We’re awarding a flat stipend of $600 per attendee selected to receive a travel stipend. We aim to notify all selected attendees to receive a travel stipend by July 31 to ensure they have time to arrange flights and book hotels. Stipends will be paid the week following the event, and payment is contingent on checking into the event.

The application to apply for a travel stipend is below and will open on June 27.

To apply, you must be a LION member and be traveling to the conference. If you are a local publisher who may need lodging only, please reach out to summit@lionpublishers.com. Check here if you are unsure whether you’re currently a member.

If you have additional questions, please email summit@lionpublishers.com.

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Hayley Milloy, LION Publishers: What is your 30-second elevator pitch (or 75-word pitch) to a LION member on what RJI does?

Kat Duncan, Reynolds Journalism Institute: RJI empowers journalists with knowledge, tools and funding to strengthen journalism through practical innovation. We tackle timely challenges, needs and gaps to help build safer, stronger, more equitable, diverse and inclusive journalism, news spaces and relationships with the communities we serve. We serve small newsrooms and community-centered journalists. It is incredibly rewarding because, in my experience, they are the most forward-thinking and excited to experiment to find new ways to better serve our communities.

Hayley: And what do you do at RJI? Why did you join the team?

Kat: I am the director of innovation; I lead our innovation team, which builds and manages all our innovative projects, tools, programs and initiatives. I joined RJI after years of working in newsrooms across the country as a visual journalist, editor and manager. I always loved managing teams in newsrooms but often felt like I wasn’t provided with the resources to support my teams the way they needed and deserved.

RJI offered me the opportunity to help journalists every day. I get to build tools, programs, training and opportunities that help them be safer and more supported and give them the cutting-edge skills they want — and I get to do it in a way that makes it accessible and affordable for them. It is truly an honor to do this work, and I am so thrilled every day I get to do it.

Hayley: What’s a recent success story you’d like to share about how RJI has helped a LION member collaborate with another outlet or institution, experiment with a new idea, or develop skills to improve their news business’s sustainability?

Kat: Last year, I launched our Community-Centered Symposium. I consistently hear from the newsrooms and journalists we work with that training and conferences are too expensive, and they have no support or resources from their newsrooms to access them. I also hear over and over that many small newsrooms and community-centered journalists often feel like they’re working on an island, without a like-minded network to share ideas or help them when they need it. 

So I built the symposium, which helps community-centered journalists not only access an innovation-driven journalism workshop at very little cost to them (we provide hotel rooms, two meals a day and some flight scholarships) but is also built to make the collaborative experience as helpful to their day-to-day challenges and needs as possible. 

Last year, we had our first cohort of 28 journalists who spent a weekend at RJI working and learning with each other and then went on to pursue new-to-them projects in their newsrooms. I have loved working with these journalists over the past eight months to support, build out and launch their ideas in their communities. I can’t wait for next year’s group to get started. If you’re interested in joining us in October, applications are open through June 28!

Hayley: What’s one actionable, practical, low-lift tip you want to share with LION members?

Kat: That innovation does not mean expensive, shiny or high-lift. You can do so many practical, useful and impactful things for your newsrooms and communities that won’t cost you extra money from your budget — the most important step is to free up some space and time to try something new. Start small, listen to your communities and don’t be scared to try something just for a few weeks or months and see what happens.

Hayley: What’s one question you think the independent news industry — our members, academic institutions like you, support organizations like us, and funders — should be asking about the future of doing this work?

Kat: I think everything we do should be centered around “How does this help the communities we serve?” I often see our industry get caught up in shiny trends or fall back on just continuing old-school traditions — rather than asking ourselves if what we’re doing truly serves those we’re here for. Are we listening to our communities or just assuming we know what they need? If we’re truly here for them, they will see that through our actions and choices, which is what will build trust and investment in our newsrooms and our future.

Hayley: Are there any upcoming or future initiatives that RJI is working on that you want to preview for us?

Kat: We always have a few exciting things on the horizon! We’re currently building a toolkit with The Appeal to share how to implement their worker-led processes, structure and policies. We hope this will help newsrooms embrace equitable power sharing, thriving wages and care-centered policies for their journalists. We’re also building a resource with the KC Defender to show newsrooms how to replicate their community-centered initiatives and social strategy. We announced our 2024 fellows, who will all be working to build useful and much-needed resources for journalists starting in July.

Hayley: What’s the best way for LION members and others to try or learn more about RJI’s offerings?

Kat: I send out a newsletter once a month with all our innovation team projects, programs, workshops and opportunities. Just once a month, I promise. You can also follow me on LinkedIn or my team on Instagram. And, of course, my virtual door is always open; feel free to book time on my calendar to talk to me.

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Hayley Milloy, LION Publishers: What is your 30-second elevator pitch (or 75-word pitch) to a LION member on what Indiegraf does?

Sam Hoisington, Indiegraf: Indiegraf offers technology and services to help independent publishers make more money and grow their audiences. Our tech bundle includes a website, ads manager, and newsletter platform, so you only have to work with one technology solution. Our audience and advertising support services are super flexible, from one-time project support to ongoing coaching.

Hayley: And what do you do at Indiegraf? Why did you join the team?

Sam: I have a pretty unique role here! I’m the publisher partnerships manager, working with prospective partners to figure out how Indiegraf can help them accomplish their goals. I’m also an Indiegraf network publisher myself through my work with The Bentonville Bulletin. As the company’s entrepreneur-in-residence, I blog about my experience with founding a news startup in our newsletter.

Hayley: What’s a recent success story you’d like to share about how Indiegraf has improved a LION member business’s sustainability?

Sam: One success story that’s personally very meaningful to me is our successful NewsMatch collaboration with The Buckeye Flame. With the help of Indiegraf senior audience strategist Emily Fearon, we helped them raise over $41,000, including matching funds. The Buckeye Flame is using the funding to cover a Report for America corps member, who will be the only known “Rural LGBTQ+” beat reporter in the country.

Hayley: Do you have any actionable, practical, low-lift tips you want to share with LION members?

Sam: Yes! I’m always looking for easy wins.

1. Recirculate your “old” content. If you have a daily or weekly newsletter, include the links from the last edition at the bottom of the new one. We did this at Madison Minutes, a daily newsletter I started in 2021 and sold last year, and the links for “yesterday’s news” were very popular.
2. Send more fundraising/subscription offer emails. If you do, you will almost certainly make more money. If you’re nervous about it, sign up for newsletters from a legacy newspaper or an established nonprofit outside journalism. In both cases, you’ll see they almost always send way more fundraising emails than indie publishers typically do.

Hayley: What’s one question you think the independent news industry — our members, vendors like you, support organizations like us, and funders — should be asking about the future of doing this work? 

Sam: Right now, news founders selflessly assume all of the responsibility and risk when launching a news startup. They often invest their own money, even when they personally don’t have many resources. In this way, local news founders are more philanthropic than Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates combined.

How do we reduce that risk? This is a societal problem — we should be supporting news founders way more comprehensively.

Hayley: Are there any upcoming or future initiatives that Indiegraf is working on that you want to preview for us?

Sam: We’re in the early stages of expanding our growth services in the form of Indie Experts, project-based support across all aspects of running an indie news business. As of now, there are limited audience and ads/sponsorship growth services available on a one-time and recurring basis.

Hayley: What’s the best way for LION members and others to try or learn more about Indiegraf’s services?

Sam: If anybody wants to talk about Indiegraf — or news entrepreneurship in general — they can book a call with me here. Our website also has details on all of our products and services.

Indiegraf is a technology and growth services company that provides an all-in-one package for news publishers who need a website, email, and ad platform, as well as access to expert support under one umbrella. Learn more at https://indiegraf.com/.

The post An all-in-one solution: How Indiegraf helps independent news publishers save time and money appeared first on LION Publishers.

Hayley Milloy, LION Publishers: What is your 30-second elevator pitch (or 75-word pitch) to a LION member on what BlueLena does?

Ned Berke, BlueLena: BlueLena is an independent publisher’s audience development back office. We’re collaborators, coaches and cheerleaders for our publishers, and serve as an extension of their teams. With experts in campaign management, audience growth strategy, tech stack management, newsletter and engagement product development, and donor/subscriber stewardship, we bring the technology and cross-disciplinary skillsets required to execute on sustainability goals and give publishers more time and resources to focus on what matters most: serving their communities.

Hayley: And what do you do at BlueLena? Why did you join the team?

Ned: I’m the Chief Strategy Officer, and since BlueLena’s primary product is strategy development and execution, I’m responsible for conceiving, delivering and refining our product offering — including how we collaborate with clients and the solutions we build for them. I’m also chiefly responsible for delivering on their audience and revenue goals. 

I was BlueLena’s first hire in 2021, and I joined because we’re driven by a mission to support independent news publishers — without limiting our support to coverage area, tax status or revenue model. We require only that our publishers serve their respective communities and are driven to do better every day and act with integrity and respect for their audiences. I’m a former LION publisher and one of the founding board members who helped write the original bylaws of the organization. I know first-hand the overwhelming challenges publishers confront every day, and when we envision solutions, it’s always steeped in these experiences and designed to continually lower barriers to sustainability. 

I could go on at length there, but I’ll leave it at this: independent local media is the backbone of democracy and an equitable civic ecosystem, but it’s increasingly outmatched by market forces, tech platforms and the resources of deep-pocketed corporate media. We work to level the playing field by making tools, technology and talent more accessible to independent publishers.

Hayley: What’s a recent success story you’d like to share about how BlueLena has improved a LION member business’s sustainability?

