Announcing the new, on-demand LION Sustainability Audit

Since 2022, 354 LIONs have participated in the Sustainability Audit program, averaging 118 per year. We’re thrilled with that engagement, and even more thrilled that 93 percent of participating organizations said the Audit has had or will have a positive impact in making their news business more sustainable. But we knew we needed to scale our process to reach our goal of ensuring that any LION member who wants an Audit can get one every year.

That’s why, today, we’re rolling out a new version of the Sustainability Audit available to all LION members on-demand through the Member Portal.

As part of membership, LIONs will be able to access a streamlined questionnaire whenever they’d like. They’ll get a report with tailored recommendations distilled from 354 Sustainability Audits, 96 Audit Boosters, 450 Audit funding requests, nearly 4,000 hours of expert coaching, and feedback from hundreds of LIONs that highlight interventions shown to advance sustainability for local news businesses. The report will also contain benchmark comparisons to peer organizations, as well as resources and guidance from across the industry.

You must be a LION member to be eligible for a Sustainability Audit; you can apply to become a LION member here. If you need to renew your membership or don’t know your membership status, email membership@lionpublishers.com.

You can take the Audit as many times as you’d like, tracking your progress on key indicators of sustainability based on data from hundreds of LIONs and receiving instantaneous feedback on ways to strengthen your newsroom. We recommend taking an Audit every year.

The first 50 members to undergo a self-service Audit will also receive one free hour of coaching this summer through LION’s network of industry experts. See the list of 2025 coaches below.

Try out the new Audit and let us know what you think! Here’s what some of the early testers are saying:

We found the report to be very valuable, providing clear benchmarks and actionable recommendations across the three pillars of sustainability. The tailored insights, within Operational Resilience, Financial Health, and Journalistic Impact, offer a helpful roadmap for our strategic planning. We appreciate the constructive spirit in which the recommendations were offered. We intend to use this report as a guide to strengthen our operations, finances, and journalistic impact, and we look forward to retaking the Audit in the future to track our progress.

Hilda Gurdián, La Noticia

I liked the speed of this review! It’s great to get a quick assessment with actionable steps.

Julie Hancher, Green Philly

This tool is so cool! I appreciate your efforts to continuously innovate to better serve your newsrooms. I would love to use this tool regularly in the future to continuously evaluate growth/progress. Great job!

Haley Chavez, Dallas Free Press

For more details on the Sustainability Audit, check out the Audit web page or send me a note at andrewrockway@lionpublishers.com. We’ll also host a Q&A on Friday, June 27, if you have questions about the Sustainability Audit program – register here.

And finally, here are this year’s Sustainability Audit coaches:

• Joe Lanane
• Maple Walker Lloyd
• Mukhtar Ibrahim
• Olivia Obineme
• Richard Brown
• Sam Gross
• Shira T. Center

And remember, if you’re one of the first 50 people to complete our new Audit, you’ll get one hour of free coaching – so don’t wait!