense benchmarks, making sure to pace our growth according to reasonable assumptions about pathways to revenue.
The Current has understood from early in its founding the role of diversifying its income and the need to acquire earned revenue streams. It’s fundamentally my responsibility to make budget decisions that balance the need for programmatic growth with sound cash management. For instance, we identified opportunities to increase mid-year cash flow by investing time and attention to advertising and event revenue. In 2024, we launched a print magazine to test the market for a new revenue stream. The magazine’s editorial scope was designed with both mission-alignment and return in mind. Designing ambitious concepts within budget is a strength I would bring to this position and to INN’s financial management.
On Advancing Board Diversity
Roughly half of INN’s membership covers local communities. It’s a fast-growing part of INN’s network and a crucial one for its leadership to hear from. Yet very few — roughly a dozen — of INN local newsrooms cover areas of the Deep South outside of major cities like Atlanta, Austin, Dallas or Houston. That’s in part because small- and mid-sized Southern communities tend to lack the capital and cultures that other regions leverage to support relatively healthier news systems. This is where my profile can serve both members and INN as an organization. As a publisher in a mid-sized Southern market, I represent a cohort that faces its own set of challenges that could use attention from INN’s programming and leadership.
Barbara Petersen
Co-Founder & Executive Director
Florida Center for Government Accountability
How many years have you held your current role leading an INN member organization? 4 years
Endorsed by:
Trinity Laurino, Executive Director at LklndNow
I strongly support Barbara Petersen’s candidacy for the INN Board. Her deep commitment to the values of nonprofit journalism, combined with her deep understanding of both the challenges and opportunities facing small local news organizations, would make her an invaluable asset to the board.
Carolyn DiPaolo and Joen Englehardt, Co-Founders at Stet News Palm Beach
We enthusiastically endorse Barbara Petersen for a position on the INN board, who’s professional expertise and support were of special help to Stet News as it was getting off the ground. She is highly respected across Florida for her 25 years of service as the CEO of the First Amendment Foundation, and her leadership continues with the Florida Center for Government Accountability and the Florida Trident.
Bio
My name is Barbara Petersen. I’m the co-founder and executive director of the Florida Center for Government Accountability, publisher of the Florida Trident. We launched FLCGA and the Trident in April 2021 and I’m extremely proud of what we’ve accomplished in such a short period of time.
I served as president of Florida’s First Amendment Foundation for 25 years where I was a strong and successful advocate for the public’s right to oversee its government through application of the state’s open government laws. In my leadership role, I worked with media outlets across the state, helping them with their public record requests so they could serve their communities, hold the powerful accountable and expose wrongdoing. I traveled to newsrooms across the state for 25 years, offering open government training to thousands of reporters on their rights under Florida law. That experience has given me a deep understanding of the needs of local news organizations, experience I have put into practice with FLCGA and the Trident. My work was recognized with numerous awards, including a lifetime achievement award from the Media and Communications Law Committee of the Florida Bar.
As I watched newsrooms shrink, I realized there was a need for a strong, independent organization that could fill the growing local news deserts, assist journalists with their open government needs and litigate violations of Florida’s open government laws. This led to the founding of FLCGA and the Trident, which is 100% donor and grant supported.
Engagement with INN
In addition to attending the INN conferences of the past three years, we have, of course, participated in NewsMatch each year of eligibility. We’ve done extremely well with NewsMatch, each year better than the last, and are now in the throes of planning this year’s campaign. In addition, we were part of the Google News Initiative which gave us a valuable education and access to tools necessary for our sustainability and growth.
On Representing Local & Hyperlocal Organizations
In addition to attending the INN conferences of the past three years, we have, of course, participated in NewsMatch each year of eligibility. We’ve done extremely well with NewsMatch, each year better than the last, and are now in the throes of planning this year’s campaign. In addition, we were part of the Google News Initiative which gave us a valuable education and access to tools necessary for our sustainability and growth.
Finance & Budgeting Experience Offered
Despite our successes, FLCGA remains a small organization with limited resources. We have a staff of three and are heavily dependent on the good relationships with our freelancers and our collaborative partners. Like so many other INN members, we are now faced with the need to both grow and sustain our organization. With 30 years in nonprofit management, I know the difficulties of sustaining growth and have approached the issue with focus and creativity.
The Florida Trident was founded to specifically bridge the ever-widening local news gap and publishes vital community-focused investigative stories in pursuit of that goal. The locale of our reporting runs the gamut from large metropolitan counties to small rural counties, and cities and towns of all sizes across the state. Firmly believing quality investigative reporting is a team effort, we’ve established collaborative relationships with more than a dozen newsrooms around Florida, both big and small, print and broadcast, as well as other community-centered nonprofits. These collaborations allow us to broaden our reach and expand our audience without over-extending our resources.