Ned: Oh gosh, we do this all day, every day, and it’s hard to pick one. We’re incredibly proud of the work we’ve done from pre-launch to ongoing management of some of the American Journalism Project grantees, including Mirror Indy, Springfield Daily Citizen and Spotlight Delaware. It’s so much harder to build audiences today than it was a decade ago, and these publishers found quick footing, produced impactful journalism, and today have the financial backing of thousands of readers. For Shawnee Mission Post (now Johnson County Post), we’ve pioneered robust subscriber funnel management tactics, rebuilt site technology and provided marketing guidance that’s grown and retained their subscriber base over four years. And the work we’re doing with Montana Free Press and CalMatters to leverage data and automation to grow large gift-giving pipelines and swell the mid-tier gift-giving numbers is so exciting because it stands to make non-profits far more resilient and less reliant on foundation and major philanthropic support.

Hayley: What’s one actionable, practical, low-lift tip you want to share with LION members?

Ned: Don’t be shy. Publishers are often afraid of coming off as needy or annoying and so they hold back when trying to engage readers, but they don’t realize how eager readers are to invest in work they believe in. Yes, readers encounter a lot of noise and you need to be respectful of that. But in reaction to the noise, readers are not looking for silence — they’re looking for signals! You need to make yourself heard.

Hayley: What’s one question you think the independent news industry — our members, vendors like you, support organizations like us, and funders — should be asking about the future of doing this work? 

Ned: Just one question? Fine. How do we turn the tide on the rising costs of independent media ownership and distribution? At least since the invention of the Gutenberg press, every technological advancement in the history of media has lowered barriers to independent ownership. That means more people with more ideas reaching more audiences — powering a thought marketplace that has accelerated our march toward a more equitable and just world. I think the last 10 years have seen a reversal in that trend; while the ideas still proliferate for now, they’re shared on channels that are not independently owned and that have been steering towards more moderation. It’s now more expensive, and requires greater investment in tools and talent, and still with no certain path to sustainability. That’s a huge risk, not just for the industry but for democracy. And since media spins off ever smaller margins, there’s not a lot of incentive for tech providers to invest in the innovation of affordable products that let independent media operators own their audiences. So I think that’s what the industry should be thinking about — how to get back to the centuries-long trend of increasingly accessible, affordable ownership of distribution channels for independent media.

Hayley: Are there any upcoming or future initiatives that BlueLena is working on that you want to preview for us?

Ned: Yes! We recently launched BlueLena Academy, a reader revenue training program that provides the technology and the skills to grow reader support in-house. And we’re getting past the pilot period with our Customer Relationship Management (CRM) managed offering, which is where we leverage newsletter and site engagement data to inform large gift-giving pipelines and automate donor stewardship to make larger revenue development efforts more efficient. But mainly? We just love to experiment. So if you’ve got a cool idea around audience growth, engagement and monetization, and want to figure out how to build it, come talk to us!

Hayley: What’s the best way for LION members and others to try or learn more about BlueLena’s services?

Ned: Schedule a call! We’d love to chat. Thanks, Hayley!

BlueLena enables success for over 200 independent news organizations by deploying world-class technology and delivering the expertise and professional services to build long-term sustainable journalism business models. Learn more at https://bluelena.io.

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The program includes a thorough assessment of each participating news business, including actionable recommendations, resources, and up to $20,000 in direct funding to help them take the next steps toward organizational sustainability (see how we’ve charted the path to sustainability via our maturity model). These organizations will work with dedicated expert analysts who will offer guidance based on each organization’s needs and ambitions.

In April, we outlined LION’s plan for the future of Sustainability Audits as a tool to assess and support the growth of independent news businesses of all different sizes and ambitions. Toward that end, we are excited to partner with Blue Engine, an organization that coaches news organizations in every area of journalism sustainability, for Cycle 2 of this year’s program. Blue Engine will conduct Audits for 10 LIONs that we classify as being in our “Growing” stage, helping improve how we define sustainability and offer support for larger organizations.

Applications for the Sustainability Audits are open now through September 9, and all U.S.-based LION members who have not yet received an Audit are encouraged to apply. LION intends to complete 173 total Sustainability Audits in 2024.

You can read more about each participating organization and their interest in the Audit below. Congratulations to these 47 news businesses as they continue along their journey to organizational sustainability!

AfroLA

Interest in the Sustainability Audit:  While we’ve made great strides in our operations and workflows, maintaining the level we’re at now isn’t sustainable.

Mission: AfroLA is solutions-focused, data-driven and community-centered journalism for Los Angeles, told through the lens of the Black community, and with emphasis on how news may disparately impact L.A.’s most vulnerable groups and communities of color.

Based in: Los Angeles, CA

Alameda Post Inc.

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: We are in our third year of operations, and although we have learned a lot, there is much more that we do not know. Our goal is to strengthen our business to ensure our ability to serve our community for many more years to come.

Mission: The Alameda Post serves the community by reporting current news and information, promoting community groups, diversity, and cultural awareness, and preserving Alameda’s history for future generations.

Based in: Alameda, CA

Athens County Independent

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: We have big ambitions for the Independent and for our publishing entity, Southeast Ohio Independent News. We want to create a replicable model for sustainable local news in rural and impoverished areas. We don’t know what we don’t know, so the Sustainability Audit is a way for us to learn more about our current operations and how we can improve them.

Mission: The Athens County Independent empowers community engagement through accessible public service journalism.

Based in: Athens, OH

Black Belt News Network

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: The Black Belt News Network covers multiple counties in an impoverished, rural area in Alabama’s midsection where the community gets no regular online news coverage. Filling that news desert is expensive and requires more people than we currently have. We hope the Audit will help us find our future, which could include becoming a nonprofit, so we can stay around and provide news to a community that desperately needs us.

Mission: The Black Belt News Network is a regional online news site that covers six counties in the rural and culturally rich midsection of Alabama. We bring news to readers through traditional in-depth stories written by experienced journalists and through innovative journalism that includes video packages, social media engagement and a live weekly newscast. We are also the community’s news agency, gathering information, photos and videos from a diverse freelance staff made up of moms, teachers, recent grads, retirees and students from throughout the six counties to ensure all corners are reached.

Based in: Selma, AL

BoiseDev (Day365 LLC)

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: We are five years into our business and have seen great growth. We are working to expand our coverage, improve our staffing levels and pay for journalists; this is a great opportunity to help that.

Mission: We do not have a mission statement as we think it’s self-evident, but instead have adopted these values: We strive to be an innovative and impartial local news source focused on original & transparent reporting. We seek to give a voice to those without power. Our team will be accountable to each other and our readers. We will be gracious and tactful. We put readers first.

Based in: Boise, ID

Borderless Magazine

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: I want to take Borderless to the next level: having a $1 million plus budget, a staff of 10+ and a strong financial reserve.

Mission: Borderless Magazine NFP is reimagining immigration journalism for a more just and equitable future.

Based in: Chicago, IL

Bushwick Daily / Brooklyn New Media LLC

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: Bushwick Daily is interested in a Sustainability Audit to ensure the long-term viability of our operations and deepen our community engagement. By refining our strategies through insights from the Audit, we aim to enhance operational efficiency and financial health, optime resource allocation and grow revenue to maximize our impact. This process will allow us to maintain and expand our role as a crucial resource for Bushwick’s diverse population.

Mission: Bushwick Daily is the cornerstone of community engagement in Bushwick, Brooklyn, providing thorough local news and dynamic cultural coverage. We empower residents with insightful journalism to understand and influence their surroundings, strengthening connections within the community.

Based in: New York, NY

Chicago Southsider

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: Chicago Southsider began as a digital newsletter startup within Facebook’s Bulletin program. After the program was discontinued, we lost our primary source of revenue. Despite exploring various revenue opportunities over the past two years, none have significantly improved our financial sustainability. Through the LION Sustainability Audit, I aim to gain feedback and insights that will help me assess whether Chicago Southsider can achieve financial sustainability within the next 12 months, allowing us to continue serving our more than 30,000 subscribers.

Mission: Chicago Southsider is a Facebook Bulletin newsletter-turned-community news site that helps to “unlock the best of Chicago’s South Side, one community at a time.” Our mission is to amplify the stories, perspectives, and experiences of historically marginalized individuals and communities by leveraging solutions journalism, and providing community resources and news.

Based in: Chicago, IL

Chilkat Valley News

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: This newspaper has been in business since 1966 but has never meaningfully pivoted to digital either internally or externally. I’m particularly interested in identifying processes that could make our current revenue streams easier to manage, identifying new potential revenue streams that staff are qualified and capable of managing, and identifying ways we could streamline our current news operation.

Mission: We are an independent newsroom telling stories that celebrate the unique spirit of the Chilkat Valley and Southeast Alaska. We focus on systemic disparities, highlight marginalized communities and explore solutions aimed at creating a more equitable society. We aim to create unity and belonging in our communities by writing stories that foster understanding, spark meaningful conversations and value problems and solutions equally. We deliver enlightening journalism that engages and inspires our diverse Southeast Alaska communities. In our work culture, we prioritize fairness and editorial independence while also capturing that spirit of adventure that brings so many to the state. We support that culture through internal processes that prioritize equity in staffing, build resilience into our workflows and commit to fact-based storytelling above all else.

Based in: Haines, AK

clearhealthcosts.com

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: We are assessing our business model, seeking to bolster existing revenue and working to develop different revenue streams.

Mission: We’re bringing transparency to healthcare by telling people what stuff costs, and also using our knowledge to increase equitable access to healthcare.

Based in: Pelham, NY

Cloudcroft Reader

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: To get advice and help to build a sustainable model for a rural news site, including understanding how to get the most from scarce resources and identifying where to place time and effort.

Mission: To serve the village of Cloudcroft and surrounding communities with independent reporting, focusing on governmental agencies to keep them accountable to the people they serve.

