Public Interest News Foundation 

Facilitating more meaningful community engagement with audiences was a key component of the campaign. Participants were asked to hold at least one in-person event to connect with their audiences.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism provided a training session on ‘community listening’ events, designed to help news providers develop stories in partnership with their audiences.

Participants held at least 40 in-person events or other initiatives during and after INW. Those included:

• News cafes, market stands and open newsrooms

• School and education centre visits

• A standup comedy night

• A pub quiz and other socials

• An online seminar

• Museum exhibits, guided history tours and a big island tour

• A journalism conference

This wide range of activities, taking place in very different parts of the UK, means that a broad range of communities were engaged. Some providers discussed the craft of journalism with school-age students, others attracted museumgoers and local history enthusiasts. Some had niche audiences and others invited anyone who came across a newsstand at a local market on a weekend morning.

Nearly 90% of news providers told us that the campaign inspired them to hold more in-person activities in future and to think about new ways to engage their audiences. The other 10% said they already focused on community engagement in their work and would continue to do so.

Providers were energised by getting in front of their audiences and hearing directly from them. It helped boost their fundraising efforts, gave them useful insights and feedback, and for many was the first time they interacted with their audiences in this way. It also helped participants connect with each other, with many spending the weeks leading up to the campaign comparing notes and sharing advice and suggestions on their campaign activities.

The second main component of INW and INF was improving the financial health of participating news providers by supporting them to fundraise through donation and membership/subscription drives. All participants were encouraged to use the campaign as an opportunity to generate income, and 27 participated in INF.

To help with this, PINF recruited Judi Kamien, a US-based nonprofit consultant with experience participating in the Institute for Nonprofit News’ NewsMatch programme. Kamien created a slide deck, offered a training and Q&A session on fundraising in early May 2024, and made herself available to participants for direct consultation afterwards.

‘I have been amazed and surprised by the willingness to support the community newsletter. I also learned the value of a campaign for raising awareness as much as money. Will have to learn more about grant/fundraising as this is a confidence-booster for future planning.’

When accounting for donations, profits from community engagement activities, subscriptions and 12-months’ worth of new memberships, INF participants raised £77,666. This means that, combined with £50k from the INF, the sector generated at least £127.7k in new revenue over the next 12 months. This does not include income that INW participants who did not take part in the match fund generated.

Half of the participants met or exceeded their fundraising targets. A handful of providers doubled or tripled their fundraising targets, exceeding both their and PINF’s expectations and introducing vital infusions of money to cash-strapped operations.

Participants reported an average 60% rise in reader revenue during the campaign. Five participants, around one fifth, saw their reader revenue double compared to previous months. Almost three quarters of participants said that the campaign had changed the way they thought about revenue, inspiring them to:

• Diversify revenue streams

• Increase focus on membership

• Launch regular crowdfunders

• Adopt a membership campaign mindset year-round

• Fundraise for a specific outcome, instead of only running costs

The new funding provided new opportunities for these news providers to serve their communities with public interest news, in the following ways among others:

• Mentoring people from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds and people with disabilities in Belfast to write stories on social issues and human rights.

• Commissioning freelancers to produce stories looking into housing issues in Greenwich, covering topics such as homelessness and regeneration.

• Printing and distributing a whole year’s worth of issues of the only news source in Berwick-upon-Tweed.

• Commissioning and training writers from marginalised and underrepresented backgrounds in south-east London to write human rights stories.

• Paying investigative journalists’ salaries in Bristol.

• Holding more community engagement events in Scotland.

• Publishing print pamphlets with local stories from 13 Welsh-language hyperlocal news sites to attract new audiences.

• Upgrading IT infrastructure and audio equipment in Durham.

• Increasing General Election reporting capacity and printing new advertising material to grow readership in Northamptonshire.

• Recruiting an audience development producer.

INW and INF 2024 were highly successful pilots. They facilitated significant community engagement, unprecedented in some parts of the UK, and more than doubled the original investment from PINF’s generous donors.

Participating providers rated their experience highly, remarking particularly on the opportunities to connect with each other and their audiences, the cash infusions and the support they received from PINF.

Participants also expressed great enthusiasm for future iterations of INW and INF, which is shared by PINF. This pilot year has provided invaluable lessons that will help both PINF and the sector operate more effectively and efficiently in future campaigns, in addition to new insights into the work that providers have said they will implement more broadly in their work.

This campaign has significantly advanced our mission of ensuring the sustainability of independent news providers across the UK, and we would love to build on this in 2025 and beyond.