Program

Lenfest News Creator Collaborative grant guidelines

November 12, 2025

The Lenfest Institute for Journalism is pleased to launch the Lenfest Creator Collaborative Program, designed to help local news organizations develop and test strategies that lead to sustainable business outcomes through collaborative partnerships, with the thesis that stronger overall news ecosystems support a more informed public. 

Program goals 

The Creator Collaborative Program will provide up to $400,000 in total funding for local news organizations to design and test strategies that: 

• Unite to strengthen: Combine creators’ energy and entrepreneurial spirit with established newsrooms’ rigor, accuracy, and resources to design news products and services that build audience and revenue for both. 

• Meet audiences where they are: Reach and engage new audiences on their preferred platforms to drive audience growth and brand loyalty. 

• Broaden appeal & experimentation: Recruit and retain customers by extending coverage and formats beyond traditional hard news to culture, lifestyle, and solutions journalism. 

• Build the field: Generate lessons, business models, and language that can accelerate innovation and business development across the industry. 

Focus areas (choose one or more) 

Applicants must design their project within one or more of the following business functions: 

Audience growth & engagement 

• Audience growth & conversion — developing creator-driven engagement funnels from social to direct channels; newsletters/SMS; events; and community activation to reach and retain younger consumers and build the brand and trust necessary to sustain long-term relationships and, eventually, a path to subscription or donation. 

• Community/participatory reporting — co-reporting with news creators and communities to build deeper trust and loyalty critical for long-term audience and revenue sustainability. 

Revenue generation 

• Monetization & sponsorships — exploring creator-led campaigns; sponsorships; donations; paid communities; and branded content with transparency to create new revenue. 

Content & partnerships 

• Creator partnerships & co-production — Partnering with independent creators to expand reach, diversify audience, and create new revenue streams through equitable collaboration grounded in mutual benefit. We expect applicants to co-design proposals with creators, not simply recruit them for a project.  

• Internal creator development — supporting staff journalists as on-platform personalities to expand audience reach, build brand trust, deepen audience loyalty, and explore new monetization channels. 

• Platform content — creating short-form video, vertical video, threads/carousels, and memes to optimize for discovery, improve audience retention, and support conversion to direct user relationships. 

• Coverage expansion — extending coverage to beats like arts, culture, food, or other topics that are highly relevant to local and young audiences to expand your news organization’s market. 

Field-building & operations 

• Measurement & evaluation — defining baselines and metrics for audience, engagement, and business impact to create a clear return on investment (ROI) model for news creator partnerships. 

• Trust, transparency & ethics — using credibility checklists, disclosures, corrections, and audience feedback loops to build the trust necessary for sustainable audience and financial support. 

Eligibility 

• Who can apply: Independent U.S.-based news organizations that provide local coverage to a specific geography. 

• Creators’ role: Independent creators may participate as partners within an eligible newsroom’s proposal (e.g., co-production, paid collaborations). 

• Leadership commitment: Applications must include explicit support from organizational leadership. 

• Project requirements: Must address at least one Focus Area with clear hypotheses, goals, and success metrics. 

• Credibility & transparency: To ensure ethical standards are met, all applicants and creator partners must use a credibility checklist. This checklist, based on the American Press Institute’s (API) ethical roadmap, covers crucial areas like disclosures, corrections, editorial roles, and conflicts of interest. Grantees should also vet creators based on specific criteria, such as having a public ethics policy or a history of ethical reporting. 

If you are unsure whether your organization qualifies as a local news organization or seek clarification of your eligibility, please contact [email protected]. 

Funding & term 

• Up to $100,000 per organization, from a total pool of $400,000. 

• A range of projects of different sizes will be selected. We encourage applicants to propose innovative experiments of various investment sizes, not just projects that cost the maximum funding amount. The proposed budget should be appropriate for the scope of the project and your organization’s overall financial capacity. 

• Project duration: 3–9 months, based on applicant’s proposal. 

• Funds may be used for staff time, contractors, technology, events, or other direct project costs. 

• Equitable compensation for news creator partners is a mandatory requirement of this grant. Applicants must clearly outline this in their project budget. 

• Grant funds may be used to support staff time and existing projects, provided applicants can clearly demonstrate how this investment in internal capacity will enhance the organization’s effectiveness and long-term sustainability. Grantees must also show how they will document and share the insights and learnings gained from this work with the public. 

• Both for-profit and non-profit news organizations are eligible to apply. 

Reporting requirements 

Grantees will submit a final report that includes: 

• Hypothesis & outcome — was it proven, disproven, or inconclusive? 

• Business goals — is the project tied to business outcomes? 

• Key activities & findings — successes, challenges, and lessons learned. 

• Community impact — qualitative and quantitative impact on community. 

• Audience growth — measurable growth in new audience and new engagement, with special emphasis on younger customers and a focus on how the partnership built brand awareness and trust. 

• Sustainability implications — how the project informs long-term strategy. 

• Financial outcomes — cost/benefit analysis. 

• Advice for peers — recommendations for replication. 

Reports will inform case studies published by the Lenfest Institute, ensuring lessons are shared broadly. 

Evaluation criteria 

Applications will be reviewed on: 

• Community relevance & audience potential. 

• Direct tie to business outcomes. 

• Creator partnership design & ethics (disclosure, corrections policy, transparency, fair pay). 

• Project plan & feasibility (clear hypothesis, staffing, timeline, budget). 

• Audience-centered impact (meets people on preferred platforms) and focus on new and younger users 

• Learning value & replicability for the field. 

Application process 

• Submit an application through the Institute’s Fluxx grantee portal: 

• Once approved, select “Creator Collaborative Grants 2025,” and click Apply. 

• Deadline: Monday, Jan 12, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. EST. 

• Selected grantees will be notified in February 2026. 

Questions? Contact [email protected].