NewsMatch encourages fundraising for local media outlets by providing matching donations from a fund pool created by large nonprofit donors. The organization also provided fundraising development training. It is said to be “the largest collaborative fundraiser for nonprofit news in the U.S.” ¹

NewsMatch is a project of the left-leaning Institute for Nonprofit News and the News Revenue Hub and is fiscally sponsored by the Miami Foundation.

As of July 2023, the project has helped raise over $230 million from 350,000 donors for hundreds of independent news outlets since 2017. Additionally, NewsMatch has generated $25 million (or possibly up to $40 million ²) in matching funds contributions from nonprofit donors, including many left-of-center groups like the Heising-Simons Foundation, the Schwab Charitable Foundation, and the Walton Family Foundation. ³

History

NewsMatch was launched by the Institute for Nonprofit News in 2017 with a donation from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which remains a donor as of 2023. In its first year, NewsMatch helped 57 news outlets generate $1.2 million. ⁴

Activities

NewsMatch supports local media outlets and newsrooms in raising funds from supporters. All recipient media outlets must be members in good standing of the Institute for Nonprofit News, which operates NewsMatch and oversees a network of over 400 news outlets. Though most NewsMatch recipient newsrooms have budgets under $1 million, larger outlets are permitted into the program. ⁵ In 2021, almost half of participating newsrooms had operating expenses under $250,000. ⁶

NewsMatch supports these news outlets by facilitating donations from larger nonprofit organizations through a matching-gift model. Major nonprofit funders pool their donations to match the donations given by individual donors to media outlets during annual campaigns from November 1 to December 31. The structure of the matching gifts varies by news outlet, but includes matching donations up to a certain dollar amount, or giving additional lump-sum grants for hitting donation milestones. In 2022, for instance, NewsMatch channeled funds from organization donors for matching grants of up to $15,000 to individual news outlets. Since its founding in 2017, NewsMatch has had 30 organizational donors, though it had 18 active donors in 2023. In 2022, nonprofit funders contributed $5.5 million in matching funds. ^{7 8 9}

Additionally, the Institute for Nonprofit News and the News Revenue Hub provide media outlets with training and support to increase their donation yields through NewsMatch. This training, which includes one-on-one coaching sessions and search-engine optimization, can run throughout the year during the build-up to the NewsMatch-backed fundraising period at the end of each year. ^{10 11}

Funding

In 2023, NewsMatch had 18 “national funding partners” that match individual contributions, including the Democracy Fund, the Heising-Simons Foundation, the Insamuch Foundation, Independence Media, the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation, the Joyce Foundation, the Kaphan Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Schwab Charitable Foundation, Solidarity Giving, the Walton Family Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Wyncote Foundation, the New York Times, the Miami Foundation, and the News Revenue Hub. ^{12 13} The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Ethics and Excellence in Journalism were past partners. ¹⁴

In 2022 NewsMatch spent $5.9 million, 9 percent of which was operating expenses while the rest were grants channeled from nonprofit donors through NewsMatch to newsrooms. ¹⁵

Criticism

In April 2023, journalist and former ProPublica president Richard Tofel published an article on his Substack mostly praising NewsMatch but also expressing skepticism about how the organization would spend a proposed $250 million generated from large donors over the next five to ten years. Tofel noted that current cost projections implied that NewsMatch would spend at least $35 million on overhead and marketing over this time frame, a substantial sum in his view that would not go directly to newsrooms. Tofel also questioned the efficacy of NewsMatch’s marketing to support local fundraising, the general exclusion of larger news outlets (like ProPublica) from funds, and the value of continuing support for shrinking newsrooms (which captured 25 percent of NewsMatch donations in 2021). ¹⁶

Tofel also expressed skepticism of how NewsMatch measured its own fundraising efficacy. He pointed out that NewsMatch seems to conflate funds raised by independent news outlets with funds raised by NewsMatch because NewsMatch claims credit for supposedly amplifying fundraising efforts with its funding match initiatives. ¹⁷

