Indie News Week
Indie News Week is back for 2026!
The third annual Indie News Week (INW) will be taking place around the UK from 15th - 21st June 2026.
Big Tech greed and corporate takeovers are strangling local news, and the indie news providers that bring you the news you need are having to fight to keep going.
That's why, in June 2024, PINF launched the UK’s first awareness-raising and crowdfunding campaign for independent news, with the slogan No News is Bad News.
Since then, indie publishers have held more than 80 events across the first and second Indie News Weeks, engaging hundreds of people across the country and providing a much-needed joint fundraising moment.
‘It's been a huge shot in the arm for me. I had been feeling quite despondent about the future in the lead-up to Indie News Week, so to have a successful fundraiser and in-person event has been a real boost.' - The Greenwich Wire
We want to keep on banging the drum for indie news - so we're back for 2026! 20 outlets have registered so far to be part of the third annual indie news campaign to raise critical funds and awareness of local news among audiences across the UK.
Events will be taking place across all four nations of the UK, from film festivals to meet the editor days. Despite being busier than ever, journalists are throwing open the newsroom doors to let in local communities, starting from Monday 15th June.
‘It was fantastic and one of the most supportive I've been a part of – really appreciate the team's efforts and delighted to have met so many peers and potential collaborators through the campaign.’
Indie News Week 2024 ran from 3-9 June to raise the profile of indie news providers, while Indie News Fund (which ran until 30 June) supported the sector financially by doubling the funds raised by participating news providers during the month of June. PINF worked with participants to set individual fundraising targets, which the providers smashed, raising £78,000.
Indie News Week 2025 ran from 9-15 June. The second campaign saw 30 outlets pull together for 34 events, engaging at least 500 people across the country - all on top of their regular day jobs of keeping local, indie news afloat, keeping communities informed across the UK.
Participants in Indie News Week overwhelmingly report increased confidence and capacity to continue community engagement and fundraising. We believe that this initiative has created a virtuous cycle of sustainability and will only continue to grow over the coming years.
Community Engagement
Facilitating more meaningful community engagement with audiences is a key component of the campaign. Participants are encouraged to hold at least one in-person event to connect with their audiences.
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism has provided a training session on ‘community listening’ events, designed to help news providers develop stories in partnership with their audiences.
Participants have held at least x in-person events or other initiatives during and after INW, including:
- News cafes, market stands and open newsrooms
- School and education centre visits
- A standup comedy night
- A pub quiz and other socials
- Guided history tours and guided walks
- A journalism conference
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 are energised by getting in front of their audiences and hearing directly from them. It helps boost their fundraising efforts and gives them useful insights and feedback.
The campaign also helps indie news providers 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.
Fundraising
The second objective of INW is improving the financial health of participating news providers by supporting them to fundraise through donation and membership/subscription drives. All participants are encouraged to use the campaign as an opportunity to generate income.
To help with this, PINF works with Judi Kamien, a US-based nonprofit consultant with experience participating in the Institute for Nonprofit News’ NewsMatch programme. Kamien offers a trainings and Q&A sessions on fundraising.
‘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.’
In our first year, 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
Impact
The campaign provides new opportunities for news providers to serve their communities with public interest news, in the following ways among others:
- INW facilitates significant community engagement, unprecedented in some parts of the UK.
- Participating providers continually rate 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.
- The 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 2026 and beyond.
- 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.
