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KSUT among 25 newsrooms to receive matching grant from Colorado Media Project

courtesy Colorado Media Project

KSUT is honored to be among 25 newsrooms receiving a matching grant from the Colorado Media Project as part of the 2020 #newsCOneeds campaign.

#newsCOneeds is a statewide campaign to spotlight and support great Colorado journalism that serves our communities. This year, KSUT is one of 25 local newsrooms selected for a $5,000 matching grant, to help build community investment in and support for our local public-service journalism.

With the outbreak of COVID-19 and its impact on our region, KSUT immediately mobilized a news team and digital presence to provide coverage of breaking news and developing stories, and the funding required to do so. The positive feedback from the local community has been overwhelming, reinforcing the need for KSUT to continue to fund and provide this vital local service. Being a grantee with Colorado Media Project will be an asset to KSUT in raising continued financial support for local news.

Here's more from the Colorado Media Project:
 
October 21, 2020: Colorado’s local newsrooms took center stage in 2020, demonstrating their civic value as an essential public service — providing potentially life-saving information on the COVID public health crisis, fact-checking online misinformation, holding a mirror to our communities, and holding the powerful to account.

Matching grants will help increase individual support for local Colorado journalism.

That’s why we’re so excited to announce today that 25 locally-owned and nonprofit news organizations have been selected for the Colorado Media Project’s 2020 #newsCOneeds Matching Grant Challenge —and with your support, we’repoised to raise a quarter-million dollars for trustworthy local news in a single month.

The annual year-end fundraiser is part of the #newsCOneeds public awareness campaign which this year is growing into an audience building opportunity for all qualified Colorado newsrooms statewide to spotlight the positive impacts they are making in their communities, and to build trust in and support for local public-service journalism.

The window for the matching challenge will officially launch on Giving Newsday (a.k.a. Giving Tuesday, December 1) and the 25 Colorado newsrooms selected to receive a matching grant will have until Dec. 31 to raise at least $5,000 from individual supporters (in gifts of $1,000 or less) in order to meet the CMP match.

The 25 grantees come from all regions of the state, represent different business models, and cover a variety of communities and subject matter:

The 2020 #newsCOneeds matching fund of $125,000 is made possible through operating grants to CMP from Delta Dental of Colorado Foundation, Bohemian Foundation, Democracy Fund and Gates Family Foundation. CMP’s fiscal sponsor, Rose Community Foundation, is providing oversight and administration for the funds.

CMP grantees are working with Colorado News Collaborative (COLab) and News Revenue Hub to co-create #newsCOneeds messages and graphics in coordination with the national NewsMatch campaign. The grantees also receive training and one-on-one coaching on best practices for executing successful year-end subscription, donation, and membership campaigns.

The #newsCOneeds matching grant opportunity was open to nonprofit or locally-owned Colorado journalism outlets that are planning to execute a philanthropic giving, membership, or subscription campaign during the 2020 year-end giving season. Outlets must be actively publishing high-quality, fact-based, public service journalism primarily for local Colorado audiences.

Initially, CMP had allocated $100,000 to the program. But in light of the essential services that newsrooms have provided during the COVID-19 crisis and 2020 election season, CMP leaders and funding partners increased the fund allocation to accommodate all 25 grantees who qualified for full participation in the matching challenge.

“Both the grant opportunity and the public awareness campaign will give these newsrooms year-round fundraising tools and more sustainability to serve as essential public service for their communities,” said Melissa Milios Davis, Colorado Media Project Acting Director. “The tagline for the campaign is ‘This is news Colorado needs’, because these outlets are providing vital news and information on pressing local issues of public health and economic stability, education, local politics and other critical issues of our time.”

 

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