Lillian Mongeau (session host)
\nLisa Loving
\nBill Densmore
\nSamantha McCann
\nJoy Mayer
\nTodd Milbourn
\nLauren Katz
\nBen DeJarnette<\/p>\n
The Hechinger Report is currently funded primarily by grants, along with a small endowment and a crowdfunding campaign last year that raised $40k. <\/p>\n
Lisa: Signature events are often a good revenue source. The Martin Luther King breakfast in Portland gets 1000 people\u2026 signature events are lots of work, but they build over time and raise a lot of money. <\/p>\n
Joy: The St. Louis ? organization has done well with events. <\/p>\n
Lillian: We\u2019ve talked about events, but it’s tricky with national. Not a clear community that would show up. <\/p>\n
Joy: As the public, you\u2019d either pay because your life needs the information, or you believe that the information needs to be told. There are both self-interested contributions and more philanthropic contributions. <\/p>\n
Bill: How do you identify the people who have willingness to pay on a mission basis?<\/p>\n
Lillian: We\u2019ve mostly used surveys\u2026 but this is something we could do better?<\/p>\n
Lillian: Teachers don\u2019t tend to have much money, so we\u2019re looking for ways to invite micropayments. <\/p>\n
Todd: From a business perspective, it’s helpful to start with the question: What problems are people having? How can we solve a meaningful problem that people are having? Events would solve a community connection and networking problem. <\/p>\n
Lisa: It should be relational, not transactional. Solve the problem first and then make the ask.<\/p>\n
Samantha: De Correspondent has changed the model\u2026 They get story ideas from the community and people pay lots of money. <\/p>\n
Bill: Possible to make increased access to the newsroom a perk of membership?<\/p>\n
Lillian: It’s possible we could create a section for that on the site. It wouldn’t have to be every story. <\/p>\n
Bill: Might need to question the assumption that everything should be free to everybody all the time. <\/p>\n
Joy: The pitch to foundations is different than for individuals. You have to use very different language to communicate your value to the public. No foundation-speak!<\/p>\n
Lauren: Localizing content and engagement might be a good strategy. People mostly care about what happens to them and their communities. Vox Media has this model for properties like Sports Nation, but doesn’t localize Vox content yet. <\/p>\n
Ben: There\u2019s a huge need for explainer journalism at the local level. Not as true nationally. There\u2019s no scarcity, so not opportunity for reader revenue. <\/p>\n
Lisa: It helps when people have an emotional connection to your organization. Maybe then they buy T-shirts, attend events, etc. <\/p>\n
Samantha: What do people do on the site and what\u2019s their motivation for going? It needs to be personal for them. <\/p>\n
Lisa: Would be great to create a fun way for people to tell their stories \u201cI love Hechinger because\u2026\u201d or \u201cI love teachers because\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Samantha: Reuters created trust principles 10-15 years ago\u2026 they recently reaffirmed it. Started to doing an explainer about how journalists created the story.<\/p>\n
Lauren: Yeah, there’s a lot of momentum for open reporting. Hearken\u2019s open notebook. It helps people build trust. <\/p>\n
Bill: A need for footnoting. Didn\u2019t\u2019 happen in print because of cost of newsprint, but that’s not a problem now. <\/p>\n
Lauren: We call it “whole buffaloing” at Vox — using all of the reporting you do and repurposing it in different ways. <\/p>\n
Bill: Could Hechinger include marketing language at the bottom of each story? Along with an ask?<\/p>\n
Samantha: Compare Hechinger mission statement to De Correspondent. DC is really built around the community and the people. A lot of personality. <\/p>\n
Lauren: People want to feel like they\u2019re part of something. And it\u2019s good to demonstrate that through statistics, like DC does.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lillian Mongeau (session host) Lisa Loving Bill Densmore Samantha McCann Joy Mayer Todd Milbourn Lauren Katz Ben DeJarnette The Hechinger Report is currently funded primarily by grants, along with a small endowment and a crowdfunding campaign last year that raised … Continue reading