2019 LION Summit Sponsors & Partners

Thanks to our LION Summit sponsors and nonprofit partners who help support the mission of LION Publishers and all our members.

Gold Sponsors

Knight Foundation supports the development of sustainable, replicable business models to support local news. The Foundation invests in innovative approaches to local journalism, including new audience engagement strategies to expand quality reporting, rebuild trust and increase civic engagement. Knight helps public media, traditional news organizations, digital startups and local TV news stations keep up with the changing ways people are consuming and engaging with news and information. Learn more.

The Google News Initiative signifies a major milestone in Google’s 15-year commitment to the news industry, and brings together everything Google does in collaboration with the industry — across products, partnerships, and programs — to help build a stronger future for news. You can learn more at g.co/newsinitiative

Google’s online Training Center provides a new home for journalists who want to learn how to use a range of digital tools in their newsgathering and visualisation: g.co/newstraining

Working together with publishers around the world through trainings, programs, and partnerships, Facebook Journalism Project can help strengthen communities by connecting people with meaningful journalism in three ways:

1) Building Community Through News: work and invest in institutes dedicated to funding high-quality journalism and building sustainable futures for community-based news.

2) Training Newsrooms Globally: visit newsrooms and offer online courses to train journalists around the world on how to leverage social tools to tell stories that matter.

3) Quality Through Partnerships: partner directly with news publishers and nonprofit organizations to combat misinformation, promote news literacy, fund new initiatives, share best practices, and improve journalism on our platform.

Learn more.

Silver Sponsors

The Democracy Fund invests in organizations working to ensure that our political system is able to withstand new challenges and deliver on its promise to the American people. The Democracy Fund is a bipartisan foundation established by eBay founder and philanthropist Pierre Omidyar to help ensure that the American people come first in our democracy. Learn more.

The John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships supports diverse, resilient leaders with collaborative mindsets who are exploring solutions to journalism’s biggest problems in a time of tremendous change. JSK champions advancements that improve access to the information people need to create and sustain democratic communities. Learn more here: jsk.stanford.edu.

The Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) works with the news industry, professors, students and others to make sure journalism has a long and bright future. As a “think-and-do” tank that opened its doors in 2008, RJI uses its guaranteed funding to work exclusively to strengthen journalism in the service of democracy. It’s part of the Missouri School of Journalism. Learn more.

The Solutions Journalism Network helps newsrooms and freelancers to strengthen their journalism and engage audiences by doing solutions journalism — rigorous reporting about responses to problems and their associated evidence. Learn more.

The American Press Institute advances an innovative and sustainable news industry by helping publishers understand and engage audiences, grow revenue, improve public-service journalism, and succeed at organizational change. Learn more.

Pugpig is the publishing platform behind the biggest names in media from The Economist, Conde Nast and Hearst to Tortoise Media, The Independent, JPi Media, and Newsquest. Our fully hosted SaaS platform provides you with everything you need to launch and run publishing websites and mobile apps with no effort at all. Learn more.

Ezoic is a platform that allows digital publishers to streamline and automate the optimization of their ads, layouts, infrastructure, and more. Publishers use Ezoic to manage website performance and capitalize on opportunities to grow traffic and revenue. Ezoic is a Google Certified Publishing Partner and a member of the Coalition for Better Ads. Learn more.

The Charles Koch Institute, champions of the free press, and The Poynter Institute, a world-renowned professional journalism training institution, have joined resources to create the Poynter-Koch Media and Journalism Fellowship. The year-long program includes three in-person summits, weekly online webinars, individual mentoring and elective projects. During the fellowship, participants learn from seasoned industry leaders from newsrooms like NBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, FOXSports.com, The New York
Times, Yahoo Tech, and NPR. Courses examine the crucial role of free expression and a free press in society. Throughout seven terms during the year, fellows will survey topics such as: media law, journalistic ethics, and source relationships; interviewing, reporting, and storytelling; digital tools, social platforms, and analytics; and a suite of electives in professional skills. Learn more about the program and apply online at CKI.org/fellowship

NewsBreak is one of the biggest news and information aggregation apps in the U.S. It is AI-powered and geolocation-focused in the center of local content discovery – news, events, buzz, discussion, announcements, promotions, etc. The mission of NewsBreak is to connect and empower local users, local publishers, and local businesses. Learn more.