Based in: Cloudcroft, NM

Eden Prairie Local News, Inc.

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: We are transitioning from what began as an all-volunteer start-up in 2020 to a more mature online news source where people can earn a living wage. We rely on donations and funding from sponsors, advertisers, community organizations, and foundations, and we’re on plan to do $190,000 in revenue (FYE 6/30). We estimate that we’ll need an annual budget of $700,000 to achieve long-term sustainability. We’re wrestling with how to do that in a market that’s limited to 64,000 residents.

Mission: The mission of Eden Prairie Local News is to serve our community with trustworthy reporting, compelling stories, and news you can use — anytime, anywhere.

Based in: Eden Prairie, MN

Hendersonville Lightning

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: We want to learn more about growing our audience both in print and online. We want to increase both retail print advertising and online advertising. We’d like to explore the feasibility of new products and community event sponsorships.

Mission: When news happens, Lightning strikes. Founded in April 2012, the Hendersonville Lightning is a weekly paid print product and all-the-time website that covers Henderson County, North Carolina, with an emphasis on government and institutional transparency and accountability. We cover politics, local government, business, development/growth management/disruptive land use and the cultural landscape. While the Lightning is not a nonprofit — at least not on purpose — we are a community trust.

Based in: Hendersonville, NC

J. The Jewish News of Northern California

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: Always looking for help in finding better ways to earn revenue and achieve sustainability.

Mission: J.’s mission is to connect, enlighten and strengthen the multi-faceted Jewish community of Northern California.

Based in: San Francisco, CA

LevittownNow.com

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: I would like to learn how to better run my business and make it last into the future, especially in a more sustainable manner.

Mission: We have committed ourselves to fact-based, in-depth, contextual, and non-partisan journalism. 

Based in: Levittown, PA

LkldNow

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: The Sustainability Audit is a unique opportunity to catalyze growth by providing outside perspective, expert guidance and learning from other members of the cohort.

Mission: Empower the people of Lakeland with the local news and information they need to be civically engaged.

Based in: Lakeland, FL

Los Angeles Public Press

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: As a growing digital publisher, we know that we are not reinventing the wheel when it comes to best practices in online news publishing and are eager to learn from all those who have already been working at it for years longer than we have. We look forward to participating in LION’s Sustainability Audit because it’s an opportunity to level set our own understanding of online news publishing and organizational development alongside the expertise honed by countless other thoughtful digital publishers.

Mission: Everyone in L.A. County deserves access to reliable news about our home. We deserve the knowledge and tools to hold powerful people accountable. We deserve a full picture of life in Los Angeles. LA Public Press is an independent, non-profit newsroom advocating for a better Los Angeles. We do journalism that interrogates systems of power while supporting those trying to build more equitable and resilient communities.

Based in: Los Angeles, CA

MuckRock

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: As MuckRock approaches our 15th birthday, we know we need to diversify our revenue to ensure a stable foundation for our next 15 years.

Mission: MuckRock Foundation is a nonprofit, collaborative public resource that brings together journalists, researchers, activists and regular citizens to request, analyze and share government documents, making politics more transparent and democracies more informed.  MuckRock provides a repository of hundreds of thousands of pages of original government materials, information on how to file requests and tools to make the requesting process easier. MuckRock is committed to supporting engaging, transparent journalism through projects like DocumentCloud, which thousands of newsrooms use to analyze, annotate and publish primary source documents, and oTranscribe, a browser utility that makes transcribing audio files easier. Our Accounts service allows external projects to make their tools available to newsrooms and journalists.

Based in: Somerville, MA

MyRye.com

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: MyRye.com is looking to continually improve by understanding community news best practices and benchmarks in order to best serve our community.

Mission: MyRye.com’s mission is to be the trusted source for community news in Rye, New York, connecting local residents, businesses, and organizations. We are dedicated to delivering timely, relevant, and accurate information that empowers and engages our community.   Through transparent reporting and inclusive storytelling, we aim to foster civic involvement, celebrate local achievements, and facilitate meaningful dialogue. We are driven by our commitment to integrity, innovation, and community collaboration.

Based in: Rye, NY

NepYork

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: For NepYork, Showcase of Nepalis in the USA, the LION Publishers Sustainability Audit is a chance to identify areas for growth and secure funding to amplify the voices of Nepalis in America. A deeper understanding of best practices will ensure NepYork’s long-term sustainability as a vital platform for our community.

Mission: Showcase of Nepalis in the USA

Based in: Corona, NY

NH Center for Public Interest Journalism / InDepthNH.org

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: InDepthNH.org does great work but we are never more than a couple of months ahead of payroll. I spend too much time looking for money when we need to hire a business person to do that.

Mission: InDepthNH.org gives voice to marginalized people, places and ideas.

Based in: New Hampshire

Peekskill Herald

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: A colleague has participated and said how valuable it was. I credit LION and its workshops as the reason the Herald was able to be formed in 2021.

Mission: To give power to the powerless and be a voice for the voiceless. That purpose grounds the stories we publish and guides the way we value facts over opinions and people over profits. We strive to produce critical information that allows residents of Peekskill to engage with their community.

Based in: Peekskill, NY

Philadelphia Hall Monitor

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: We are looking to build a sustainable news service that serves working class and poor Philadelphians. As our intended audience cannot afford to contribute, we need to find other paths to sustainability.

Mission: The Philadelphia Hall Monitor is dedicated to bringing vital news and information to Philadelphia’s residents. We do this by covering local government and consumer affairs stories that show our audience how to utilize the services available to them.

Based in: Philadelphia, PA

Project Optimist

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: I want Project Optimist to grow and thrive to serve Minnesota in a changing world and changing media landscape. Instability in the field of journalism has opened up space for startups like Project Optimist to fill gaps and experiment with new models, but I want to make sure we can weather whatever comes our way.

Mission: Project Optimist strives to engage residents of greater Minnesota to help them collaborate across common divides, tackle seemingly intractable problems and grow more optimistic about the future of their communities, region, and world. Project Optimist does this by tapping Minnesota’s creative and independent talent to produce solution-focused stories and local art to inform and inspire. We provide training and spur conversations in support of media literacy, community problem-solving, community journalism, and democracy.­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

Based in: St. Michael, MN

QCity Metro

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: I want to know that QCity Metro is on a path toward sustainability. It takes money to produce good journalism.

Mission: QCity Metro is committed to providing news and information relevant to Black communities in Charlotte, NC.

Based in: Charlotte, NC

Reno News & Review

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: The RN&R is at a crossroads, of sorts. We existed as a weekly, primarily-print pub until the pandemic, when the former owners more or less shut it down, before bringing it back in a limited fashion online. The publication was on the verge of shutting down entirely when our new owners took us over in January 2022; in the months since, we’ve made huge strides coming back both editorially (including a monthly print edition) and revenue-wise — but the owner can’t keep up on the current pace, and we’re looking at transitioning to nonprofit status.

Mission: Since 1993, the Reno News & Review has been the source of independent news, arts coverage, commentary and culture for Reno, Sparks, Carson City, Minden, Gardnerville and the Lake Tahoe area. We believe in true, honest journalism: We want to afflict the comfortable, and comfort the afflicted. We want to be a mirror for the entire greater Reno-Sparks area. We want to inform, enlighten and entertain. We will never let advertisers determine what we cover, and how we cover things. In other words, we will always tell it how we see it. If we lose an advertiser due to an unflattering story, a negative review or something else, so be it.

Based in: Reno, NV

Ridge View Echo

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: The Ridge View Echo has been in operation for a little more than two years, mostly due to the support of grant money with some advertising revenue. While the newspaper has grown substantially in coverage and readership, the management team recognizes the need to become more financially independent to obtain long-term sustainability. The management team would like to be able to identify and implement the methods that will allow it to move forward and continue to grow.

Mission: The Ridge View Echo strives to provide news about local government, school board actions and important news that can affect the local community by providing honest, unbiased and non-partisan coverage. The Ridge View Echo aims to provide important information to community members to enable them to become better community citizens, cover community events and interesting people, provide resource guides, and support local businesses by publishing business spotlights.

Based in: Blairstown, NJ

Rough Draft Atlanta

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: It feels like we are doing really well overall, but I know there are ways we can increase our revenue and improve our efficiency which would allow us to do more and better journalism.

Based in: Atlanta, GA

Shoresides.org

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: In the next year, Shoresides would like to increase staff salaries to create a more sustainable and healthy organization. Additionally, we’d like to develop a robust business plan to guide our work, capitalizing on our current momentum and allowing us to grow. To solidify our position as a vital local news site serving BIPOC and rural coastal communities in North Carolina, we need to scale our operations.

Mission: Shoresides serves Black, BIPOC, youth, and rural communities in coastal North Carolina traditionally underserved by our media system. Our communities face a rapidly shifting economy, environment, and culture that requires vibrant community-led journalism. Shoresides’ mission is to be a local news platform providing a space for creative expression and civic engagement. We believe communities thrive when they are active participants in discussions that shape our future and region.

Based in: Wilmington, NC

Stet News, Palm Beach County

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: As a new organization, we know we’ll benefit greatly from working with LION to develop strategies and practices that will help us build a successful business. The program will give us an actionable blueprint we’ll use to improve our capabilities to reach new audiences and grow our revenue.

Mission: To provide accurate, fair and valued journalism that holds public officials accountable, helps citizens engage in civic life and reflects the rich diversity of the Palm Beach County communities we serve.

Based in: Cloud Lake, FL

The Charlotte News

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: We have quite a lot of data — financial and operational, and from a recent survey — but need professional help to identify business opportunities and then to develop, fund and execute a plan. We have operated at a loss for the past two years and need to reach break-even within the next two years.

