Worried about whether your publication can attract funding? Do the ‘right things’ and funding will follow.

That’s the advice of Liz White, the fifth-generation publisher of RJ Media Group in Connecticut, reported by the US Local Media Association.

The publisher of a five-day daily and eight weekly newspapers, she had taken part in LMA’s Lab for Journalism Funding sessions prior to having raised any money; a little more than two years later, philanthropic support is reported to have grown to US$1 million.

Coaches Frank Mungeam and Joaquin Alvarado assured them they were “doing all the right things” and should just stick with it… so they did.

In those two years, the more than US$1 million has come from philanthropic funding (71 per cent), and new sponsors and advertisers (29 per cent).

“This is all to support the mission of our Latino Communities Reporting Lab – to amplify the voices of our local Latino communities,” she says.

Key elements included a vital five-month “listening tour”, which included 82 individual conversations, four focus groups and 51 survey responses (of which a case study Built to last: Record-Journal creates Latino Communities Reporting Lab funded with philanthropy, is available).

Additionally there was feedback from community leaders, members and funders locally and nationally, as well as a new community advisory board, built from key stakeholders.

A year-long listening, engagement and data gathering project during the second year was funded by Google News Initiative’s Innovation Challenge.

Liz White also urges partnering with a local fiscal sponsor – RJ Media had Meriden-Wallingford Community Foundation as a “tremendous supportive partner” – and collaborating at every opportunity. “We have a high volume and variety of partners, which has led us to so many great things, including story ideas, sources, new partnerships and new funding,” she says.

And be creative. “Think of new and different opportunities and projects to attract funders and do the work you heard needs to be done.”

National support from Report For America and local support from the Connecticut Health Foundation was paired to help fund a health equity reporter, shining a light on the inequities Latinos face and highlighting solutions.

She also urges demonstrating impact “early and often” and finding ways to generate outcomes you can show to build your track record. A 12-week vaccine reporting project in April 2021 helped achieve equity in the rate at which Latinos received COVID-19 vaccine.

Philanthropy should be a priority, and she has plenty of good advice for other publishers. For instance: “It’s a marathon, not a sprint. No can mean just for now, not forever! And the more nos you get, the closer you are to getting a yes!

“Think big and explain long-term sustainability. Be ready to explain a larger long-term vision and the total needed to fund all parts of that vision and budget over several years, from the journalists to the technology, marketing, translation etc.

“Our coaches told us to create a larger fundraising goal to use when talking to potential funders, and for us, that was US$2.1 million to fully fund our lab for four years. We wouldn’t have thought so big without this advice, and ultimately, we think that helped funders see our long-term vision.”

And finally, “pursuing philanthropy can attract new traditional revenue” and “the more listening you do, the more creative you are and the more open you are to collaboration, the more a variety of funding paths will present themselves”.

The Latino Communities Reporting Lab now has eight philanthropic funders, as well as over 40 sponsors and advertisers, some of which called them to advertise.