LION announces 15 members selected for Growth Grants

LION Publishers is pleased to announce the 15 publishers that have been selected to receive operational grants of $100k to support steps they are taking to strengthen their business operations over the next two years.

Please join us in celebrating the members selected for a Growth Grant this year:

9 Millones
Arizona Luminaria
Borderless Magazine 
Dallas Free Press
DC Witness & Baltimore Witness
El Tímpano
Excelsior Citizen
India Currents
Kansas City Defender
LebTown
LOOKOUT Publications
Mat-Su Sentinel
Se Habla Media
The Kerr County Lead
The Pulp

More than 220 publishers from 48 states and territories applied for this program. Our team, as well as an external review committee selected from leading journalism support organizations, funders, and our Board of Directors, were inspired by the ideas and strategies that members proposed and the connections they made between how investing in their operations would help them do better journalism for their community. 

The LION Growth Grants were made possible through the generous support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. 

Review Process

The LION Growth Grants were created with the goal of supporting members who are taking significant steps toward increasing their sustainability. 

Members who applied for the grants were required to complete the latest version of our Sustainability Audit this fall, which is now accessible on-demand to all LION members. 

After reviewing applications for overall eligibility, we conducted three rounds of review with the 220+ applications. The final selection process was informed by an external review committee, which scored applications and provided feedback for the final round of 31 organizations. Reviewers supplied scores based on the following criteria to identify top applications that demonstrated: 

• An understanding of their audience and specific examples of how they are serving the critical news and information needs of their community 
• An achievable plan for implementing specific Sustainability Audit recommendations 
• Clarity about organizational goals, past barriers that have prevented organizational growth, and how a Growth Grant could help them overcome those challenges  
• A strong connection between the proposed activities for the grants and how achieving those goals would help them better serve their audience 

LION deeply appreciates the time shared by these external review committee members: 

Morgan Baum: Vice President of Local News Sustainability at Report for America  

Tara Gatewood: Director of the Fund for Indigenous Journalists: Reporting on MMIWG2T,  International Women’s Media Foundation

Jim Iovino: Program Director, Scripps Journalism Journey Initiative 

Tristan Loper: Head of National Programs, The Lenfest Institute for Journalism

Rashad Mahmood: Executive Director, New Mexico Local News Fund

Martin G. Reynolds: Co-Executive Director, Revenue and External Affairs, The Maynard Institute

Linda Shaw: Director of Beacons & Advanced Practice, Solutions Journalism Network

Todd Stauffer: LION coach and consultant 

Kristin Traniello: Program Manager, Knight Communities Network at The Lenfest Institute for Journalism

Ashley Woods Branch: Vice President, Growth & Publisher Success, Blue Lena, and LION coach 

Liz Worthington: Director of Product Strategy, American Press Institute

Ariel Zirulnick: LION board member, consultant, and coach  

Committee members identified potential conflicts of interest and did not score applications from that list. All external review committee members were asked to vote on their top 16 choices (15 grantees and one alternate) for the 31 top-scoring applications.  

LION’s membership includes solopreneurs and large operations, a variety of news products, and urban and rural publishers. We are proud of the diversity of the selected members who are providing valuable news and information to their communities, and we hope additional funders are inspired by this program and increase their support of local newsrooms, including LION members across the country.