Mission: The mission of The Charlotte News is to engage and inform Charlotte and nearby communities by publishing rigorous, in-depth reporting on town affairs, providing a home for stories from our neighbors and friends, and reporting on how other towns have addressed challenges similar to our own.

Based in: Charlotte, VT

The Dial

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: The Dial is now a year old, and we’re very proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish. We’ve published more than 100 pieces of writing from over 50 countries, which have been recognized by readers, other publications, awards, and governments around the world. Participating in the Sustainability Audit will help us sort out how to not only build on these successes, but do so in a way that ensures longevity.

Mission: The Dial publishes frontline stories from around the world, elevating the voices of local journalists and writers who write the world as they see it — from wherever they might be.

Based in: New York, NY

The Haitian Times

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: The Haitian Times is ready to go to the next level by expanding audience and coverage. Without a solid roadmap for revenue generation, it will be difficult to achieve.

Mission: The Haitian Times, founded in 1999 to be a leading voice in the community’s evolution, aims to bridge the generational and geographical gaps among Haitians. We tell the real story of Haiti and Haitian-Americans and of the culture that binds us all across borders.

Based in: New York, NY

The Ingleside Light

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: The Ingleside Light wants to find a sustainable path for digital neighborhood news publications in San Francisco.

Mission: The Ingleside Light reports on small business, transportation, local politics, education and many other issues of civic concern.

Based in: San Francisco, CA

The Lakeville Journal | Millerton News

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: We’re in the business of maintaining our legacy community newspapers while developing new products and platforms for future loyal readers and advertisers. We recently became a non-profit, so we also seek to create an expanding base of loyal donors. Our goal in participating in the LION Sustainability Audit is to fine-tune all of our operations to ensure that we sustain local news in our communities for generations to come.

Mission: Founded on our longstanding history of distinguished community service, our mission is to help readers make more informed and inspired decisions through comprehensive local coverage of towns, governments, and regional issues, and by reflecting the area’s varied culture and lifestyle.

Based in: Falls Village, CT

The Sierra Nevada Ally

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: We have been a small, online, no-paywall, nonprofit publishing outlet for four years, focusing mostly on improving our content and growing a broad reader base in our region. We continue to refine our content strategy: civics, climate, community and collaboration. Now is the time to grow the business side of our operation to ensure long-term sustainability.

Mission: Our Mission: To build healthy communities informed by facts, with a focus on environmental, civics, and cultural reporting from underserved communities. Our Vision: To create the media alliance model of the future that rebuilds trust and understanding among people, communities and the news media, and democratizes factual information for all residents of the Sierra Nevada and beyond.

Based in: Reno, NV

The Smoky Mountain News

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: Like many media companies, we are at a juncture where our print revenues are flat or barely increasing and our digital revenue is growing but not fast enough. I want to see how others are addressing this issue while digging deep into our own business and journalism practices to see if we can improve them.

Mission: We seek to publish factual stories about important issues facing Western North Carolina in hopes of making our region an even better place to call home.

Based in: Waynesville, NC

The following 10 organizations will work with Blue Engine analysts in this cycle:

ARL Now / Local News Now LLC

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: Recruiting and retaining high quality staff. Growing revenue such that we can expand our operations.

Mission: Local News Now’s mission is to better connect our communities and improve the viability of local news. We will do that by serving the broadest possible swath of our communities with useful, interesting, and important local information, supported by helping local advertisers reach new customers while working to find sustainable and authentic ways to serve additional communities.

Based in: Arlington, VA

Block Club Chicago

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: We have ambitious plans to grow our audience and our offerings, and to make substantial improvements to our readers’ experiences engaging with our content. We know that successful and instructive experimentation must include thoughtful evaluation. We’re excited to draw on the experience of LION and its members to help us make sure our next big moves are strategic, well-informed and sustainable.

Mission: Block Club Chicago is a nonprofit news organization dedicated to delivering reliable, nonpartisan and essential coverage of Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods.

Based in: Chicago, IL

Honolulu Civil Beat

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: Civil Beat has had steady growth since our nonprofit transition in 2016, and we want to remain proactive as to ways we can further diversify our audience, impact and donor base. We have a dedicated team that embraces data-informed experimentation and are well positioned to implement the findings of the Sustainability Audit.

Mission: Honolulu Civil Beat is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt news organization dedicated to cultivating an informed body of citizens, all striving to make Hawaii a better place to live. We achieve this through investigative and watchdog journalism, in-depth enterprise reporting, analysis and commentary that gives readers a broad view on issues of importance to our community.

Based in: Honolulu, HI

Lookout Local

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: Blue Engine’s cross-company expertise is valuable. We have a valuable foundation to build on, and we are now actively working on both Second Wave optimization in Santa Cruz and planning a second city launch.

Mission: We look out for Santa Cruz County and you.

Based in: Santa Cruz, CA

MinnPost

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: We are always looking at ways to be more sustainable. This includes in terms of revenue, audience, and staff capacity. I hope this Audit will illuminate room for improvement in these areas.

Mission: MinnPost produces independent journalism to serve as a trusted guide for Minnesotans exploring the critical issues, challenges and opportunities facing our state.

Based in: Minneapolis, MN

New York Amsterdam News

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: We are interested in diversifying our revenue streams to adapt to the changing advertising landscape. We need a better understanding of what our strengths and weaknesses are and where and how we can improve.

Mission: For over a century the Amsterdam News has served New York’s, and America’s, African-American community and the diaspora.

Based in: New York, NY

Richland Source

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: As we enter our second decade, we are working to ensure the long-term viability of local news for the communities we serve.

Mission: Our solutions-focused local journalism helps readers understand the whole story of their community by eliminating the news fatigue caused by just covering what’s wrong, and replacing it with a more holistic and nourishing local news experience which helps communities we cover reach their true potential.

Based in: Mansfield, OH

Spotlight PA

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: We transitioned to a standalone nonprofit 501(c)3 in August. Now, we’re focusing more time on hardening the organization (succession planning), planning for strategic growth, and further diversifying revenue.

Mission: The mission of Spotlight PA is to hold powerful private and public forces across Pennsylvania — especially governments, businesses and special interests — to account through urgent and compelling investigative journalism that drives change and strengthens democracy, Pennsylvania, and all who live there.

Based in: Philadelphia, PA

The Daily Memphian

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: To benchmark where we are 5+ years after our launch.

Based in: Memphis, TN

The Sacramento Observer

Interest in the Sustainability Audit: As a legacy publication, it is critically important that The Observer continues its transformation as a multimedia news organization. Assistance from LION would help us examine our existing infrastructure with an eye on our future work.

Mission: Our Mission: To positively impact the conditions and lives of Sacramento’s African American community through public service journalism and community service. We do this in the spirit of the Black Press, “pleading our own cause” unapologetically through excellence in reporting, accountability, photography and all forms of content and community engagement. 

Based in: Sacramento, CA

Audit Analysts

The analysts for 2024 are:

Anne Galloway is the founder and editor-at-large of VTDigger, the statewide newspaper of record for Vermont. In addition to her work as an investigative journalist, she has 13 years of experience in business planning, financial projections, management, growth strategies and fundraising. When she stepped down as executive director in 2022, the organization had 35 employees, a budget of more than $3 million, 10,000 contributing members and 600,000 readers a month.

Ariel Zirulnick is the senior editor for community engagement at LAist. She works at the intersection of community engagement, editorial, product, and revenue strategy to ensure LAist’s journalism consistently serves and centers Angelenos’ needs. She also leads an interdisciplinary team experimenting with ways to link engaged journalism and revenue. Prior to KPCC/LAist, she led the Membership in News Fund and Membership Guide at the Membership Puzzle Project, a global public research project studying membership models in news. She previously led The New Tropic, a news startup in Miami; reported from Nairobi; and edited the Christian Science Monitor’s Middle East coverage. She is passionate about doing journalism with communities and building systems that make that sustainable. She’s a member of the 2023 cohort of CUNY’s Executive Program in News Innovation and Leadership. She’s an alumna of the Poynter Women’s Leadership Academy and Miami Fellows.

Ashley Woods Branch is the executive director of the Fund for Equity in Local News and manages its digital training program for news publishers. Ashley was founder and CEO of the Detour Detroit newsletter, a visiting Nieman fellow, a Marshall Memorial Fellow and a proud LION Awards winner. She is now a consultant who loves partnering with startup news publishers to help them tackle their biggest challenges and stay sane through the process. Ashley also worked with the Google News Initiative on initiatives like the GNI Startups Lab and coached more than 100 publications through a partnership with the Center for Cooperative Media. Before startup life, she led digital strategy for the Detroit Free Press.

Bene Cipolla is an organizational consultant and coach working with news organizations, media companies, and nonprofits. She loves to connect big ideas to on-the-ground execution and to build things — organizations, teams, workflows, projects — using a design thinking framework. In 2022, she wrapped up a five-year tenure at Chalkbeat, first leading the newsroom as editor and then, as publisher, setting up structures and practices to establish a multi-vertical operation, now known as Civic News Company. Over the course of her career, Bene has tackled just about every facet and format of journalism and media across film, video, radio, print, and digital. Her time in digital startups taught her about launching products, scaling organizations, managing operations, and driving revenue — experiences that enriched her work back in journalism when she returned. She’s a systems thinker with a creative streak (or a creative with a passion for systemic analysis), and she’s never believed in the left brain vs. right brain dichotomy. Bene lives in New York City and spends most of her free time cooking, eating, and talking about cooking and eating.

