‘Give while you read:’ How conversations at the Lenfest News Philanthropy Summit inspired a new path for publisher sustainability at Syndex 

By Adedayo Fashanu & Abolaji Omitogun

August 6, 2025

This essay is part of a series of reflections from the 2025 Lenfest News Philanthropy Summit sharing insights, lessons learned, and key takeaways from the conference, which was hosted in partnership with Press Forward. Access additional Summit resources here. 

Supporting your local newsroom should feel no more complicated than checking out at your neighborhood store — tap your card, get your goods, walk away knowing you contributed to something essential. 

In today’s fragmented media environment, that kind of simple value exchange in journalism feels increasingly elusive. Readers scroll endlessly. Journalists publish tirelessly. Unfortunately, the support mechanism connecting the two—financially, relationally, emotionally—has eroded or, in some places, vanished altogether. 

What if we could bring it back? 

What if reading a piece of journalism and supporting its creator became a seamless act—something instinctual, something intentional, something human? 

This is the exact question we brought with us to the 2025 Lenfest News Philanthropy Summit in Philadelphia. While we came for inspiration, we left with an actionable path forward. What emerged is “Syndex Give,” a reader-to-publisher donation feature designed to make supporting journalism as simple and emotional as buying someone a coffee. 

Here’s how we got there—and what’s next. 

Syndex and TANTV: Our lens, our mission 

Before diving in, a bit of background is helpful. Our company exists at the intersection of media and technology. On one side is TANTV, our publishing arm focused on storytelling for multicultural and diverse local communities. On the other side is Syndex, our AI-powered technology platform built to support the journalism ecosystem through forecasting emergent storylines with our predictive intelligence, aggregation, and now reader-driven monetization.  

We’ve walked in the shoes of both the newsroom and the technologist. And with funding from Pharrell Williams’ Black Ambition Initiative in 2024, we began reimagining what sustainable infrastructure for independent publishers could look like — not just for us, but for the many others navigating similar terrain. 

We found ourselves confronting three interwoven challenges: 

• Funding: The sustainability crisis in journalism—how to make it work financially. 

• Audience: Building and keeping loyal audiences in a zero-click, AI-dominated internet. 

• Infrastructure: What tools are needed to bridge the gap between news producers & news consumers (Growth, monetization, and sustainability) 

This is the problem space we’ve chosen to live in. And like any good product builder will tell you: if you’re not obsessed with the problem, you’re building the wrong thing. 

Lenfest News Philanthropy Summit: A masterclass in value reframing 

When we had the opportunity to attend the Lenfest News Philanthropy Summit in Philadelphia, we said yes without hesitation. Thanks to our partners at URL Media, we showed up curious and ready to listen. Walking into the Summit felt like entering a giant, multi-room think tank of some of the sharpest minds in journalism, philanthropy, and nonprofit innovation. 

Our goal was simple: Listen deeply. Understand what’s working. Learn what isn’t. And then return to our product roadmap with new clarity. 

As Dale R. Anglin, Director of Press Forward, shared with us the Summit: 

“Local news is so important to our community. It is the collective glue that brings our communities together… Every community wants local news, every community deserves local news, and every community needs local news. Our job is to help figure out how to help them get it.” 

That quote captured the essence of the entire event—and sharpened our focus on building Syndex not just as a platform, but as a tool for resilience, service, and sustainability. 

Then came the session that stuck with us the most: “Connecting Service to Community Outcomes,” led by Madison Karas of Tiny News Collective and Patrick Boehler of Gazzetta which felt like a live product solution & product market fit strategy team meeting.  

They offered a simple but powerful formula: 

(Journalism ÷ Relevance) × Time = Δ Public Good 

This was the journalism value equation—an elegant articulation of something we’d felt but never seen clearly expressed: that good journalism is not just about information, but timing, relevance, and impact. This vison reframes journalism not as a content product, but as a community service — something that provides utility to real people navigating real decisions real time. If we want communities to value journalism, we need to build tools that make that value visible, actionable, and fundable. 

This idea became the heartbeat of what we’d eventually call Syndex Give. 

The birth of an idea: What if giving was as easy as reading? 

Between Summit sessions, we sketched out what a frictionless giving experience might look like inside the Syndex platform. Could we create a button—a moment—that turned attention into action? 

Here’s what we imagined: 

You’re reading a deeply reported local story on Syndex. You get to the end and see a subtle prompt: 

“Appreciate this story? Support [Publisher Name] directly. It takes 10 seconds.” 

Clicking brings up a simple, customizable donation prompt powered by the publisher, No login required. Just you and the newsroom, in a moment of exchange. 

Our goal was to make giving feel intuitive, emotional, and publisher-controlled. 

What we’re building: Syndex Give, explained 

The result of these insights is Syndex Give—a feature currently in development and now accepting pilot partners. 

Here’s what it includes: 

Reader-Facing Features 

• In-article “Give” Button: Elegant prompt visible within or at the end of stories. 

• Publisher-branded Donation Page: Pop-up modal or redirect based on publisher preferences. 

• Customizable CTAs: Publishers set their own call-to-action language (“Fuel local reporting,” “Support our newsroom,” “Gift a coffee to our reporter”). 

• One-Time or Recurring: Readers choose how often to give. 

• Multiple Payment Options: Including PayPal, debit/credit cards, and digital wallets. 

Publisher Backend Features 

• Control Panel: Manage donation settings, payment preferences, CTA copy, and payout schedules, “Give to the Reporter” Attribution,  

• Analytics Dashboard: Track donations by story, time, campaign, and user segment. 

• Campaign Scheduling: Trigger giving prompts during key seasons (e.g. Giving Tuesday, Earth Day, NewsMatch, local events). 

No financial data is stored on Syndex servers. All donations are processed via secure payment gateways.  

So the next time a reader finishes a story and thinks, “This mattered to me”, they’ll know exactly what to do next. 

Just tap. Just give. Just like that. 

Interested in piloting “Syndex Give”? 
Sign up here to join our publisher beta program and help shape the future of reader-powered journalism.