The Lenfest Institute 2025 Impact Report

March 10, 2026

When I first met the late H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest, a pragmatic but visionary cable TV entrepreneur, I had to remind myself that this soft-spoken 85-year-old had helped usher in two of the great disruptions in the history of news and media: the advent of multi-channel television and ubiquitous broadband access to American homes. 

The Lenfest Institute for Journalism was founded a decade ago to raise and deploy capital and advice to help local journalism survive and thrive. Gerry’s original name for his Institute was prescient: The Institute for Journalism in New Media. Back in 2016, I and others felt that was too much of a mouthful. I explained to Gerry that the phrase “new media” was old-fashioned, a creature of the 1990s and no longer new. I was wrong. 

The concept was — and remains — that journalism must always be new, and that independent local news should be positioned to thrive however technology and consumer habits evolve. Gerry believed that the future of our business must be enabled, rather than hobbled, by new media. That notion will be profoundly tested in 2026 and beyond. 

This 2025 Impact Report details how the Institute is working to catalyze experimentation and invest in the next generation of local news. The report includes updates on our work in the use of AI to help local news organizations, our investments in a new generation of news creators reaching new audiences, and our enduring commitment to support the digital transformation of America’s best-established local newspapers, like The Philadelphia Inquirer, and the democracy they serve. 

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The Institute has become a national leader in innovation, working at scale in artificial intelligence through the Lenfest AI Collaborative and Fellowship Program. Created in partnership with OpenAI and Microsoft, this $10 million program empowers local news organizations to use AI to drive business sustainability and innovation. 

Through in-person conferences, training and advisory services, professional communities of practice, and self-service learning tools, the Institute facilitated thousands of connections between news professionals to share best practices on our core focus areas: news revenue generation, audience development, and product development. I am proud to report that The Lenfest Institute is now America’s largest provider of pro-bono advisory services to the local news industry, working with hundreds of news organizations and thousands of news professionals nationwide. 

And as we look ahead to 2026 — the Institute’s 10th anniversary — we plan to deepen our commitment to advancing innovation in local news and to working at greater scale and impact, building on the progress we’ve made together over the past decade. 

Thanks for your continued support of The Lenfest Institute. 

Sincerely,  

Jim Friedlich  

Executive Director and CEO 

The Lenfest Institute for Journalism