How to pitch your journalism to local funders and build stronger biz relationships

Fall means peak fundraising season for many news organizations — and our three guests today are full of advice about how to build relationships with potential funders, especially those without a long history of supporting journalism.

Kimberly Griffin is the publisher and director of revenue for Mississippi Free Press; Kimberly Spencer is the senior director of development and donor relations at Chalkbeat, which reports on education across America; and Robert Chappell is the associate publisher for Madison365, a local news site that serves communities of color in Madison, Wisconsin.

Bonus for LION members: Join us on Tuesday, November 30 for a LION Lesson that will help you build or refine an end-of-year fundraising campaign. If you’re starting from scratch, we’ll give you advice on how to develop a lightweight membership or donation campaign that you can launch before the holidays. If you’re already deep in the weeds, we’ll help you get peer feedback on your campaign messaging or tactics.

RSVP here for the LION Lesson, and let us know in the registration form what support you’re looking for so that we can cater the breakout groups to your needs.

Related Reading:

• What 16 publishers learned pitching funders on journalism projects (Local Media Association)
• Crafting a winning pitch to attract funding (IJNet)
• 3 ways the nonprofit newsroom PublicSource is becoming more sustainable (LION Publishers)