Forget pitching your editor on a story. How about pitching a nonprofit foundation on a journalism project with social impact? How about pitching an investor on building a publishing platform? This 90-minute workshop presented at AAJA on Aug. 20, 2015 was designed to help participants develop fresh projects that can gain a support base beyond the traditional newsroom.

1. NEW WAYS TO
FUND MEDIA
2015.08.20
AAJA Convention
San Francisco, CA
Your next story, platform, project

2. Oh yes, there will be prizes
 Four audience members will receive a
30-minute phone consultation with one
of our speakers at a mutually convenient
time.
 Each speaker will choose a winner at the
end of our session at 5:25 p.m. You have
to be here in order to win it.
 Inside tip: The winners will likely be
chosen based on their participation from
4:50 to 5:25.
#mediafunding
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3. Speakers
Joaquin Alvarado
CEO of Center for
Investigative
Reporting
@joaquinalvarado
James Hong
Angel investor
@jhong
Jennifer Choi
Democracy
Program Officer
Robert R.
McCormick
Foundation
@mccormick_fdn
Manami Kano
Deputy Director
Strategic Media
Partnerships
Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation
@gatesfoundation
#mediafunding
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4. Moderators
Anh Do
Reporter
Los Angeles
Times
@newsterrier
Sharon Chan
Director of
Journalism
Initiatives
Seattle Times
@sharonpianchan
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5. Increase of Media Funding in U.S.
Center on Foundations Report, 2013
Increase of Media Funding in U.S.
#mediafunding
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6. #mediafunding
Media funding across the philanthropic sector
Capacity Building Innovative Tools and Platforms Media for Program Objectives
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7. Business Case for Community
Inclusive Journalism (Chicago)
Strong business
development
•Sophisticated understanding
of audience and market
Not just
about you
Interesting
partnerships
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8. Business Case for Community
Inclusive Journalism (Chicago)
Big picture change
Community
credibility
Bridgers
tied to
institutions
Asset-
based
approach,
clear roles
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9. Education Lab at The Seattle Times
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 Launched in Oct. 2013 to
deepen coverage and
conversation on promising
strategies to tackle biggest
education challenges
 Hundreds of stories, seven
major community events,
fastest-growing news blog
 Unique business model:
Seattle Times partnership with
nonprofit Solutions Journalism
Network supported by
funding from Gates and
Knight foundations

10. Community engagement in the past
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11. Community engagement for the future 14

12. Measuring impact:
Way more than page views
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Gross analytics:
Page views, visits
Quantitative impact:
Media Impact
Project
Qualitative impact

13. Measuring qualitative impact 16
Front end: Back end (overview):
Back end
(single entry):

14. Reader survey 17
 Ed Lab tends to engage readers. 42% of general readers, and 53% of
parents, said they were likely to read more stories in The Times after
reading an Education Lab article. 40% of general readers, and 49%
of parents, said they were likely to think about an Education Lab
story several times after reading it.
 Ed Lab stories travel well. 36% of general citizens, 50% of parents,
and 84% of educators said they were likely to “talk to someone else”
about an Education Lab story.
 “Now that I’ve read this article, I think there are ways to effectively
address this problem.” The majority of readers, 61 to 77 percent
depending on the article, agreed with this statement.
 Readers like the solutions approach. An extremely high proportion
of readers – about 87% – agreed with the statement, “I appreciated
the focus on a solution that seemed to be working.”
The Times invited 2,574 readers via email to participate in a survey. Of those, 780 answered most questions.

15. Are solution-oriented stories more
engaging?
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 Working with the Center for Investigative Journalism, Solutions
Journalism Network journalists coded 71 Seattle Times education stories
(from October 2014 - March 2015) using a rubric developed by the
network.
 Analysis of 71 coded stories shows that the SoJo score is medium
correlated with story traffic (r=.3). This suggests that more solution-
oriented stories attract larger audiences.
 Time on page is positively correlated with the SoJo score, further
supporting the hypothesis that more solution-oriented stories are more
engaging (r=.366). While time on page from Google analytics is
unreliable, this is an encouraging finding.

16. Los Angeles Times:
Immigration coverage
#mediafunding
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17. Los Angeles Times:
Immigration coverage
#mediafunding

18. Los Angeles Times:
Immigration coverage
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19. Los Angeles Times:
Immigration coverage
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20. Reveal
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21. Reveal News
9Gag
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22. Medium
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23. Chalkbeat
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24. Jenny 8 Lee: Plympton
#mediafunding

25. More resources
 Community engagement: Local News Lab
 Measuring impact: Media Impact Project
 Education Lab
 Reveal
 9Gag, Medium
 LA Times immigration coverage project
 Plympton
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26. What’s your
idea?
Bounce your ideas off our panelists
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27. Prize winners
 To claim your 30-minute phone
consultation, come up to the front and
exchange business cards with your
speaker.
#mediafunding
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28. Replay this presentation at
bit.ly/aajamediafunding
Thank you speakers! You can reach them at:
 @joaquinalvarado
 @jhong
 @gatesfoundation
 @mccormick_fdn, jchoi@mccormickfoundation.org
 @jenny8lee, jenny@jennifer8lee.com
Thank you to our session volunteers:
 KJ Hiramoto
 Brady Wakayama
 Jill Cowan
#mediafunding
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