The Grand Traverse Record-Eagle is a small newspaper in a small town in northern Michigan, but that doesn't mean it's sitting on its hands when it comes to funding its journalism.
In fact, it's become one of the first publications in the country to receive funding from the nonprofit Report for America, which works with local newsrooms to fund emerging journalists, reports the New York Times.
The Grand Traverse Record-Eagle received its first CNF grant last year from the Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation, and the newspaper has since added two more CNF journalists and raised more than $25,000, enough to fund a full-time reporter and a part-time reporter for a year, reports the Detroit Free Press.
"We're building on the yearslong philanthropic support of journalism by encouraging local newsrooms, foundations, and other funding sources to evolve their mindset that newspapers are more than commercial operations," says Todd Franko, director of local sustainability and development at RFA.
"They are as much an institution as their communities' public library or museum and deserve not only to survive but also expand their coverage."
RFA works with more than 200 publications in all 50 states, Washington, DC, Puerto Rico, and Guam, and almost half of its journalists are
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Senay Ataselim-Yilmaz, Chief Operating Officer, Turkish Philanthropy Funds, writes that philanthropy often solves the very problems that stems from market failure. Some social issues, however, cannot be tackled by questioning the return on investment.