In addition to our investigative reporting, FLCGA’s public access program uses its legal experience and expertise to assist reporters from other news outlets with their public record requests, litigating unlawful denials of those requests when necessary. We offer our legal assistance to journalists from established newsrooms as well as small nonprofit news outlets and freelancers. Litigation is expensive and we have recruited a pool of experienced attorneys who share our dedication and work on contingency.
On Advancing Board Diversity
With 30 years of nonprofit administrative experience, I have focused on financial sustainability and institutional growth and I will bring that experience to the INN board if elected. When hired to run the First Amendment Foundation in 1995, I was its first – and only – employee. I didn’t have an office, much less a desk or a computer. My budget was $120,000 but I had pledges from the then-St. Petersburg Times and the Miami Herald to cover my annual salary for three years if I was unable to raise sufficient funds. Within five years, FAF was fully sustainable and we were able to hire a full time administrative assistant; within 15 years, we had an endowment of $500,000 and added a receptionist and legal fellow to our staff. I never tapped into the generous offer from the Times and the Herald.
I keep our expense budget tight, taking advantage of nonprofit discounts and INN membership perks. (I do not, however, skimp on freelancer stipends as supporting journalists and investigative journalism is of fundamental importance to FLCGA and its board.) While keeping a firm thumb on expenses, I work with our contracted engagement director in finding new and creative ways to attract donors. The two of us work closely with the FLCGA board and advisory board on identifying potential donors and grantors. Proudly, with our limited budget and resources, in my four years with FLCGA I have yet to run a deficit and have exceeded our budgeted income every year.
Ken Schneck
Editor
The Buckeye Flame
Watch Ken Schneck’s candidate video.
How many years have you held your current role leading an INN member organization? 4 years
Endorsed by:
Tara Francis Chan, Managing Editor & Operations Director at The Appeal
Ken Schneck is the epitome of the leaders we want in our industry: passionate about nonprofit news, creating sustainable models for business and the journalists within them, and deeply and truly committed to meeting the needs of local underserved communities. Having launched a local outlet in only 2020, he will bring a fresh perspective of the very real challenges that small local outlets face, as well as the immense benefits of being a member of the underrepresented communities our outlets seek to serve, to the INN Board.
Dani Kington, Co-Founder & Staff Writer at Athens County Independent
In his role at the Buckeye Flame, Ken has brought immense vision, dedication and energy, as well as a commitment to collaboration and advancing the nonprofit news industry more broadly. I’m confident Ken will bring all this to the INN board, along with a commitment to marginalized communities, rural communities, small outlets and news startups that is needed in the industry and on the INN board.
Bio
Dr. Ken Schneck is the founding editor of The Buckeye Flame, Ohio’s only LGBTQ+ newsroom. For this work, he was honored with the “Sarah Pettit Award for National LGBTQ+ Journalist of the Year.” He also is currently a proud member of the 5th cohort of the Executive Program in News Innovation and Leadership at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.
He previously served as editor of Prizm Magazine and regularly freelances for a variety of Ohio-based publications. For 10 years and 430 episodes, Schneck served as the host/producer of “This Show is So Gay,” a nationally-syndicated radio show. Schneck is the author of the books: “Seriously…What Am I Doing Here? The Adventures of a Wondering and Wandering Gay Jew” (2017), “LGBTQ Cleveland” (2018), “LGBTQ Columbus” (2019) and “LGBTQ Cincinnati” (2020).
Outside of journalism, he is currently a tenured full professor of education at Baldwin Wallace University and previously was a Dean of Students for 10 years…which he will never do again.
Engagement with INN
In addition to being an avid reader of the weekly newsletter and devouring various webinars, The Buckeye Flame has also participated in: the GNI Fundamentals Lab & the Planning for Revenue Growth Lab. Both of which were transformative.
On Representing Local & Hyperlocal Organizations
The Buckeye Flame solely serves LGBTQ+ Ohio: not just a specific geographic area, but a demographically specific subset of a geographic area. Although we have repeatedly been told by consultants to expand our focus, we have found that our value is rooted in doing the exact opposite: resisting the siren-calls to chase revenue via adding in more communities to instead stay true to our founding mission of amplifying LGBTQ+ Ohio.
