A 10-year impact report released today shows how the NewsMatch program from the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) has served as the engine of the nonprofit news movement, helping independent news organizations gain fundraising savvy, grow individual giving revenue and build sustainability over time.
Piloted by Knight Foundation in 2016 and operated by INN to benefit members of the INN Network, NewsMatch combines fundraising training, creative campaign assets and a pooled fund of matching gifts to help hundreds of nonprofit outlets build relationships with the audiences they serve – and increase revenue from individual donations and major gifts.
“For ten years, NewsMatch has shown that communities are willing to invest in the news and information they rely on,” said Amalie Nash, vice president for journalism at Knight Foundation. “Knight is proud to have committed almost $25 million to catalyze and scale this proven solution to strengthening community-supported newsrooms nationwide.”
The NewsMatch Impact Report, and corresponding data from the annual INN Index survey of member newsrooms, point to five trends over the past five years:
- The average number of donors to outlets participating in NewsMatch has increased, with the portion of donors making gifts above $1,000 more than doubling from 2021 to 2025.
- Match funds secured by newsrooms from local sources skyrocketed from just 17 in 2017 to 1,255 last year as the tools provided through NewsMatch helped persuade major donors to make news part of their charitable giving.
- For newsrooms participating in NewsMatch between 2021 and 2025, the growth of individual giving outpaced the growth of foundation support.
- Annual revenue of NewsMatch participants has grown: the portion operating on under $250,000 per year fell from nearly 40 percent in 2021 to 22 percent in 2025, while the portion with budgets over $1 million rose from 28 percent to 43 percent.
- As newsrooms grew their budgets through NewsMatch and other revenue-generating efforts, they were able to hire more people: the average number of staff increased by 25 percent from 2021 to 2025.
Democracy Fund joined with Knight in 2017 and has invested in NewsMatch every year since. Josh Stearns, the foundation’s managing director of programs, credits NewsMatch with democratizing journalism.
“One of the most powerful parts of NewsMatch is how it has grown the capacity of nonprofit newsrooms to develop a broad base of community support,” said Stearns. “When journalism serves the public and is funded by the public, it creates positive feedback loops that make reporting more resilient, accountable, and democratic. Over the last decade, the training, support, and shared resources NewsMatch has provided have helped nonprofit news reshape how Americans are informed and engaged.”
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation also funded NewsMatch in 2017 and has supported the program annually since 2023.
“Over the last decade, we’ve seen NewsMatch help local newsrooms raise critical dollars and build lasting relationships with the people and communities who believe in their work,” said Silvia Rivera, the director of local news at MacArthur Foundation. “MacArthur recognizes NewsMatch as essential field infrastructure — strengthening nonprofit newsrooms, mobilizing donors, and affirming local news as a public good.”
In total, newsrooms participating in INN’s NewsMatch have leveraged $45 million in funding to help raise nearly 10 times that amount from their audiences. As INN’s CEO Karen Rundlet put it, NewsMatch created a “habit” of year-end fundraising.
“NewsMatch became a success not just by providing matching dollars, but also by training INN members to improve their own fundraising skills and know-how. It is habit-building,” said Rundlet. “Beyond the individual newsrooms, it elevated the visibility of nonprofit news as a whole. The model works.”
Read the NewsMatch at 10 Impact Report.
About INN’s NewsMatch
NewsMatch is a collaborative fundraising initiative designed to attract and diversify nonprofit news supporters. The program engages small-dollar contributors, major donors, local foundations and small businesses to the nonprofit news field by leveraging the power of matching campaigns and advancing newsroom skills to generate individual giving.
In 2025, the program included a coalition of 22 program funders and supported more than 400 nonprofit newsrooms. All NewsMatch participants are members of the INN Network and have been vetted by INN for standards of original news reporting, editorial independence and financial transparency.
Since 2017, NewsMatch campaigns have helped bring nearly 600,000 new donors to support INN members serving their communities with fact-based, unbiased news and information.
Learn more about how NewsMatch works and see year-over-year results:
inn.org/newsmatch
Explore the participating newsrooms:
https://findyournews.org/campaign/newsmatch/
