Building Sustainability

Funding & Financials

Creating Community

Recruitment & PR

Legal & Ethical Considerations

Funding & Financials

CCN believes students should receive either course credit or pay for their work in news-academic partnerships. And, in some cases, faculty must find resources to run the news organization itself. Yet, locating stable sources of funding can be challenging. The good news? News-academic partnerships can mine both academic institutions and news-driven organizations for money. Whether it’s through internal sources, or external grants, or a portfolio of methods, here is a list of pathways to help your newsroom financially survive — and perhaps thrive.

REPORT: Funding for news-academic partnerships by Richard Watts, CCN director (PDF)

DISCUSSION: Faculty fundraising brown bag with CCN (video)

STRATEGY: Creating priorities and diversifying funding, American Press Institute

Options for Funding

Advertising

Whether print, broadcast or digital ads, selling advertising within your news product can be a sustainable form of revenue if you have the personnel to maintain it. Bundling has become a popular strategy, across products and platforms or even organizations, in order to build a stronger and more sustainable advertising base. It also provides an information service to your community.

NOTE: Creating a set of advertising and funding policies proactively is crucial. The Institute for Nonprofit News has this template and ProPublica is another well-regarded example, but many can be found on the rate card examples below as well.

Rate card examples

Sponsorships 

Ads are updated with frequency (as they promote specific products, events, etc.) but sponsorships allow organizations/businesses to get brand exposure that takes less upkeep. (Here’s a primer on the difference.) Also, sponsorships are more flexible — from sponsoring an email newsletter, to a logo on a digital product, to inclusion on fliers or T-shirts. Two other possible applications for sponsorships:

  • Sponsorships for individual reporters, internships or specific issue-based reporting.
  • Sponsorships for travel stipends for reporters.
Sponsorship examples

Donations or memberships 

Even if your news organization isn’t a nonprofit or registered 501c3, donations can be a path to revenue. Models vary widely, but simply using a donation button on your website can allow communities to give. Another option would be to provide something in return for a donation (think public media with branded merchandise). Those who are recurring donors receive some type of membership benefit, and these can be leveled as well. 

Donation or membership examples

Grants and nonprofit networks 

Many big philanthropic organizations have funding opportunities, such as Knight, Google, MacArthur, etc., but they can be quite competitive. The key is to find grants or financial partnerships with networks that have a tailored interest in the work that your program does. Here are more specific resources:

University-based funds 

Each university has unique financial structures, but here are a few that might exist at your institution to provide funding:

  • experiential learning programs
  • alumni networks
  • faculty seed, research and curriculum development grants
  • student journalism organizations that can raise funds

Cost-sharing and crowdfunding 

Depending on your model, it’s possible the news organization you are publishing/broadcasting in or with could take on a share of the costs for the students, resources or materials. It also might be willing to partner for a crowdfunding opportunity — for pay, equipment, etc. Here are two strong guides for journalistic crowdfunding: 

Events 

Hosting events can be a financial tool but also a key component of audience engagement for local news organizations. Increasingly, events are becoming part of newsrooms’ business models, too. The Texas Tribune is known for its events that spark community discussions and engage audiences in political issues. Here are two guides to help think through what events might look like for your news-academic partnership:

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Creating Community

Community engagement is vital for news organizations and audiences today. Your students will need to get to know who they are covering, and your communities will need a pathway to explain what they need and want from that coverage.

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Recruitment and Program PR

All recruitment and public relations work revolves around a few key ideas: showcasing a quality product, demonstrating purpose and impact, providing meaningful opportunities (networking, leadership, skills, information, etc.), and showcasing a sense of community within and with your organization. Sure, social media helps with awareness, but it’s the personal and in-person interactions that tend to bring more students on board for news-academic partnerships AND provides a stronger understanding of the partnership outside of your program.

Some ideas that programs have tried with success:
  • Behind-the-scenes content on digital products to show how the partnership works
  • Choosing a specific social “influencer” who documents and explains the benefits of the partnership (for either a community or student recruitment audience)
  • Creating physical postcards, fliers or print products that explain your purpose and promise and/or give a sample of your coverage
  • Open house or other events where the community can meet the reporters or students can meet the existing staff, see facilities, provide story ideas, etc.
  • Provide free training — for students, training will provide more confidence; for community members, you can train them in disinformation detection, news values, how to cover their own communities and share that with you, etc.
  • Use incentives (for either student recruitment or audience awareness) for local giveaways, events, tickets, access, etc. 

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News-academic partnerships come in all shapes and sizes, which means they have varying legal and ethical needs. Use the organizations and links below to explore ideas, advice and templates that apply to your context and newsroom.

FAQs for Legal Issues

Legal Resources

Ethics Resources

  • Society of Professional Journalists
    • Provides a nationally accepted framework of ethics, along with professional development, advocacy, and local news support within the journalism industry — plus a section for journalism educators.
  • Online News Association Ethics
    • Provides journalists and news organizations with the ownership and flexibility in creating an ethics code that meets their needs in our widely varied profession with a digital emphasis.
  • RTDNA Code of Ethics
    • Offers resources to help journalists make better ethical decisions – on and off the job – for themselves and for the communities they serve with a broadcast focus.
  • Trusting News
    • Using research, learning and sharing with the industry, they explore how to incorporate trust-building into journalism’s standards and practices, through products such as the Trust Kit for Ethics.
  • Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
    • Encourages the highest standards in journalism ethics by fostering vigorous debate about ethical practices in journalism and providing a resource for producers, consumers and students of journalism. 

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