Christian Skotte (he/him/his) is an independent consultant who works with non-profits and media brands to grow their audience, deepen their impact, and craft sustainable futures. During his 20+ year career, he has created impactful digital campaigns, overseen organizational rebranding efforts, and built and mentored high performing teams. He’s passionate about journalism and its place in a functioning democracy. Christian was most recently director of growth and innovation at Grist, where he oversaw the audience growth, product, and partnership efforts. Before that, he spent eight years at Science Friday overseeing their digital, audience, and commercial income strategies. A former RJI fellow, he’s spoken at conferences in the U.S. and abroad on topics like digital media and audience growth. He lives in Brooklyn, NY, with his wife and child.

Dan Petty is the director of audience strategy for ProPublica. He leads the organization’s audience team, whose focus is to help ProPublica journalism reach wide, loyal and diverse audiences on and off the organization’s platforms. He was previously director of audience development at MediaNews Group, where he worked on editorial strategy, operations and business development and helped build the company’s digital subscription business. He previously spent seven years at the Denver Post in a variety of production and editing roles, and he has consulted for news organizations in Kazakhstan on behalf of the International Center for Journalists and the U.S. State Department. He received a bachelor of science in biology and journalism from the University of Richmond and an MBA with honors from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 2022.

Elaine Díaz is the associate director of coaching at LION Publishers. She was most recently the founder and editor-in-chief of Periodismo de Barrio, an independent investigative publication in Cuba, where she led coverage on social, environmental issues and climate change alongside fundraising and institutional development work. She has worked with SembraMedia, a non-profit that helps independent media in Ibero-America find and develop sustainable business models. Her work there included serving as an ambassador manager for a team of 16 ambassadors representing the digital media ecosystem across Latin America and as a mentor for Metis, a business mentorship program for women founders of independent digital media projects in the region. Additional career highlights include seven years as a professor of digital journalism at the University of Havana and a 2014-2015 Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University.

Frances Dinkelspiel is the co-founder and former executive editor of Cityside, which runs Berkeleyside and The Oaklandside in California. Dinkelspiel and two journalist friends started Berkeleyside in 2009 and developed it from an all-volunteer, bootstrapped organization to a nationally recognized, award-winning nonprofit with a staff of 24 and a budget of more than $4 million. Since stepping down in 2022, Dinkelspiel has served as an Audit analyst for LION, joined the board of Highway 29, an organization working to strengthen the news ecosystem in Napa Valley, and informally advises other news start-ups. She continues to freelance (her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Daily Beast, and elsewhere). She is the author of two bestselling nonfiction books, Towers of Gold and Tangled Vines.

Graham Ringo, a 20-year journalism veteran, is the vice president of customer success and growth at the News Revenue Hub in charge of client success and the point of contact for the organization’s newest tech venture, the News Revenue Engine. A proud Mizzou graduate and Online News Association board member, Graham has worked for major metros, digital behemoths, and scrappy digital nonprofit startups, and is a lover of the full-funnel approach, well-crafted CTAs, killer UX, and insider journalism speak.

Jennifer Mizgata is a consultant and coach who collaborates with organizations on program design, audience research, business and operational strategy. Specializing in digital innovation, leadership development and organizational change, Jennifer coaches managers, senior leaders and entrepreneurs on their careers and business strategies. She helps teams and individuals shift mindset, work more collaboratively and bring new products to market. With extensive experience working at the intersection of journalism and technology, she has worked as a program director, editor and business strategist, using human-centered design to build new products that respond to community needs and help create a more equitable world. She also teaches media, innovation and business strategy at American University and writes about improving work culture.

Joanne Griffith is the chief content officer for APM Studios, the podcast-production division of American Public Media. She is also the founder of En(title)d! Leaders, a conversation and coaching space for leaders of color in media. Joanne was the founding managing editor of the California Newsroom, an NPR regional news hub, where she worked closely with local newsrooms and independent online news organizations, developing strategies for audience engagement, guidance on editorial projects and training of newcomers and established newsroom leaders. Joanne is committed to diversity and inclusion in content creation, and the audiences that need it.

Lisa Heyamoto is the associate director of membership education at LION Publishers, where she helps LION members reach sustainability by designing and overseeing the creation of training programs, coaching/consulting opportunities and practical resources that help news businesses become more operationally resilient, financially healthy and journalistically impactful. She was previously a journalism educator and program coordinator at the University of Oregon and a reporter at The Seattle Times and The Sacramento Bee.

Maple Walker Lloyd is the senior director of development at Block Club Chicago. She works extensively on their fundraising strategies through philanthropic support, individual donations, events and corporate sponsorships. Previously, she was team coordinator for the Journalism and Media program at the MacArthur Foundation and weekend news anchor for WGN Radio. Maple holds a B.A. in Telecommunications from Bowling Green State University, and a Master’s degree in journalism from Full Sail University.

Ryan Tuck is a consultant and coach, advising organizations on all aspects of revenue-raising and audience-centric practices, in addition to product development, user experience, testing and analytics. He specializes in performance-driven change and strategic planning. He has led programming for and coached organizations of all sizes and forms throughout the world. Previously, he worked for about two decades in various roles in and outside the newsroom for a range of organizations, from The New York Times to digital-only startups. He has a B.A. in journalism and political science (and Spanish) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Master’s certificate in technology and communication also from UNC, and a law degree from the University of Georgia. Ryan believes that life is best lived busily and with empathy and a constant hunger to learn — and grow. Because he believes so deeply in staying busy, he lives in the eastern United States with his five children and a dog.

Shay Totten is the newsroom success manager at the American Press Institute. Shay works with newsrooms that utilize API’s proprietary analytics tools, Metrics for News and Source Matters. Most recently, Shay led the growth and membership strategy at The Compass Experiment (a collaboration between the Google News Initiative and McClatchy) that launched digital newsrooms in underserved communities. He has previously worked as a consultant for the News Revenue Hub, LION Publishers, Inside Climate News, as well as other mission-driven organizations on audience engagement and membership best practices as well as strategic communications. Before working in audience and membership roles, Shay spent more than 15 years in publishing and communications — in top editorial and communication positions at a national nonfiction book publisher, as well as an investigative reporter, political columnist, newsroom editor, and founder and publisher of a digital-print hybrid news organization in Vermont in the early 2000s.

Shira T. Center is the general manager for editorial revenue and strategy at Boston Globe Media. In this role, Shira oversees news programs and products that drive commercial revenue growth, such as the editorial calendar, live journalism events, sponsorships and newsletters. Before pioneering this unique role, Shira was a political journalist for 15 years, both in Washington, D.C., and Boston. She is an alumna of the Poynter Institute’s Leadership Academy for Women in Media and, in 2023, she graduated with her MBA from the Yale School of Management. She has served previously as a coach for LION’s Sustainability Lab, “Unblocking Revenue Barriers.”

Todd Stauffer currently serves as the association manager for the Association of Alternative Newsmedia and AAN’s lead digital specialist and lab director for grant-funded revenue labs. Before joining AAN, he was the publisher and co-founder of the Jackson Free Press, an alternative newsweekly (sometimes bi-weekly, sometimes monthly) that served Jackson, MS, from 2002 until 2022 when its journalism assets were acquired by the non-profit Mississippi Free Press. Todd has enjoyed the opportunity to participate in Sustainability Audits and revenue coaching for LION Publishers in the past. As a staunch believer in the First Amendment and a proponent of the Fourth Estate, Todd enjoys working with startups and legacy publishers who seek to improve revenues, add a revenue stream or dig deeper into opportunities to sustain their journalism.

The post 47 LION members selected for Sustainability Audit’s 2024 May-July cycle appeared first on LION Publishers.

For many independent news leaders, finding time to think beyond the day-to-day work of running a news business is difficult. And yet, it is essential to take a step back and strategically plan for organizational growth. 

We hear you, and we see you.

That’s why we’re delighted to introduce the Sustainability 360 program, an initiative designed to make the independent news industry more accessible for our Focus Members by connecting them with the most impactful support and resources that will help their businesses move toward sustainability.

In a one-year pilot, LION will provide six program participants access to experts who can provide strategic and tactical advice, consultants who can increase a team’s capacity, and conversations with other publishers working on similar challenges. We will offer our knowledge to navigate existing resources, key stakeholders, and influencers. But most importantly: We want to provide the right combination of these connections in a way that cuts through, instead of adding to, the noise.

Why we built this program

We’ve designed this program based on key insights we’ve made over the last few years of serving our members:

• Our members regularly ask us “how” questions; while there is a hunger for learning, finding the time and resources to translate knowledge into action is a significant barrier;
• Time-intensive, short-term, and cohort-based programs are effective for addressing immediate tactical issues, but they may not be suitable for developing and implementing medium-term goals, which often define an organization’s priorities for the year; 
• And finally, there are more existing resources than ever for news entrepreneurs; in part, because of the many recent additions, navigating this landscape can be overwhelming and time-consuming for publishers already strapped for the only nonrenewable resource they have: their time.

Our program addresses these pain points by:

• Providing a year’s worth of support to allow for more time and space to not only plan but execute a Success Plan (more details below)
• Rather than topic-based programs, we are creating a smaller cohort so participants can create Success Plans based on their individualized needs (in coordination with their coaches)
• Taking advantage of tactical and strategic advice 
• Using LION’s staff knowledge and expertise on how to navigate the existing resources within our industry

“We recognize that the needs of each newsroom are unique,” said Sarah Gustavus Lim, LION’s director of membership. “That’s why we are testing a more holistic approach with this targeted group of members.”

The program’s ultimate goal is to help this cohort move to the “Growing” stage of LION’s Independent News Maturity Model, which is in service of our Strategic Growth Plan’s goal of helping 100 members move to the “Growing” stage of sustainability.

What program participants can expect

LION will select up to six news businesses led by Focus Members to participate in the inaugural program, which will begin on June 28, 2024, and run through June 2025.

