Guest Essay

Lenfest News Philanthropy Summit: A journalist’s approach to the journalism problem

By Bob Bonnar

July 23, 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. 

When I decided to attend the Lenfest News Philanthropy Summit, I carried one big question with me: Can my outlet, The News Letter Journal, continue to produce quality journalism for our small rural community in Wyoming when the newspaper industry itself seems to be on life support?

Surprisingly, I didn’t even have to wait for the opening keynote to find my answer. In fact, I discovered it the night before the Summit officially began, during conversations with fellow attendees at the informal happy hour that kicked off the event. There, among peers from across the country, I realized the answer was a resounding “yes.”

Those early discussions were both inspiring and reassuring. I heard story after story from other news leaders who had found creative ways to keep their missions alive despite shrinking local support and an increasingly challenging media landscape. I left that initial gathering confident that resources exist to sustain our work — if we’re willing to look beyond traditional revenue streams and old assumptions.

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By the time the Summit sessions began in earnest the next morning, I realized that my single question had blossomed into many more:

• What exactly is our mission?
• What unique value do we provide to our community?
• What value do we offer the broader nation or world?
• Who are the individuals and organizations most likely to see that value and support our mission financially?
• What role should my staff play in securing these resources?
• And perhaps most challenging of all: What changes do I need to make in my own role to prioritize fundraising and sustainability?

I came to understand that the key to sustaining local journalism lies in our ability to tackle the problem like journalists — by identifying the right sources, asking the right questions, and organizing the information we receive into something meaningful.

Many of the experts I heard from emphasized that while they could suggest which questions to ask, the answers would be different for every organization — and those answers would ultimately determine the best path forward for each newsroom.

During those first conversations with peers, I also came to a critical realization: My community still has a story to tell, even if it doesn’t have the resources to craft the story and share it with the world. Though local support is no longer sufficient to sustain that story, there are audiences and funders beyond our borders who recognize its value and will support our mission to share our stories.

America is filled with small, rural communities facing the same pressures: declining local economies caused by technological shifts and competition from larger entities. These challenges don’t just impact newspapers — they shape how people live, vote, and engage with local institutions. That is why the News Letter Journal’s mission to tell the story of Newcastle and Weston County, Wyoming, is important.

If we hope to heal our fractured nation, we need to start by learning about each other — and local stories are the foundation for that understanding. Our reporting isn’t just vital for our immediate neighbors. It has relevance for people far beyond our county lines. Sharing our community’s challenges and triumphs can help build the empathy and insight we desperately need at a national level.

The Summit gave me concrete tools — like the Introduction to Grant Writing course — to begin tackling these new questions. It also encouraged me to revisit resources I already had access to, like those provided to me as a recipient of the Press Forward Grant to Sustain Local Journalism. I am now more committed to following through on invitations I receive from Press Forward or The Lenfest Institute to broaden my knowledge of fundraising and increase my understanding of this new media landscape.

That being said, the most valuable takeaway from the Summit wasn’t a tool or a tactic — it was the connections I made. Since returning, I’ve focused on solidifying relationships with presenters and fellow attendees who are exploring bold new models for journalism sustainability. These connections have given me both inspiration and a growing network of allies who can help me navigate this next chapter.

I came back from the Summit understanding that I still don’t have all the answers. But I returned with something even more powerful: a renewed sense of purpose, a clear set of questions, and a list of people I can reach out to as I continue this journey. 

Ultimately, the most important lesson I took away can be summed up simply: You don’t know if you don’t ask. I now know what to ask, and I also know exactly where — and to whom — to direct my questions as I work to ensure that our small-town stories continue to be told for years to come. 

Bob Bonnar is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the News Letter Journal of Newcastle, Wyoming. He became the newspaper’s minority owner after serving two decades as a community journalist covering all beats in Newcastle and Weston County, Wyoming. Bob is one of the most decorated journalists in Wyoming history and is a former president of the Wyoming Press Association.