As Word In Black is incorporated as a public benefit company, Local Media Association chief executive Nancy Lane recalls the call that set the group in motion.

“It was the Sunday after the murder of George Floyd, and I know exactly where I was sitting in my house when Elinor Tatum, publisher of the New York Amsterdam News, called me.

“Always a visionary, Tatum quickly communicated that efforts were underway to support racial equity efforts in our country philanthropically, and she did not want journalism to be left out. Tatum firmly believed that local black news publishers needed to come together in response to Floyd’s murder to provide the essential voice/perspectives of the black community, including solutions. At the same time, COVID-19 lockdowns were in full force and local media companies were suffering.”

As Tatum signalled urgency – a friend was working with donor-advised funds and offering options for clients – and with the help of LMA chief operating officer Jay Small, the trio put together the Fund for Black Journalism over the next 12 hours.

“We wrote the marketing copy, set up a Givebutter fundraising mechanism and developed a logo,” she says. “When we shared the link with the donor-advised clients, dozens of donations came in immediately. LMA and the Local Media Consortium pledged US$50,000, and within days more than US$150,000 had been raised.”

Lane says Tatum was already part of an LMA transformation lab for black publishers, with four others, and the group decided to invite five more publishers to join. “That’s when Word In Black was born, although it would be several months before the group decided on that name.”

The first critical moment came with an application for a US$300,000 Google News Innovation Challenge, a step that forced the writing of a business plan, which has been followed ever since. “We received the full $300,000, one of only a handful to receive the maximum amount, and we went to work,” she says.

“Could a digital news startup, backed by legacy media, succeed? We were about to find out. Word In Black was incubated inside Local Media Foundation. That provided infrastructure and an environment to test and experiment. Our business plan called for diverse revenue streams including philanthropic funding of journalism, branded content, sponsorships, events and more.

“On the GNI application we described what success would look like. It would mean developing a sustainable business model that allowed us to form a public benefit corporation. We pegged revenue/philanthropic support at US$5 million to make that happen. It was bold, ambitious and not one of us doubted it would happen.

“We started with a part-time managing editor in late 2020. In three years, we grew to a newsroom of ten. Our guiding principle was not either/or, but both. Word In Black’s secret sauce is the legacy of the ten publishers, with their large, loyal and trusted audiences. Some people tell us not to use the word legacy; we reject that notion. Starting a digital brand with an audience of more than 1 million (collective reach of the ten publishers), is a strength, not a weakness. It has served and continues to serve us well.”

Lane says that from the start, philanthropic funding and branded content fuelled Word In Black’s growth. Chan Zuckerberg Initiative was one of the first to support us. As a result, we have two dedicated education reporters (one is a data journalist), and the ten publishers have established mini-education beats with local stories focused on solutions to K-12 education inequities. In 2023, 440 education stories were published thanks to this funding. The work has been recognised by many in the education community, including the former secretary of education under President Obama, Dr. John B. King, Jr.

“From there, others in the philanthropic community have stepped up to fund full-time health reporters, a newsletter editor, climate justice reporter and new this month, a religion reporter. We’re working with others to add beats dedicated to public safety and voting rights. And through the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, we published an extensive series focused on racial healing.

“Branded content has taken the form of public service journalism. AARP was the first to support Word In Black with a series focused on caretakers. This was especially important in the Black community coming out of the COVID pandemic. Biogen worked with us on the early warning signs of Alzheimers. A key component of the partnership was an event featuring R&B group Dru Hill. Wells Fargo funded a finance reporter and mini-financial beats for the publishers. An event with top Black female business leaders is slated for Q1 2024. Deloitte worked with the publishers to create The Exchange, with projects focused on health inequities and the racial wealth gap. This work will greatly expand in 2024.”

McKinsey was the first to sponsor Word In Black’s Friday newsletter. Since then, five more newsletters have launched focused on health, education, climate justice, finance and racial healing. Word In Black newsletters have nearly 50,000 subscribers (here’s where to sign up).

For the team at LMA/LMF, the experience has been life changing: “To be part of a major digital news startup has been incredibly exciting, let alone one focussed on a topic as important as racial inequity in America. Our learnings are helping others in the industry and we think there is so much more we can share from this experience.”

Lane attributes the success of Word In Black to six reasons:

-The publishers put in the time and effort. They attend multiple calls, every week of the year, contributing in a wide variety of ways. We’re leveraging this talent to grow the business. Without their daily involvement, this never works.

-The model is not either/or but both. From Day 1, the goal was to uplift the ten publishers as we grow the national brand. “This isn’t as self-serving as it sounds – it’s because the ten publishers had the audience to get this launched. The content benefits from the extended reach provided by the publishers. The end result is sustaining the ten local news outlets while growing an exciting national brand. A win/win”.

-A third party managing the new brand means the publishers can focus on their local businesses first, which is vitally important. LMF provides critical management and oversight.

-Everyone gets along. “There is tremendous respect and trust among everyone involved. It’s a beautiful thing, and rare in our experience of running collaboratives.”

-The philanthropic and corporate supporters see value in this content and collaboration. They are excited to be part of it, and they engage at a much higher level than we normally see. Of course, we deliver results and impact.

-The work is hard, really hard, and no one complains. Nights, weekends, long days. Every member of the LMA team including the WIB newsroom led by Liz Courquet-Lesaulnier, and every publisher has put in significant time and effort. And it shows.

What’s next? “We are hiring a director of development to work on commercial opportunities. The Word In Black Racial Equity Fund, a component fund of the Local Media Foundation, will continue to support the newsroom and journalism projects. And we are looking for ways to include more local Black publishers in our work. We have already expanded to five more, beyond the ten shareholders, in our projects with Deloitte and Kellogg.

“We are always asked if these learnings can be scaled. The answer is yes. Topic-based news brands are a natural for legacy media (and startups) to get behind. News Is Out, a queer media collaborative, is following in Word In Black’s footsteps. Also incubated by the Local Media Foundation, and initially funded by GNI, NIO has a full time managing director/editor and journalism projects funded by philanthropy. This group will make a major announcement with a new funder later this month that will take things to a whole new level.

“We are working to bring the LMA Covering Climate Collaborative to this level. It’s more complicated with 35-plus media partners, including representation from many of the largest media companies in the US, but also involving some digital startups. We can imagine a national site, fueled by great climate journalism from these companies, to be financially sustainable for the companies involved. To do this, we need serious funding (it’s on our long to-do list!)

“We have been approached by Hispanic publishers to form a collaboration similar to Word In Black. We think this is a no-brainer, but needs significant funding.

“Now that a roadmap has been built, it should lead to many other opportunities for topic-based collaboration. Have an idea? Give us a call!

“Finally, I want to thank the LMA and LMF board members for their unwavering support of this project. Incubating a media company, inside of a trade association/charitable foundation, is not typical. Many boards would have rejected it from the start. They would have worried about the time the staff would spend on it, and how it would impact their ability to help the rest of the membership. That would be a legitimate concern. They would have worried about failure. What if it doesn’t work? For the 23 years that I have run LMA, our boards have never been afraid to take risks. It’s a wonderful culture that allows us to do this kind of work. And it’s core to our mission of reinventing business models for news.

“We need more risk-taking in our industry, and more innovation. Democracy is at stake. Thanks to the Word In Black publishers for leading the way.”

Word In Black incorporated as a public benefit company on January 1, 2024, in line with a business plan that was developed in late 2020. More information here.

Nancy Lane is chief executive of the Local Media Association & Local Media Foundation, and past president of the Villanova University Alumni Association.