Fundraising & Campaigns
NewsMatch opens November 1, doubling gifts to small nonprofit newsrooms up to $1,000 a donor
National money tops out at $15,000 a newsroom, so local matchers decide how far each one gets. Here is what five newsrooms say they are aiming for.
By The Editors · The Game of Giving
NewsMatch, the year-end campaign that doubles individual gifts to independent nonprofit newsrooms, runs from Sunday, November 1, through December 31, with national money matching each donor up to $1,000 and each newsroom up to $15,000.
The campaign is managed by the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN), a network of more than 500 independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan news organizations, and its pooled fund is held at the Miami Foundation, which handles the fiscal administration, the Rochester Beacon explained in announcing its own campaign. Roughly 40 national and regional funders have supported the fund since it began, and NewsMatch has helped newsrooms raise more than $477 million and bring in nearly 600,000 new donors to date, the Beacon wrote.
How does the match work?
Dollar for dollar, within two caps: $1,000 per donor and $15,000 per newsroom. Gifts must come from individuals, giving personally or through a business they own, a family foundation or a donor-advised fund, and must be made during the campaign, according to the Beacon. Every participant is a 501(c)(3) or works under a fiscal sponsor that is one.
Newsrooms layer more on top. Winchester News says it can earn up to $3,000 more in partner funds plus goal-based bonuses. LkldNow in Lakeland, Florida, says new recurring monthly gifts are matched 12 times, up to the same $1,000. Stet News says it earns a bonus for bringing in new contributors and that, with local donors, gifts this year will be tripled.
What are newsrooms aiming for?
Their own published targets vary widely. The table is our compilation from five participants' announcements.
| Newsroom | What it says about its match | Goal |
|---|---|---|
| InDepthNH.org (New Hampshire) | $15,000 from NewsMatch and $20,000 already raised from local matchers | $200,000 in two months |
| LkldNow (Lakeland, Fla.) | A local donor and NewsMatch double gifts up to $1,000 | $30,000 from readers, to make $60,000 |
| Rochester Beacon (Rochester, N.Y.) | Eighth year in a row in NewsMatch | $30,000 from individuals |
| Winchester News | Up to $15,000, up to $3,000 in partner funds, and bonuses | Not stated |
| Stet News | Third year; local donors make gifts triple | Not stated |
By our arithmetic, the $15,000 national cap is used up by 15 gifts of $1,000 or 300 gifts of $50. At InDepthNH, if readers give enough to use all $35,000 in matching money, matched gifts and matches together would bring in $70,000, or 35% of its $200,000 goal. Stet News says last year's match helped it hire its first dedicated reporter, Anne Geggis.
What can other nonprofits take from it?
In our view, the local layer is what moves the number. The national pool sets a ceiling, and newsrooms that line up local matchers before day one can offer donors more. Any nonprofit planning a year-end match can borrow the structure: a fixed deadline, a per-donor cap that spreads the match across many people, and extra credit for new or monthly donors, who are the ones a match is meant to find. The window also includes GivingTuesday on December 1.
General information for donors and nonprofit leaders, not legal or tax advice. How we report is set out in our editorial guide.
