While grants from foundations still represent a small percentage of the AP’s overall income, it’s a stream that is growing and, according to AP executive editor Julie Pace, could grow some more. Pace is particularly focused on attracting expanded support for coverage of state and local issues in the US. “There’s just a very clear need for more news, and I would say high-quality, nonpartisan, independent news,” Pace told me. “We’re going to try to raise money to address exactly this crisis.”
To achieve that goal, the AP plans to create a new sister organization—a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that Pace and others believe will make it easier to attract and manage an increasing flow of contributions. The new entity—whose structure and mandate are still being defined—would be a conduit to philanthropic investment in the AP and would support improvements to the local news and information ecosystem. The new entity will be governed by an independent board of directors and administered by the AP’s vice president of philanthropic development, who is being recruited.
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There is an understandably deep concern about the future of local news in this country, and of the industry as a whole, beset with layoffs, consolidation, and scandals. But there is also reason for optimism. Nonprofit news outlets across the country are producing outstanding journalism, and some are finding a critical audience. The funders supporting this partial renaissance are understandably proud of their efforts. Via a new effort called Press Forward, a coalition of funders led by the MacArthur Foundation, they have pledged more than $500 million to support local media in the coming years.
But the AP also has a role to play in strengthening state and local news. “It’s not easy, and it’s not going to be fast or simple,” Pace said. “But we see this as very much the next step and the continuation of that mission that we’ve had for so long.”