All participants will start the program with a Sustainability Audit and be paired with a coach. Their coach will then work with them on designing a Success Plan, a practical workbook providing structure and guidance as participants set goals. Instead of doing a five-year strategic planning process or deep-diving into a litany of tactical daily tasks, the Success Plan is a tool that sits at a middle point that both helps publishers better operate day-to-day and cues up the strategic thinking to prepare them to grow.

Following that, these will be the five main program components to enable cohort members to use their Success Plan to reach the “Growing” stage:

Strategic Advice: After receiving a Sustainability Audit to establish a baseline of your business’s progress toward sustainability, you’ll be paired with a Sustainability 360 coach, who will provide ongoing strategic advice and specific recommendations and refer you to other experts for tactical advice.

Tactical Advice: Based on recommendations from your coach and other experts from LION’s curated network, you can book up to five hours of coaching time to address specific tactical challenges holding back your systems, processes, or workflows. This could include sessions on developing your newsletter audience, utilizing Google Analytics to make informed decisions, or implementing SEO best practices.

Tactical Implementation: We understand that you can’t do it all, so we’ll work with you to identify business tools and services, like human resources or bookkeeping, and subsidize those costs so you can lower expenses and focus on what matters most for your business.

Community: We’ll bring together all of the program participants so you can share experiences and knowledge, discuss diverse ideas, and find new opportunities for networking and professional growth.

Wayfinding Support: We also recognize the importance of having someone who can help you understand how this industry works and how to access resources efficiently. While we work to make these resources more accessible for our entire membership, as part of this program, you’ll have direct access to our staff to answer your questions about how to best navigate existing resources, key stakeholders, and influencers.

We’ll be measuring key indicators of each stage and updating the Audit you received at the beginning of the program to determine your business’s progress toward the “Growing” stage.

As for the time commitment, we anticipate you will spend up to 10 hours a month implementing the Success Plan you develop with your coach. It’s critical to us that this program adds value to your organization — not take away precious time from you running it — and you’ll work with your coach to ensure that’s the case.

Apply by June 3 at 5 p.m. ET

Who’s eligible to participate

You’re eligible to participate in this program if you are a Focus Member. We created our Focus Member criteria based on our experience listening to and coaching BIPOC and LGBTQIA+–led news businesses on the challenges they face as well as entrepreneurship and small business research (including this Pivot Fund study) that tells us founders and leaders with these identities face the greatest institutional barriers to success.

Focus Member organizations are:

• In the following sustainability stages: Building or Maintaining and
• Currently led by someone who identifies as: Black, Indigenous, Hispanic, Latine, or Person of Color, and/or Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, or as a member of broader gender and sexually diverse communities

*We’re using BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ as shorthand for the above.

We define “led by” as someone who is currently in at least one of the following roles in an organization: CEO/Executive Director, Founder, Publisher, Editor, Chief Operating Officer, or Chief Financial Officer.

We will identify Focus Members, including their stage of sustainability, based on data we’re gathering through your initial Sustainability Audit and most recent membership application. However, we’re also asking for your self-assessed stage of sustainability in the application for this program, and we will take this into account while reviewing your application.

If you’re unsure whether you qualify as a Focus Member, contact our associate director of coaching, Elaine Diaz, at elainediaz@lionpublishers.com.

How to apply

If you are a Focus Member, you should apply! Applications are open now through June 3 at 5 p.m. ET. We will select up to 10 finalists for an interview by June 7 and evaluate applicants based on their alignment with the program, bandwidth, and capacity to execute their Success Plan. We’ll also consider applicants’ willingness to share what they have learned from their experience to inform how we iterate on this offering in the future. Your insights, feedback, and experiences will play a crucial role in shaping and refining the program to better meet the needs of future participants.

Sign up to attend our info session on May 22 at 4 p.m. ET

Additional FAQ

• Is there funding allocated for this program?
  • While LION has historically given direct dollars to our members through our programming, being a funder is not our long-term strategy. Instead, we want to focus on lowering the cost of doing business and removing barriers to access. That’s why we will cover the costs of strategic and tactical consulting and business tools and services while members are in this program. Including LION’s staff time, this is an investment of approximately $20,000 in each organization.
    
• Can more than one person from an organization participate in the program?
  • Yes, and we strongly encourage you to open this opportunity to other team members. We’ve heard in the past that having two people in the coaching calls has proved beneficial for the organization’s ability to compare notes and execute tasks. We will cap program calls at two people in senior leadership positions from each organization.
    
• What goals will be included in a Success Plan?
  • This workbook will help you set your medium-term goals. There are long-term goals (I want to scale my news business to serve three communities), short-term goals (I want to earn $10,000 in advertising sales next month), and then there are medium-term goals, which are often annual goals that set your priorities for the year. They represent a significant step toward your long-term goals and should be something you can point your efforts toward for the year and refer to in times of decision or doubt.
    
• Do I need to be a LION member to apply?
  • Yes. If you’re not a LION member yet, you can apply here.
    
• How can I get more information about this program?
  • You can sign up to attend our info session on May 22 at 4 p.m. ET. We will cover the program objectives, eligibility criteria, application process, and timeline. Our team will be available to answer your questions. You can also contact our associate director of coaching, Elaine Díaz, at elainediaz@lionpublishers.com.

The post Apply to LION’s new Sustainability 360 program appeared first on LION Publishers.

That was the premise that led to the creation of the LION Sustainability Audits and Funding program, which provides a comprehensive assessment of a news business’s strengths and opportunities, resulting in a report identifying short-, medium-, and long-term action items that will move the business closer to sustainability.

Since 2021, we’ve completed 350 Sustainability Audits and Progress Reports, which are completely free to selected member businesses. And 93 percent of Audit recipients have told us the roadmap the Audit provides makes them feel more confident in their organization’s ability to reach sustainability. 

There are still some opportunities for LION members to receive an Audit in 2024, but because of our limited capacity and resources, we can’t do Audits for the hundreds of remaining members who have yet to receive one or who have requested Progress Reports, regular follow-up assessments of their progress. In our strategic plan, we commit to ensuring every LION member can receive an Audit, and so we’re working on the next evolution of the Audit to meet that goal.

The history of the Audit

Inspired by SembraMedia’s Digital Media assessment protocol, we designed the first version of our Audit as part of the screening of applicants for our inaugural Google News Initiative Startups Lab. In our retrospective, though, we identified the need to clarify the purpose of the Audit: Is it a program application tool, or might it be better utilized as a service for publishers in its own right? Ultimately, we decided that if members were going to spend time sharing their data with us, they needed to more directly benefit from all that effort. So we spun the Audit out as a standalone learning and assessment tool.

Our first Audit consisted of 71 mostly open-ended qualitative questions, and over time, we’ve restructured the list to consist of 93 qualitative and quantitative questions that collect key process or health metric data across our three key pillars of sustainability: journalistic impact, operational resilience, and financial health. Every time we do a new round of Audits and see how our members answered the questions, it helps inform how we can ask better questions to get more relevant, actionable insights and recommendations for members to act upon.

We’ve also given direct dollars to publishers who have completed the Audit with the intention of those dollars lowering barriers to tackling the report’s short-term recommendations. As of today, thanks to support from the Knight Foundation and the Google News Initiative, we’re giving $20,000 stipends to each news business that completes the Sustainability Audit and Funding program. By the end of 2024, we will have given out over $7 million in direct funding through the Audit program since 2022, and we know that this combination of strategic advice plus unrestricted funding has made a big difference for members. (We share more below on the future of direct dollars attached to the Audit program).

LION member Jay Senter of Johnson County Post told us based on their Audit report, his business decided to merge two publications, expand their coverage area, and wholly redesign their site, plus hire a full-time salesperson. “We’ve seen advertising revenue far outpace what we’d even hoped for. And subscriptions, which had been lagging last year, have jumped back on the growth track we’d aimed for,” he said. 

He added that the Audit analyst’s advice, combined with the $20,000, “have pushed us past a plateau we’d been struggling to move out of for a couple years,” and it’s been “a huge inflection point for our organization.”

How we currently produce Audits

Currently, all U.S.-based LION members who have been in existence for at least six months are eligible for the Sustainability Audits and Funding program. (Previously, we’ve also offered Audits to Canadian-based publishers). The application is meant to be low-lift for publishers and give our staff just enough information to prioritize the best candidates for the Audit. Some questions include:

• How would you rank your top three primary strategic challenges (based on a list we provide)?
• How do you evaluate opportunities or decisions for your news business?
• On a scale of 1 to 5, how close is your news business to reaching sustainability?
• What 1-3 questions about your news business would you like to address in the Audit process?

What we’re primarily screening for in the application process is whether publishers can benefit from the insights, plus their level of organizational commitment to the Audit process and capacity to implement the Audit recommendations. Also, so far, we’ve tried to select a mix of publications across organization size, geography, missions, and audiences served so that we can begin to pick out trends based on an accurate representation of LION’s membership.

Once publishers are selected, the Audits are completed in three main phases: 

• Audit questionnaire
• Audit interview 
• Audit report

The Audit questionnaire assesses the current state of a news organization across our three pillars of sustainability: operational resilience, financial health, and journalistic impact. A leader of the organization is given two weeks to fill out the questionnaire, which takes about three hours for most organizations to complete.

Sample questions from across these three categories

Operational Resilience

• Does your news business have a documented (i.e., formally written) one- or three-year plan?
• Which part of your news business could most benefit from additional staffing?
• Which of the following practices related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) apply to your news business’ operations? 

Financial Health

• Since launch, has your news business’ revenue consistently grown by 10 percent or more year over year?
• Which of the following financial documents (Profit and Loss Statement, Budget, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow Forecast) does your news business create? 
• What key metrics does your news business use to gauge financial health?

