Over the past year, as news organizations have grappled with challenges stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, publishers have increasingly turned to fundraising and philanthropic support to enable their most-important public-service journalism. 

The Lenfest News Philanthropy Network, together with our partners RevLab at The Texas Tribune, have been proud to support the more than 600 fundraising professionals, journalists, and executives from around the world who have participated in workshops, trainings, and other events to share best practices and learn new skills to enhance those fundraising efforts. 

Today we’re announcing the Network’s initial slate of 2021 programming, which will feature more opportunities for networking and community building along with in-depth training for small cohorts of professionals focused on membership, grant writing, expanding your major donor base, data-focused fundraising strategies, and more. 

In the coming weeks we’ll share more information about additional courses and workshops on building a major gift pipeline, deepening your major donor base, data analysis for fundraising, mid-level fundraising strategies, diversifying your donor community, building a culture of philanthropy, donor stewardship, and more.

Please sign up for our mailing list to get updates on all Network programming. 

Participation in the Network is free, and open to publishers of all sizes and business models. The Network has a sole and exclusive focus on fostering a collaborative, diverse, and supportive community of practice for professionals who are filling a vital role for publishers by creating contributed revenue streams. 

The Network’s first 2021 programs will include: 

Community Chats

Lenfest News Philanthropy Network Community Chats are unstructured small group conversations designed to bring together groups of professionals who are interested in similar topics and facing similar challenges. Each group will have a moderator to help guide the conversation, but ultimately the scope and range of the conversation will be up to participants. These sessions are an opportunity to network and deepen community. We hope to hold these sessions regularly, but based on survey results, initial conversations will focus on: 

  • Donor Stewardship 
  • Membership 
  • Building a Culture of Philanthropy with your Newsroom 
  • Events 

Our first Community Chat will be Wednesday Feb 24, 2021 at 4pm EST. We’ll hold additional Community Chats on Wednesday March 24 at 4pm EDT and Wednesday April 21 at 4pm EDT. 

Register for our first Community Chat here 

Membership 201

Dates: March 25 – April 22, Thursdays at 1pm EST, 60-90 min sessions

This program helps newsrooms with existing membership programs expand and further develop their membership strategy. Membership 201 will build on key concepts covered in Membership 101, which was offered last fall. 

Membership 201 is designed for individuals or teams of 2-4 people per organization. 

In order to facilitate an interactive learning experience, this course will be limited to participants from 20-25 organizations. 

The course will be led by RevLab at The Texas Tribune, in coordination with Ariel Zirulnick of the Membership Puzzle Project, and will feature guest speakers on the cutting edge of membership globally. 

The course will meet weekly for sessions of 1 to 1.5 hours. Optional office hours will be available for those who want additional help and feedback.

RevLab is a grant-funded resource center that helps publishers expand revenue-generating capabilities. RevLab is based within The Texas Tribune and funded in part by the Facebook Journalism Project. Ariel Zirulnick is the fund director at the Membership Puzzle Project, a global public research project studying membership models in news.

Learn more and apply to join Membership 201.

Intro to Grant Writing for News Organizations

Dates: April 6 – May 4, Tuesdays at 2pm EST, 60-90 min sessions

In this five-week course led by Penn Creative Strategies you will work with experts in the field and small peer-groups to learn the science and the art of crafting competitive grant proposals. During the course you will work through each step of the grant writing process, and participants will have the opportunity to have one of their grant applications reviewed for feedback at the culmination of the course. In order to facilitate an interactive learning experience, this course will be limited to 30 participants. 

Learn more and apply to join Intro to Grant Writing for News Organizations.

Advanced Grant Writing for News Organizations

Dates: April 7- May 5, Wednesdays at 1pm EST, 60-min sessions

Led by RevLab at The Texas Tribune, this training will help development staff hone their process and craft their messaging to make compelling cases for philanthropic support of newsrooms. Designed for people with some grants experience, this course is suited for those who completed Intro to Grant Writing for News Organizations or development professionals from other industries who are new to journalism fundraising.  

In this four-week course you will learn practical tips and study real-world examples from news organizations and foundations, both large and small. Led by Terry Quinn, chief development officer of The Texas Tribune, the course draws heavily on methods developed over the Tribune’s 11-year history. Terry will be joined by guests from other newsrooms and foundations, including The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Lenfest Institute. This course is produced by RevLab at The Texas Tribune.

RevLab is a grant-funded resource center that helps publishers expand revenue-generating capabilities. RevLab is based within The Texas Tribune and funded in part by the Facebook Journalism Project.

Learn more and apply to Advanced Grant Writing for News Organizations.

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