Bronze Sponsors

Broadstreet is the most widely used Ad Manager among LION Publishers, and the longest running supporter of LION. Rated #1 by G2Crowd users, Broadstreet boasts a library of plug and play ad formats that LION Publishers use to impress advertising prospects and win sales. With newsletter advertising tools, detailed and automated client reports, and mobile-optimized ad positions, Broadstreet offers a unique but critical toolset for the successful entrepreneurial publisher. Learn more here: www.broadstreetads.com

Web Publisher PRO‘s website enhancement program was designed for forward-thinking publishers, with a sharp focus on increasing revenue, user experience optimization, and expert management of the publisher’s tech stack. Through close relationships with industry associations like LION Publishers, City and Regional Magazine Association (CRMA), Parenting Media Association, Alliance of Area Business Publishers and the International Regional Magazine Association (IRMA), Web Publisher PRO works with some of the most influential publishers in the digital space. Our team has industry-specific insights that set Web Publisher PRO apart from other web development firms. Learn more.

Empower Local is a team of publishers, entrepreneurs and technologists, passionate about elevating the quality and profitability of local media. We partner with media brands, big and small, from local online news to niche lifestyle publications. We empower local media brands with digital upgrades that delight readers and drive revenue. Learn more.

Friends2Follow helps media companies drive significant new revenue and increase reader engagement by streaming advertisers and trusted news sources on their web pages. More than 450 sites in five countries use our technology like a “Swiss Army knife” to instantly create social-media-driven banner ads and a wide variety of content blocks on every page with no coding or downloads. Advertisers love being in instant control of their messages and news sites love using Friends2Follow as a “breaking news” widget for news, sports and entertainment. Learn more.

The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard houses a dynamic set of initiatives to promote and elevate the standards of journalism and educate and support those poised to make important contributions to its future. Explore our publications, journalism awards and fellowship programs, including the Abrams Nieman Fellowship for Local Investigative Journalism, which will select up to three American journalists who cover news in underserved communities in the U.S. to spend the 2020-2021 academic year at Harvard, followed by up to nine months of funded fieldwork at the fellow’s home news organization – or in the case of freelance journalists, a newsroom partner.

Automattic Inc, the parent company of WordPress.com, is joining with other news industry leaders to develop Newspack, an advanced open-source publishing and revenue-generating platform for news organizations. The effort is designed to address some of the persistent obstacles to creating economically sustainable models for journalism, particularly at the local level. Learn more.

The Joseph L. Brechner Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Florida is a think-tank incubating ideas and initiatives that give the public timely and affordable access to the information necessary for informed, participatory citizenship. The Center is a source of expertise and advocacy about the law of gathering and disseminating news across all platforms and technologies, and is publisher of The Journal of Civic Information, a clearinghouse for timely, practical research published online quarterly.  Learn more.

TownNews equips local media organizations with the digital services and guidance to transform their business models and flourish in the digital age. Our tools and expertise in print, digital, video, OTT and advertising enable forward-thinking media organizations in dynamic markets to efficiently engage their audiences, increase security and grow revenue. Fueled by a passion for local media and a 30-year proven track record of success, more than 2,000 news organizations have benefited from the platform and tools we’ve built specifically for the media industry to thrive. Learn more.

Maps.com is a leading provider of print, online, interactive and mobile advertising solutions, partnering with media companies from coast to coast. As the creator of revenue-generating Locator Map Programs in several categories, including: Open House, Rentals, Garage Sales, Community Events and New Builders, we pride ourselves on mapping the shortest route from your audience to your advertiser’s door. The Acqir product suite has increased advertising revenue for its clients since 2009. Learn more.

The Robert R. McCormick Foundation works with communities in Chicagoland and across Illinois to develop educated, informed, and engaged citizens. Our aim is to assist communities, to strengthen democracy, and help ensure that all families and children have the opportunities they need to flourish. Learn more.

LedeAI writes hundreds of unique news briefs in seconds and publishes them to your web site automatically. We use thousands of human-written variations so your content never looks the same and reads beautifully. With LedeAI’s technology, you can cover the news your readers want, create new revenue streams, and let your reporters do the valuable investigative work only they can do. Learn more.

