The American Journalism Project is a venture philanthropy dedicated to local news. We believe civic journalism is an essential public good and are reimagining its future by building a model to finance and sustain the local news our communities require. We invest in local nonprofit news organizations to build their revenue and business operations, partner with communities to launch new organizations, and mentor leaders as they grow and sustain their newsrooms.
The collapse of the commercial local news market has left many communities without access to reliable, independent reporting. Philanthropy has a critical role to play in addressing this market failure and creating the conditions for a sustainable future. As the nation’s first venture philanthropy dedicated to local news, the American Journalism Project makes targeted investments in nonprofit news organizations, helping them grow strong business operations and build diverse, durable revenue streams. In addition to financial investment, we provide ongoing programmatic and strategic support to help organizations strengthen leadership and long-term planning. AJP also works with civic leaders, community foundations, and place-based funders to assess, identify and address information gaps through ecosystem research, community listening, solution design, and business modeling. In 12 markets across the country, we’ve helped raise more than $65 million in local philanthropic support from over 65 funders to grow the capacity of local news. In markets where existing news efforts are not positioned to meet the full scope of local information needs, we help build new nonprofit news organizations from the ground up. Through our Startup Studio, we work with local coalitions to design, launch and support newsrooms that are tailored to serve their communities. To date, we’ve launched six organizations, including Free Press Indiana and Signal Ohio, with new efforts underway in Los Angeles and Tulsa.
Target Issues