I spend my days immersed in the needs and views of our local Ohio LGBTQ+ community and that focus has enhanced our output, audience response and measurable impact. I fully understand and appreciate the calls to broaden a hyperlocal organization’s reach, but I will always be the guy who extols the virtues of supporting a specific local community and supporting a specific local community well.
Finance & Budgeting Experience Offered
Spreadsheets are great and I can certainly navigate spreadsheets. I have grown the budget of The Buckeye Flame exponentially (from the $0 where we started in 2020 to our current financial status of “solid & sustainable”). Good budgeting is the only way to keep a scrappy, tiny, queer nonprofit newsroom alive, so I feel pretty confident about my skills in that area. That said, to me finance and budgeting are connected to value. If the value of INN is clearly established and newsrooms and the community-at-large are in agreement about said value, then the budgeting process will have more levers to pull.
I chafe at the idea that a board finance committee exists as a standalone, separate sub-group with occasional reports to the full group. My philosophy is that everyone on the board is a representative of the budget and must have a working knowledge of how finances support the organization (even if there is one specific committee that has more targeted dialogue about interest rates and ROI).
On Advancing Board Diversity
I would most definitely be bringing a queer, midwest vibe to the board…unless someone is already bringing that, in which case: I would most definitely be bringing even MORE queer, midwest vibes to the board. I also come to journalism from a different route: I’ve spent my career in academia. As that comes to a close next semester, I’m excited to have journalism be my sole focus.
With regards to member budget, The Buckeye Flame started in 2020 with $0 and has grown to a $400K endeavor. I absolutely love repping the start-up newsroom life, with all of its joys and challenges. In addition to our LGBTQ+ work, The Buckeye Flame has a commitment to amplifying rural voices. We have on staff the only (until someone tells us we’re wrong and then I’ll stop saying it!) rural LGBTQ+ beat reporter in the country. I would certainly be looking for every opportunity to highlight queer, rural and rural queer communities through this board experience.
Ron “Ronshine” Smith
Executive Director & INN Board Member
Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
How many years have you held your current role leading an INN member organization? 5 years
Endorsed by:
Wendi C. Thomas, Founder at MLK50
I have worked with Ron on the INN board and appreciate how he advocates for all the newsrooms, but particularly, for those newsrooms that are small in size but big in ambition.
Dee J. Hall, Editor-in-chief at Floodlight & Co-Founder at Wisconsin Watch
INN needs leaders like Ron Smith who are not afraid to get their fingernails dirty and do the work that is needed to champion great journalism and advocate for our organization. He has the drive, the talent and the skills to make us all better, and the vision not only to see what we are but also what we can become.
Bio
Greetings! My name is Ron Smith and I serve as the executive director of the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, a nonprofit newsroom that strives to paint a complete portrait of our city’s resilient Black and Latinx communities. Everything you need to know about me can be summed up in four words: I proceed until apprehended.
I want to make this world a better place by running an outlet that informs and transforms. Although I’ve worked as a senior leader in newsrooms such as USA TODAY, The Oregonian and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, this is the toughest job I’ve ever had. We all know the nonprofit life ain’t for the faint of heart. INN brings us all together to help ensure journalism that serves our communities community flourishes and is sustained. My goal is to do my part to help us all succeed.
I particularly want to ensure that small newsrooms are seen and heard. We need resources. We need support. And we need advocates. Moreover, there is so much collective wisdom in the INN membership that we can be drawn upon to lift one another up. That’s the power of our organization, and I wish to leverage this as we continue to grow.
Engagement with INN
My organization has taken advantage of all the resources related to NewsMatch as well as INN webinars, INN Days and also looking at and learning from the collective successes and challenges of our membership overall.
On Representing Local & Hyperlocal Organizations
I run a hyperlocal newsroom that serves Black and Latinx audiences. As an African American male leader, I have often been in journalism spaces where I am the “only.” I bring these experiences with me as secretary of the INN Board. I always look at who’s in the room–and who’s not-to ensure we all thrive and rise.
Finance & Budgeting Experience Offered
When I first started in my job, I was focused on the journalism. But now I am equally focused on the business of journalism because good ideas won’t keep a newsroom in business. I am never going to be a CPA but I am a lifelong learner, who is willing to ask questions to get the answers needed to make important decisions not only for my newsroom but for our organization.
On Advancing Board Diversity
As an African American male whose newsroom covers Black and Brown residents, I bring diversity in terms of race, gender and represent small newsrooms that might be small in number but big in ambition. Community-centered newsrooms that serve people of color have to have a voice as we are on the frontlines of reaching audiences that have been ignored by legacy media.
Gillian White
Chief Revenue Officer
Capital B
Watch Gillian White’s candidate video.
