The Institute for Nonprofit News announced 15 grantees in the fourth round of its INNovation Fund program, representing $416,000 for projects that aim to increase revenue, audience reach and engagement.
Recipients include:
- The New England Center for Investigative Reporting, which received $35,000 to host a series of events to help citizens find and describe earmarked funds within government budgets.
- The Listening Post, partnering with Georgia Public Broadcasting, won $35,000 to monitor and evaluate its model of engaging new audiences and supporting new sponsorship.
- inewsource, a partner of KPBS in San Diego, was awarded $11,000 to produce an individual donor communications kit, which aims to strengthen donor affinity and turn occasional donors into ongoing contributors.
- And the Arizona State University Foundation for a New American University, partnering with Arizona PBS and Cronkite News, was awarded $10,000 to test which audiences are most likely to contribute to student media and state news services and whether crowdfunding can be a permanent revenue source for student media.
The 15 grantees were chosen from a pool of over 70 proposals. Read the full list of winners.
This fourth round of grants was aided by an additional $200,000 from the Democracy Fund. The INNovation Fund has now made more than $1.1 million in grants to fund 39 projects.
The INNovation Fund was established in 2014 with support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. It helps fund projects to increase audience engagement and long-term sustainability for nonprofit newsrooms.