Journalistic Impact

• Has your news business defined your target audience(s)? 
• What audience research has your news business done to better understand your community?
• What steps has your news business taken to ensure your coverage and sources reflect the diversity of the community you’re serving?

The Audit interview is a 90-minute call with an industry expert who LION has trained as an Audit analyst. The Audit analyst reads the complete questionnaire before the call, and then uses the interview to dig more deeply into questionnaire responses, goals, and organizational practices.

Some sample questions from our Audit interview

• What is your north star/mission/driving ambition?
• Tell me about a typical day or week. Where do you spend your time?
• What are your goals around [particular revenue stream]?

An Audit report is then created by the Audit analyst, with support from LION staff. The report provides:

•  A summary of where the publication is on its path to sustainability based on our evolving maturity model for independent news businesses 
• A selection of business’s strengths and how to capitalize on them
• A list of sustainability indicators the publication has completed and those it has yet to complete
• A customized and prioritized list of recommended actions (short/medium/long-term) to become more sustainable 

The Audit process from start to finish takes about 10 to 12 weeks, with an overall time commitment of about six hours from each news business, and they receive the completed Audit report at the end of an Audit cycle. 

Here’s a sample Audit report that’s been anonymized, and we’ve received permission from the publisher and analyst to share it.

Based on LION staff time, Audit analysts’ time, and the technology, each Audit currently costs LION roughly $3,000 to produce.

How we recruit and train Audit analysts

We decided early on that we wanted Audit recommendations to be based on diverse expertise from across the industry. That meant we shouldn’t have only LION staff writing them, and that we wanted each report to be informed by as many smart brains as possible. 

So we opened an application process to recruit analysts and then developed standards to train them on our maturity model, theory of sustainability, and Audit report framework. Then, we created an onboarding process for new analysts and opportunities for them to connect with and learn from each other. We’ve found that the best analysts –– the ones who receive the highest praise from publishers –– are those who recognize they don’t need to be experts in everything and can curate the LION community, industry knowledge, and their networks to design their Audit recommendations.

We typically ask analysts to commit to three reports in each 10-week cycle, and they are compensated for their time.

To date, we’ve worked with a total of 40 Audit analysts. They represent diverse expertise from across the news and small business industries, and we’re grateful that so many talented and experienced industry professionals see this as an opportunity to stay connected to and support local news publishers’ work.

Here are some testimonials from analysts we’ve worked with:

The future of the Audit

We’ve learned so much from approaching our Audits as a custom, bespoke process for each member who receives one. And many of our analysts have found that they’re often repeating the same recommendations for news businesses who are at specific stages of development. Additionally, we’ve heard that the simple act of answering Audit questions helps publishers think more strategically about their business.  

Given these considerations, we realized a self-service, technology-based product would help us achieve that and our goal of ensuring every LION member who wants an Audit can receive one. So that’s where the Audit is headed: A self-service product available in our forthcoming LION Member Portal that any LION member can input information into and receive a useful and actionable Audit report.

We’re particularly excited for this vision of the Audit for three main reasons.

First, we believe this will allow us to create industry benchmarks to help publishers set realistic goals of success. A question we regularly get from new members is, “How is my business doing compared to others?” or “What kind of growth is possible given my market size and staff capacity?” By collecting data points from across hundreds of independent news publishers, we want to set performance standards so news businesses can better understand what long-term success can look like.

Second, we believe it will make it easier for LION members to decide what steps to take on the path to sustainability. We envision that the Audit will become a starting point for members to access tailored member benefits for their stage of development and immediate goals, from asynchronous courses and peer groups to engaging with our forthcoming Expert Network, a database of industry experts with whom members can book consulting time. We foresee a future where consultants and coaches read the Audit report as a baseline for specific, tailored advice or recommendations that publishers are seeking.

Third, we believe it could help align all funders, news organizations, and industry support organizations on success metrics for local news. We know that many funders and support organizations are eager to have consistent, standardized reports that allow them to better understand a news business’s mission, impact, and areas where their investment will truly make a catalytic difference. The Audit provides this, and thus makes it easier for our members to use their Audit report as a starting place to design their fundraising strategies and specific asks. We’d also expect this to help members make more effective pitches to prospective large and small donors, and advertisers. It is important that members be able to use the Audit as a basis for generating revenue, especially given that we aren’t planning to continue to give direct dollars attached to these self-service Audits. (As we wrote in our strategic plan, being a funder is not our long-term strategy).

As we continue to reimagine the future of our Audit, we’re also looking for trusted partners to help us evolve our definition of sustainability and develop the resources that will best guide organizations toward that goal. Later this month, we’ll share our latest round of Audit recipients, which includes newsrooms that we classify as being in our Growing stage who will be audited by our partner, Blue Engine Collaborative. Our hope is through their strategic thought partnership, we can get even smarter about how we’re measuring sustainability across the spectrum of the independent news industry, from new startups to established operations.

Finally, we are reimagining the future of a bespoke Audit product as a collaboration across our Audit and coaching programs, but one thing we know for sure based on feedback from our members is that more independent news publishers would benefit from having access to this critical strategic tool — so expanding that accessibility is our number one goal right now. 

A big thank you to the Knight Foundation and Google News Initiative for supporting our Sustainability Audits and Funding program, our evolving research, and the continued development of this product.

If you’re a funder interested in learning more about how and where LION’s Sustainability Audits might fit in your plans for existing or prospective grantees, reach out to our Executive Director Chris Krewson at chriskrewson@lionpublishers.com. 

If you’re a member interested in giving feedback on how the Audit can be a more effective tool for you, reach out to our Membership Director Sarah Gustavus Lim at sarahlim@lionpublishers.com. 

If you’re a researcher interested in learning more about our methodology, reach out to me at chloekizer@lionpublishers.com.

The post How we create a LION Sustainability Audit and our vision for its future appeared first on LION Publishers.

“This Summit is the must-attend event for everyone who wants to engage in thoughtful, smart conversations about the sustainability of local and independent news,” said Duc Luu, director of Sustainability Initiatives at Knight Foundation’s Journalism program. “Knight is proud to support the important work LION has done to push forward our understanding of what it means to be a sustainable news organization, and we look forward to continuing those conversations in Chicago this fall.”

Additionally, LION is collaborating with the American Journalism Project, Online News Association, and Institute for Nonprofit News as programming partners. These organizations have expertise that will enhance LION’s programming approach in service of providing the most practical, hands-on sessions for LION members and other conference attendees. 

“These partners have an incredible depth and breadth of experience with the news entrepreneurial landscape,” said Lisa Heyamoto, LION’s associate director of member education. “What a delight to be able to leverage that knowledge in service of Summit attendees.”

From our partners:

We’re also grateful to our host partner and LION member Block Club Chicago, who will support the event with their local expertise.

LION is also appreciative of these sponsors who have signed on to support this event for Independent News Publishers:

• Carol Oppenheim and Jerome S Lamet Charitable Fund as a Gold Sponsor
• The Reynolds Journalism Institute as a Bronze Sponsor
• The Google News Initiative as a Bronze Sponsor
• Indiegraf as a Bronze Sponsor
• BlueLena as a Community Sponsor

Learn more about our sponsors, and email sponsorships@lionpublishers.com to learn how you can support the Summit.

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We’re awarding $600 to each attendee selected to receive a travel stipend. We’ll host two open calls for travel stipends — our first call is open today with applications closing on Sunday, May 5, at midnight PT. Our second call will open closer to the event. Our goal is to notify all attendees who are selected to receive a travel stipend by July 31 to ensure they have time to arrange flights and book lodging. Stipends will be paid the week following the event, and payment is contingent on checking into the event. The application to apply for a travel stipend is below.

Here are some additional FAQ:

• What is the criteria for applying for a travel stipend?
  • You must be a LION member. Check here if you are unsure whether you’re currently a member.
  • We will be prioritizing Focus Members and Micro-tier members. However, if you do not fall into one of these categories, you are still welcome to apply.
  • You must be traveling to the conference. If you are a local publisher who may need lodging only, please reach out to summit@lionpublishers.com. 
• How will you select recipients?
  • We will evaluate all first-round applications when the deadline closes on a first-come, first-served basis, prioritizing Focus Members and Micro-tier members. 
• What if we want to send multiple people from our team to the Summit?
  • We will be able to support one person per organization. You can either coordinate to decide who will submit the application or we will randomly select one person based on who submitted applications.

If you have additional questions, please email summit@lionpublishers.com. Want to help support the Summit with sponsorships? Email sponsorships@lionpublishers.com to learn more.

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LION is launching six peer-led groups to connect members with shared experiences so they can learn from each other as they work to build more sustainable news businesses. These groups are part of our 2024 community ambassador program, which is an evolution of the inaugural 2023 program that focused on identifying independent news publishers across the U.S. for inclusion in Project Oasis. 

Each group will be led by a LION community ambassador and will meet monthly to discuss challenges, solutions, and resources. We’ve answered some key questions below, including how to indicate interest in a group and when they plan to get started.

What are the six groups?

They are: 

• Solopreneurs (news founders who started and run their news business independently, without full-time employees) 
• Newsrooms serving diaspora communities
• Newsrooms serving Spanish-speaking audiences
• Black news leaders
• Florida newsrooms 
• Membership managers

How and when will each group meet?

Groups will meet via Zoom for one hour monthly between May and October. Group participants will also be asked to join a private Slack group or WhatsApp channel to communicate between meetings.

How can I indicate interest in a group?

You can indicate interest in a group here. We ask that you only add your name to one group in order to focus your attention on that group and provide the best possible experience for all participants. The deadline to indicate interest is Friday, April 26, by 11 p.m. PT.

Are there any eligibility requirements?

