Network News

Announcements

INN launches partnership with LexisNexis Rule of Law Foundation

By |

Members of the Institute for Nonprofit News will soon have low-cost access to LexisNexis, a powerful reporting and research tool, thanks to a new partnership with the LexisNexis Rule of Law Foundation. As part of the partnership, INN members will have heavily discounted access to two key LexisNexis tools — LexisNexis News and LexisNexis Diligence — as well as a guaranteed price for the LexisNexis public records tool, SmartLinx. Members can choose from the available options to create the LexisNexis tool that makes the most sense for their organization. "In my time with INN, the single thing I've heard from members most often is, 'Can you help us get affordable access to LexisNexis?' I'm so glad that we can finally help nonprofit newsrooms get lower cost access to this powerful reporting tool," said Jonathan Kealing, INN's chief network officer.

Mother Jones: Legacy news magazine follows the readers to digital growth and nonprofit donor support

By |

Case study co-published by Institute for Nonprofit News and the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. The PDF version from INN can be downloaded here and was designed by Elizabeth Scott. For five takeaway tips from this case study, click here. In February 2012, the nonprofit news organization Mother Jones published a seemingly ordinary story that would prove to change its fate. The story profiled a Republican donor, Frank VanderSloot, and among other things, his treatment of a gay journalist.

Steal These Ideas: Five Tips from the MoJo Case Study

By |

Below are five lessons from MoJo’s experiences that other nonprofit investigative newsrooms can adapt and use. These tips stem from the INN/Shorenstein Center case study on Mother Jones, published Dec. 9, 2019. One: Treat your audience like your public board. By sharing strategic information like company financials and plans for the future, Mother Jones opened up a new relationship with its audience.

Member News
SD News Watch team

How South Dakota News Watch uncovered abuses in a youth home and changed state policies

By |

It was a story waiting too long for public attention: Some staff members at a rural facility housing young people with behavioral issues had physically, sexually and psychologically abused the children. South Dakota News Watch uncovered the story in June — resulting in the governor ordering an overhaul of the inspection processes for all youth treatment facilities in the state. The "Treatment or Trauma?" series exposed the harsh physical restraints on the residents that some employees of the facility regularly used — resulting in facial rug burns, black eyes, bloody noses, bruising and injured limbs. The story relied on a dozen on-the-record interviews and documents hard to obtain in a state with weak public records laws.

Announcements

NewsMatch 2019 Analytics how-to guide now available

By |

Use this step-by-step guide to build your news organization’s NewsMatch campaign
The Institute for Nonprofit News has launched a how-to guide on working with web analytics to provide newsrooms participating in NewsMatch 2019 with easy-to-use tools and examples to develop their fundraising programs.  Nearly 200 INN members are participating in the nonprofit news annual fundraising campaign, which runs Nov. 1 through Dec. 31. The weeks leading up to the Nov. 1 launch are a critical window to prepare newsrooms’ campaigns.

Announcements

INN Major Gifts Coaching Cohort raises $1.7M

By |

LOS ANGELES – October 08, 2019 – The Institute for Nonprofit News today released a case study on results of an INN pilot program that tested strategies and tools the nonprofit news field can use to increase major donor support for their work. The study found that even small investments in major donor programs can reap major results. For eight of the nonprofits in the pilot, the increases in major donor giving ranged from between 9 percent to 367 percent, and collectively they raised $1.7 million in net new revenue. Securing funding is the fundamental challenge of the emerging nonprofit news field. Gifts from individuals contributed provide nearly 70 percent of all U.S. nonprofits’ charitable donations in 2018, according to GivingUSA.

A scene of Arcadia, Wisconsin

INN launches editorial collaboration on decline of rural hospitals

By |

Lyle Muller, the first editor of Iowa Watch, grew up in rural northeastern Iowa and had a personal and professional interest in reporting on the struggles of rural hospitals. Jennifer Hemmingsen, a former reporter and now an editorial writer at the Seattle Times, recalls the uproar in rural Minnesota when Mayo Clinic announced its plan to remove inpatient medical and surgical services and obstetrics from the local hospital in Albert Lea. Hemmingsen’s parents grew up in the area, and her first newspaper job was in the town. “It really felt like their town would be abandoned. It was huge.

INN adds nonprofit news Startup Guide, updates “Learn” resource site

By |

The Institute for Nonprofit News is launching an updated INN Learn site with new resources for people starting and running nonprofit sites. The biggest addition is the Startup Guide, where INN has collected answers to thousands of questions INN fields from folks exploring how to start a news organization. INN will continue to build these resources and collect new questions from founders during free monthly startup info sessions. The guide walks news site planners through key steps in starting a nonprofit news outlet. From building a mission to creating a board of directors, the Startup Guide is a resource for those asking the questions: Should I start a news outlet?

Introducing the journalism awards Google Calendar

By |

Every day, I send out a newsletter with the best of nonprofit journalism from the Midwest, with an audience mostly comprised of nonprofit news editors. As the audience development specialist for INN’s Amplify News Project, I try to include other links that I’m seeing from the journalism industry that could be helpful for smaller outlets trying to grow their audience—events, trainings, guides, etc. The links for journalism award submissions are among the most clicked-on resources I share. Consistently. It’s no secret that journalists love awards.