Clickshare has been supporting the newspaper and media industries for over 20 years. Our clients have used our authentication, payment and subscription management platform to manage over ten million customer accounts. Our newest offering allows content providers to form a network allowing their customers to use a single account at one provider to access content from other providers, either for free or for rates based on customer status. The network also supports cross-provider transactions and transparent, customer-authorized sharing of information across the network. Contact us before the end of the year for special conference pricing. Learn more.

NativeAdWorks has helped publishers and media operators all over the world launch, grow and scale their local native advertising offering.  Our services include end to end training and guidance from product creation, to sales support to custom content fulfillment.  Our experienced team of writers have delivered thousands of custom content campaigns for a wide variety of publishers and sponsors.  We can provide you the engaging content you need to deliver for both your readers and your advertisers.  Join our publishing partners who have used NativeAdWorks to grow this important new revenue source. Learn more.

Ad Sales Genius is a full-featured CRM that’s powerful enough to handle the ad products you sell and produce now, and flexible enough to adapt to the products you want to sell in the future. Our software ties your entire business together to increase overall efficiency, allowing you to sell, produce, deliver, and invoice ads within a single easy-to-use platform. Learn more.

Nonprofit Partners & Funders

The News Revenue Hub takes care of the heavy lifting so our clients can focus on what they do best: producing high quality journalism. From the beginning, our goal has been to help news organizations achieve greater sustainability. We do this by helping our clients implement a membership model for fundraising. We also build software tools, automate time consuming processes, work with clients to conduct experiments, and train them on best practices. Learn more.

Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation’s mission is to invest in the future of journalism by building the ethics, skills and opportunities needed to advance principled, probing news and information now and for the future. Learn more.

Supporting Sponsors

PressPatron makes it easy to turn your readers into paying supporters, with unique functionality that simplifies online payments for media. PressPatron specializes in facilitating ‘pay-what-you-want’ memberships, donations and crowdfunding campaigns, while also streamlining the sale of traditional subscription products. Created by a former editor and media researcher, PressPatron has been built in close partnership with the journalism community. Their network contains more than 100 independent publications across the USA, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Learn more.

Pico offers smart pop-ups and landing pages that allow publishers to manage email signups for newsletters and charge readers via subscription paywalls, paid newsletters, memberships, or donations. Tying it all together is our ARM (audience relationship management) platform: it’s one system that vertically integrates email signups, on-site analytics, and payments. Learn more.

The O’Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism selects reporters to spend nine months researching and writing the stories they care most deeply about — explanatory and investigative work with the potential to change policies. Fellows are in residence at Marquette University in Milwaukee and are assisted by a team of student journalists. They receive a $65,000 salary stipend, plus generous funding for living expenses, travel and equipment. They depart Marquette with a world-class project and a paid student intern for their organization or publisher. Learn more.

The Center for Cooperative Media is a grant-funded initiative based at Montclair State University’s School of Communication and Media. The mission of the Center is to grow and strengthen local journalism, and in doing so serve New Jersey residents. We do that through the use of partnerships, collaborations, training, product development, research and communication. We work with more than 250 partners throughout the Garden State, including hyperlocal digital publishers, public media, newspapers, television outlets, radio stations and multimedia news organizations. Learn more.

Sponsorship Opportunities Still Available

Add your business to the list!

LION Summit attendees are in the market for innovative products and services at the intersection of high technology and journalism, and are leading the media industry in embracing new vendors. This is your opportunity to showcase your business to our rapidly growing community. Members of LION Publishers are the CEOs and decision-makers of their organizations — you’ll meet with the top talent in local indie news.

At the national LION Summit, dozens of the local online news industry’s leaders and innovators will come together for conversations about the future of news and media and training in online reporting techniques. Our attendees are in the market for innovative products and services at the intersection of high technology and journalism, and are leading the broader media industry in embracing new vendors. Sponsoring the LION Summit is an opportunity to present your products and services to this innovative, vanguard community.

Contact Mark Glaser at LION Publishers today to add your name to the list of sponsors, and showcase your company to the leaders of the local news industry. You can reach him at [email protected]