How many years have you held your current role leading an INN member organization? 3 years
Endorsed by:
Lance Knobel, CEO & Co-Founder at Cityside
I am delighted to recommend Gillian White for the INN board of directors as she is an innovative thinker about how nonprofit news organizations can be both sustainable and truly serve the communities in which they work. I saw through our collaboration on the Black Political Power Tour her skill in involving multiple stakeholders while ensuring that a clear vision was executed in a complex project which would make her a valuable board member, assisting INN in supporting its member organizations and lobbying for more resources for communities nationwide.
Ron Smith, Executive Director at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service & INN Board Member
I believe Gillian, given her dynamic leadership skills and experiences, will bring new ideas to the board as INN fleshes out strategy to serve a diverse membership during a time when journalism is under attack and journalists are needed more than ever.
Bio
Gillian White is the Chief Revenue Officer and member of the founding leadership team at Capital B, a first-of-its-kind Black-led nonprofit local and national news organization centering Black communities and experiences. As Chief Revenue Officer, she is responsible for building a sustainable business to support Capital B’s crucial work and developing platforms that help showcase Capital B’s journalism and connect with its audience. She oversees development, memberships, and earned revenue and helps drive the strategic direction of Capital B.
She has extensive experience in business development at media companies, including developing editorial events and live journalism programs, membership and subscription programs, sponsorships and advertising, development and philanthropy, and thinking big about the revenue possibilities of impactful, meaningful journalism. Before joining Capital B, Gillian was a managing editor at The Atlantic, where she oversaw special projects, podcasts, and editorial Atlantic Live events. Her previous roles at the magazine include deputy editor, senior editor, and senior associate editor. Prior to joining The Atlantic in 2014, White was an associate editor and columnist at Kiplinger, where she covered economics, financial services, housing, retail, and small business. Her writing has also appeared in The New York Times, Bloomberg, and MarketWatch. White is a member of The Philadelphia Inquirer’s board of directors.
Engagement with INN
Michelle Williams, Capital B’s director of growth and partnerships, was a 2023 Emerging Leader at INN. Additionally, Jahmaiah Dones Capital B’s development director participated in INN”s 2023 Major Gifts Cohort Program. Gillian and Akoto Ofori-Atta are currently participating in the INN/Google News Initiative Fundamentals Lab on memberships, audience, and revenue. Gillian and other Capital B leaders have also spoken at INN”s annual conference, INN Days.
On Representing Local & Hyperlocal Organizations
My background in journalism has allowed me to learn, inflect, partner with, and lead many types of journalistic endeavors and organizations. From helping to create the “Our Towns” initiative at The Atlantic with Jim and Deb Fallows (focused on reporting from small towns across America), to mapping out Capital B’s expansion strategy into new cities, like Gary, I understand that different communities have different needs. And so do the organizations that serve them. I think it’s critical that we work to understand the varied needs, goals, and audiences of the nonprofit news organization and make sure that we are not applying one-size-fits all solutions to their challenges. Whether it’s managing our own plans to expand into new news deserts or finding ways to partner with small, local nonprofits to help expand their reach and our depth, I am always eager to learn, listen, and problem solve. I will bring that same enthusiasm to this role.
Finance & Budgeting Experience Offered
In my role as Chief Revenue Officer, I lead the business side of Capital B including development, earned revenue, and business development operations. As a nonprofit, Capital B works with partners, foundations, and small and large donors to ensure that we can fund our organization and fulfill our mission to tell Black stories for and by Black people. Since we launched Capital B, we have told hundreds of Black stories, grown the newsroom, increased readership, raised over $15 million in funding, and I currently manage an annual $7 million operating budget. In addition to my Capital B work, I serve on the finance committee within the Philadelphia Inquirer’s board of directors, and also started my career on Wall Street as an analyst at major insurance companies and investment banks.
On Advancing Board Diversity
I’m extremely proud that we’ve built Capital B as a Black woman led, Black woman founded newsroom with a predominately Black staff serving Black communities. We work in tandem with partners from a wide variety of outlets and backgrounds to make sure that our collective communities around the country are seen, heard, and served by local journalism and that Black stories are elevated to the national stage. We represent major communities like Atlanta, Georgia, and small shrinking communities, like Gary, Indiana. We cover rural communities as one of our central beats and work closely with partners like the Rural News Network. We also have a unique local-national model, which allows me to understand the promise and challenges of serving communities at vastly different scales. Perhaps most importantly, I understand and believe that a diverse nonprofit media ecosystem will help ensure a strong journalism industry and a better flow of information, facts, and engagement in civic life.
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