Even with trust between a newsroom and a funder contact, internal doubts can persist within the funder’s organization, especially when the funder has not traditionally supported news. Tension, misinformation, and negative perceptions, particularly among boards, can derail efforts and keep reasons for rejection invisible. News organizations need to understand these doubts and proactively counter them, not only present their own case in a pitch. This may require equipping the funder contact with information needed to secure board buy-in. Resistance can include claims that local news is outside the funder’s mission or that expanding support is not feasible, often driven by stretched resources and perceived scope creep. Countering this requires bridging newsroom work to the funder’s mission and showing direct community benefit.
"Even when you have built trust with your contact at a funder, deep-seated internal doubts remain in their organization, particularly if it hasn't traditionally supported news. And tension, misinformation or negative perceptions - particularly on boards - can derail your best efforts. So as a news organization, you don't just have to make your own case in a pitch. You need to understand the doubts that exis, and anticipate and actively counteract them."
"That may mean equipping your contact at an organization with the information they need to get buy-in with their board. The examples that follow are not hypothetical. These are all real examples of internal resistance we've heard in our workshops for local news funders. We've broken them into five categories, and have a few suggestions of how you can counter each narrative."
""This isn't essential to our focus right now." What this sounds like: "Journalism is outside our mission." "We are a small organization, we can't expand what we support right now." The context here is pretty obvious: Over the past year, community needs have skyrocketed, and many funders feel stretched thin. When funders believe that local news is scope creep, not a core part of their work, it makes it easy to say no."
"Getting to yes: Countering this perception means bridging your work and a funder's mission. Help a funder connect the dots: How your work directly serves the community, raises the profil"
Read at Poynter
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