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Five things nonprofits can learn from the news business

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News organizations have been through a LOT and have a thing or five to teach nonprofits about community, revenue, innovation, metrics and more.

“What are some unique innovations that nonprofit news could export to the greater nonprofit sector?” Tristan Loper, who runs national programs at the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, asked that question on LinkedIn last week.

I love this question. It’s the theme of a poster session I successfully pitched to Comnet 2024 back in April.

This question matters nonprofits are facing existential crises and threats.

There are (literally) millions of nonprofit organizations in the US. It’s pointless to speak of nonprofits as a single entity; the sector contains multitudes.

But a comparison with the news sector is apt. News organizations (nonprofit and other) faced existential threats 20 years ago. Many closed. Many are still closing. But the sector has evolved and is clawing its way back as nonprofit, member-driven news organizations, creator journalism, newsletters, podcasts and more find their way to people’s screens, inboxes and headphones.

5 Lessons for Nonprofits

Here’s the gist of my current thinking on what nonprofits can learn from news organizations.

Turn to community.

Today’s news organizations don’t just engage the community. They’re part of it. They act on the needs of the community, actively help, and listen. Take seriously membership, it’s revenue, it’s ideas and participation.

Completely rethink measurement.

Old metrics (things like ad sales, subscriptions, print runs, even pageviews) died so success needed to be measured in new ways so that meaningful programs could be built. Nonprofits measure pageviews, email addresses on a list and message clicks – all largely useless metrics if nonprofits care about impact or their own sustainability.

Be a sponge.

Those who lasted (or grew from nothing) have been willing to learn from other fields, change models and test. The nonprofit sector often resists absorption. 😉

Take revenue diversity seriously.

In the past many news organizations relied on a single source. This is true for many/most nonprofits now. Use all the above to build or revive membership programs, find and reach new audiences, improve supporter loyalty, and develop revenue programs that work for you and your community. All of which are practices news organizations have been taking seriously in recent years.

Support infrastructure for communications, development and leadership training.

I see news sector foundations, donors and intermediaries investing in the capacity building needed to grow reader revenue, membership, and the leadership skills needed to meld together journalism, innovation and testing. Under investment in mentorship, capacity building and training by the broader nonprofit sector drives out diverse ideas, stymies innovation and drives out people career growth.

What would you add to this list?

Turning policy experts into reporters

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The Munk School of Public Affairs at the University of Toronto is doing something brilliant that NGO leaders should check out. The Fellowship in Global Journalism, an 8-month program that trains subject experts to become reporters. The program gives students the support, training and tools needed to create powerful stories for widely read news and online media outlets. Training focuses traditional and digital reporting skills and the program provides participants with high-level mentorship from working editors. All that is layered on top of the participant’s strong subject expertise.

deep sea mining
An ocean issue that could use more news stories: deep sea mining. This is an Auxiliary Cutter to be used by Nautilus Minerals for seabed mining near Papau New Guinea. Photo via Nautilus Minerals.

Imagine, for example, the stories that a few oceans experts could create for widely read media newspapers and online media if they had deep skills in reporting, data visualization, video production and other storytelling skills needed today. You don’t see many oceans stories because traditional news outlets don’t have staff to cover those stories and new media outlets haven’t built up subject expertise. But all are looking to publish great stories people will read and share.

It’s not that readers don’t care about oceans, it’s that there’s nobody to tell the story. And more (and better) stories are needed to support a public narrative on which advocates can hook their calls to action.

Oceans are just one example. You could swap out medicine, immigration, childcare or prison reform and get similar results.

Great news stories are in higher demand than ever so why not make them about issues that matter. There are more places reporting general news for national and global audiences than ever. Some start with a V: Vice and Vox. A is covered: AlJazeera. And then there B for Buzzfeed and M for Mic. Meanwhile, long-time regional, national and global news outlets are cutting full-time positions but, in most cases, hungry for good stories.

There are too few people who both know their subject and can develop great stories about it. This creates an opportunity for policy experts to engage global media in new and more direct ways. It would be fantastic to see the environmental community or other advocacy sector support a similar endeavor.