You must be affiliated with a LION member organization to participate in a peer group. Additionally, please do not add your name to a group that you are not affiliated with (i.e., don’t sign up for the Solopreneurs group if you are not a solopreneur or for the Black-led journalism in the Midwest group if you are not a Black journalist in the Midwest).

How will you select group participants?

Groups have a maximum capacity of 30 members, and acceptance will be on a first-come, first-served basis. Group members will be notified if they are accepted by Friday, May 3.

How were group leaders selected?

The six ambassadors in the 2024 cohort were selected from a highly competitive pool of applications from LION members. Ambassadors were assessed based on the strength of their proposal and facilitation experience. We hope these groups will serve as a foundation for more peer support groups in the future, and we hope to expand this program to more groups in 2025.

Solopreneurs

Leader: Nicci Kadilak, Founder/Editor-in-chief,
Burlington Buzz

Description: Solopreneurs face a high danger of burnout because every aspect of running their news business is their responsibility. In this group, solopreneurs will work together to share lessons on how to prioritize and make their news businesses more efficient, while also discussing where to go for ready-made resources so they are not constantly reinventing the wheel. 

In her own words: “My roots are in education, and the last several years have taught me how important it is to share experiences with people who truly understand and can help one another. Being a community ambassador gives me the perfect opportunity to use my experience in creating curriculum and community in the context of news leadership. I’m so excited to begin learning alongside the members of this group!”

Newsrooms serving diaspora communities

Leader: Camille Padilla Dalmau, Founder, 9 Millones

Description: The members of this group serve audiences in different locations but are connected through a shared identity. In 9 Millones’ case, the newsroom reports from Puerto Rico, but a large part of its audience is in the mainland U.S. Similarly, other diaspora-focused media may serve their local migrant community and have an audience in their home countries. The challenge these newsrooms face is that their audiences have different contexts and sometimes feel separated. But the opportunity is that these news publishers can become a “puente,” or a bridge, for those different experiences. This group includes, but is not limited to, Spanish-language publications. Our Spanish-language group will specifically focus on Spanish-language publications.

In her own words: “I jumped at the opportunity of being a community ambassador because there are not too many places where news leaders can share their experience with diaspora audiences. I hope to create a collaborative learning environment where we experiment and test out strategies to connect with the communities we serve.”

Newsrooms serving Spanish-speaking audiences

Leader: Claudia Yaujar-Amaro, Editor-in-chief, Planeta Venus

Description: This group will bring together publishers in newsrooms that serve Spanish-speaking audiences. Participants will address challenges, including the availability of technology and tools to serve Spanish-speaking audiences, outreach and engagement strategies, and working across language barriers.

In her own words: “As a facilitator for this transformative initiative, I aspire to foster a dynamic forum where publishers serving Spanish-speaking audiences can collaboratively navigate challenges, leveraging technology, outreach strategies, and cross-lingual communication to amplify their impact and empower their communities.”

Black news leaders

Leader: Ja Keen Fox, Executive Director, The Dreamland Report

Description: This group will explore fundraising tactics that highlight the meaningful work by Black-led newsrooms, and how to build innovative collaborations that inspire donors. They will also discuss how Change the Narrative journalism tactics can build community and audience loyalty. Note: This group was previously Black-led newsrooms in the Midwest, but the scope has been expanded.

Florida newsrooms

Leader: Megan Stokes, Editor-in-chief, Oviedo Community News

Description: This is a group for Florida publishers to talk about the unique challenges, solutions, and resources for working in the state, including audience and government attitudes toward news, trust work, funding, and staffing. Florida can be a challenging place to strengthen a news ecosystem because of its size and politics. Many new laws have been enacted that threaten transparency and make it more difficult for journalists to do their work, but finding ways to band together could give these newsrooms a stronger voice.

In her own words: “I want to be a community ambassador for LION because I’m passionate about strengthening the news ecosystem, and I think the best way to do that is by developing relationships with other publishers, especially those with which you share important attributes. I think Florida has a unique set of challenges and opportunities, and I hope that we, as a group, will explore those in a constructive, impactful way.”

Membership managers

Leader: Meghan Rutigliano, Outlier Media Contributor, Strategic Consultant, Detroit Documenter

Description: This group is for people in membership manager roles at LION member organizations. The group primarily focuses on developing, implementing, and maintaining a membership program that supports the newsroom’s sustainability while fostering a strong community of readers and supporters. Participants will work together to leverage collective experiences to innovate membership models, tackle industry-wide issues, and drive greater member satisfaction and loyalty across the network.

In her own words: “I was drawn to the LION community ambassador role because it felt like a really exciting way to contribute to collective learning and meet other key leaders across LION’s network. I also hope to sharpen my facilitation skills and foster a supportive and fun group environment for participants in my community group.”

We encourage anyone interested to apply to join these groups, and we look forward to seeing them come together. Questions about our community ambassador program? Contact LION’s community engagement manager, Samantha Matsumoto, at samanthamatsumoto@lionpublishers.com.

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What are the LION Publishers Sustainability Awards?

The 2024 LION Awards will recognize excellence achieved by local independent news businesses in eight independently judged award categories focused on LION’s pillars of sustainability — journalistic impact, financial health, and operational resilience. With categories including the LION Business of the Year Award, Operational Resilience Award, Journalistic Impact Award, Product of the Year Award, and more, these awards aim to highlight the innovative and impactful work being done by independent news organizations across the U.S. and Canada.

Why volunteer as a judge?

Being a judge for the LION Awards will offer you a unique opportunity to:

• Contribute to the recognition of excellence within the independent news community
• Gain insights into innovative practices and initiatives happening across the industry
• Engage with fellow professionals and leaders in the field
• Play a pivotal role in shaping the success of the awards program by providing actionable feedback based on your experience

Don’t just take our word for it — hear from Nicole Mastrangelo, one of last year’s judges: “I thoroughly enjoyed reading all the submissions and was truly uplifted by all the exceptional storytelling. Journalism is more than just reporting on current events; it’s a constructive practice that contributes to the formation of communities and will always be an essential part of our democracy. Thank you, LION, for recognizing this work!”

What does being a judge involve?

As a volunteer judge, you will:

• Be assigned to one award category and work collaboratively with two other judges
• Evaluate entries submitted by LION members within your assigned category and revenue tier (Micro, Small, Medium, or Large)
• Participate in an optional 30-minute onboarding session to understand expectations and ask questions
• Spend approximately eight hours over five weeks between late April and early June completing your judging assignments
• Review entries and collaborate with fellow judges to determine finalists and winners
• Submit your comments for the winner and finalists in your award category

How can you apply?

If you’re interested in volunteering as a judge, please complete this form by April 15, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. PT.

The post Become a judge for the 2024 LION Publishers Sustainability Awards appeared first on LION Publishers.

Who is eligible to apply for a 2024 LION Sustainability Award?

• The LION Awards are exclusively open to current LION members, listed here. If your organization is not on the current member list, please email membership@lionpublishers.com to become an active member no later than April 15, 2024, to participate in the 2024 LION Awards.
• Collaborative entries between more than one LION member must be submitted in the Collaboration of the Year category.
• The 2024 LION Awards recognize work achieved between April 15, 2023, and April 15, 2024. Note: the New Business of the Year Award will recognize work achieved between January 1, 2023, and April 15, 2024.
• Applicants must meet the submission deadline of Monday, April 15, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. PT to be considered for a LION Award.
• LION members may apply for consideration in as many award categories as they wish. Members must complete an entry application and pay the entry fee for each award category.

How do I apply?

• Beginning on March 4, 2024, you may submit your work for consideration for a LION Award by filling out the entry form.

How are the submissions being evaluated?

• Please refer to our announcement post for detailed information on what our judges will be looking for in each Award category.

How many winners will be selected?

• In the judge-evaluated categories, there will be a maximum of one winner per award category, per revenue tier. The final number of winners will be  dependent on the number of entries received that meet the criteria and standards required for winners. We will combine revenue tiers when member participation requires it.
• That means that for the eight evaluated judging categories, there will be a maximum of 32 winners. In the two recognition award categories, there will be one winner per award, ending with a maximum of 34 winners. Ties are always a possibility, but we strive to support judges in choosing one winner. 

How many cash prizes will be provided?

• Every LION Award winner will receive a cash prize. The amount per winning entry will depend on the exact number of winners. In 2023, we awarded more than $55,000 in cash prizes to 36 winning organizations.

How long will it take to complete a LION Awards entry?

• We estimate that it will take between 45 minutes to 2 hours per entry, depending on how long it takes to gather relevant documentation and answer the open text questions thoughtfully. 

How much does it cost to submit a LION Awards entry?

• Just as LION’s membership dues reflect a sliding scale based on annual revenue, we have implemented a sliding scale for entry fees based on revenue tier:
  • Micro tier members: $15 per award entry
  • Small tier members: $20 per award entry
  • Medium tier members: $25 per award entry
  • Large tier members: $30 per award entry
• For example, if you are a Micro tier member and submit three entries, the total cost would be $45. Refunds will not be issued. 

When and where will the LION Awards Ceremony take place?

• The LION Awards Ceremony & Dinner will be hosted on September 5, 2024, during LION’s Independent News Sustainability Summit in Chicago. Purchase your ticket to the LION Awards Ceremony & Dinner here.

Can I still be recognized as a LION Awards finalist or winner even if I can’t attend the in-person LION Awards Ceremony?

• Absolutely!

Can I volunteer to be a LION Awards judge?

• Yes! Please fill out this form to indicate your interest. As a judge, you’ll have the chance to evaluate exceptional work and celebrate the achievements of outstanding candidates.

If you have any further questions, please reach out to membership@lionpublishers.com for more information. You can also check out our official announcement post here for more details!

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