1. Downing, Andy. “Donate to our NewsMatch campaign today and support nonprofit news.” Matter News. Novemeber 9, 2022. Accessed July 2, 2023. https://www.matternews.org/voices/donate-to-our-newsmatch-campaign-today-and-support-nonprofit-news.
2. Tofel, Richard J. “Making Sense of “Supersizing NewsMatch”.” SubStack. April 6, 2023. Accessed July 2, 2023. https://dicktofel.substack.com/p/making-sense-of-supersizing-newsmatch.
3. “NewsMatch.” Newsmatch. Accessed July 2, 2023. https://newsmatch.inn.org/.
4. Hawkins-Gaar, Katie. “With NewsMatch, INN and News Revenue Hub have helped nonprofit newsrooms raise over $200 million.” News Revenue Hub. Accessed July 2, 2023. https://fundjournalism.org/case-studies/newsmatch-inn-news-revenue-hub/.
5. “Frequently Asked Questions.” NewsMatch. Updated April 4, 2023. Accessed July 2, 2023. https://newsmatch.inn.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/NewsMatch-FAQ_2023.pdf.
6. Hawkins-Gaar, Katie. “With NewsMatch, INN and News Revenue Hub have helped nonprofit newsrooms raise over $200 million.” News Revenue Hub. Accessed July 2, 2023. https://fundjournalism.org/case-studies/newsmatch-inn-news-revenue-hub/.
7. “Frequently Asked Questions.” NewsMatch. Updated April 4, 2023. Accessed July 2, 2023. https://newsmatch.inn.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/NewsMatch-FAQ_2023.pdf.
8. Downing, Andy. “Donate to our NewsMatch campaign today and support nonprofit news.” Matter News. Novemeber 9, 2022. Accessed July 2, 2023. https://www.matternews.org/voices/donate-to-our-newsmatch-campaign-today-and-support-nonprofit-news.
9. Hawkins-Gaar, Katie. “With NewsMatch, INN and News Revenue Hub have helped nonprofit newsrooms raise over $200 million.” News Revenue Hub. Accessed July 2, 2023. https://fundjournalism.org/case-studies/newsmatch-inn-news-revenue-hub/.
10. Hawkins-Gaar, Katie. “With NewsMatch, INN and News Revenue Hub have helped nonprofit newsrooms raise over $200 million.” News Revenue Hub. Accessed July 2, 2023. https://fundjournalism.org/case-studies/newsmatch-inn-news-revenue-hub/.
11. “Frequently Asked Questions.” NewsMatch. Updated April 4, 2023. Accessed July 2, 2023. https://newsmatch.inn.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/NewsMatch-FAQ_2023.pdf.
12. “NewsMatch is supported by:.” NewsMatch. Accessed July 2, 2023. https://newsmatch.inn.org/.
13. “Frequently Asked Questions.” NewsMatch. Updated April 4, 2023. Accessed July 2, 2023. https://newsmatch.inn.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/NewsMatch-FAQ_2023.pdf.
14. “NewsMatch opens with more than $3 million in matching support for nonprofit newsrooms across the U.S..” New Mexico In Depth. Accessed July 2, 2023. https://nmindepth.com/newsmatch-opens-with-more-than-3-million-in-matching-support-for-nonprofit-newsrooms-across-the-u-s/.
15. “Frequently Asked Questions.” NewsMatch. Updated April 4, 2023. Accessed July 2, 2023. https://newsmatch.inn.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/NewsMatch-FAQ_2023.pdf.
16. Tofel, Richard J. “Making Sense of “Supersizing NewsMatch”.” SubStack. April 6, 2023. Accessed July 2, 2023. https://dicktofel.substack.com/p/making-sense-of-supersizing-newsmatch.
17. Tofel, Richard J. “Making Sense of “Supersizing NewsMatch”.” SubStack. April 6, 2023. Accessed July 2, 2023. https://dicktofel.substack.com/p/making-sense-of-supersizing-newsmatch.