National Solutions for Local News
The Lenfest Institute calls Philadelphia home, but alongside our partners, we support outlets across the United States to help build national solutions for local news that help publishers serve their communities. The Institute shares what we have learned in Philadelphia nationwide to expand upon our impact.
Lessons from The Lenfest Institute’s model are now being adapted nationwide — especially in cities that have seen their local news organizations taken over by hedge funds more interested in extracting profits than providing quality news and information.
Communities of Practice
The Lenfest Institute is home to a number of communities of practice serving various types of journalism professionals. Programming for each of the communities are designed to create space for discussion, resource-sharing, workshops, and networking.
Lenfest News Philanthropy Network
The Lenfest News Philanthropy Network is a community of practice designed to support and build capacity for fundraising and development professionals in journalism.
Participation in the Network is free, and open to publishers of all sizes and business models. The Network’s programming focuses on supporting and fostering a collaborative and growing cohort of development professionals who are serving a vital need for news organizations by creating diverse revenue streams.
Audience Community of Practice
The Audience Community of Practice is a group providing support for audience development news professionals.
The group provides programming, resources, and networking opportunities for community members in news organizations to share strategies, best practices, and resources. The group helps members address strategic and operational questions of building teams and defining roles.
Statewide News Collective
The Statewide News Collective supports existing statewide publishers and the growing number of new newsrooms covering statewide issues through mentorship, peer support, and the exchange of information on news coverage, content distribution, revenue creation, product development and more. The Collective is a project of The Lenfest Institute, RevLab at The Texas Tribune, and Spotlight PA.
Other National Programs
Beyond Print
Beyond Print is a program created by the American Press Institute and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism to help guide publishers away from print-centric revenue models toward a sustainable digital future. The new initiative will allow news organizations to review their dependence on print revenues and create digital-first products and workflows.
Lenfest Advisory Services
The Lenfest Institute provides strategic consulting and advising services to individuals and organizations across the United States on topics such as revenue models, digital transformation, and philanthropic fundraising to help them build sustainable business models and serve their communities with reliable journalism.
Community Listening & Engagement Fund
The Community Listening and Engagement Fund (CLEF) was a grant-making initiative to help news organizations produce more relevant and trusted coverage for the diverse audiences they serve. The fund subsidized the costs for newsrooms to adopt tools designed for community-driven journalism.