Strengthening the local news industry
by empowering independent publishers
2024 Impact Report
2024 Impact Report
At LION Publishers, we’re on a mission to strengthen the local news industry by empowering independent news publishers to build more sustainable businesses.
We focus on the business side of news entrepreneurship, ensuring that our nearly 550 member publications across the U.S. and Canada have access to the connections, expertise, and resources they need to thrive.
Central to this work is our theory that sustainability (and, eventually, success) for independent news businesses exists at the intersection of operational resilience, financial health, and journalistic impact. We continue to iterate on this concept, and in 2023, we unveiled a maturity model to help news businesses identify where they are on the path to sustainability.
Using both frameworks, we design and execute accessible and actionable programming to move our members and the industry forward.
This report contains a snapshot of our impact in 2024 and our plans for 2025.
From Our Executive Director
Chris Krewson
Launching and maintaining an independent news publication has always been challenging, and despite new headwinds, 2024 was another transformational year for LION Publishers and its members.
In 2024, we concluded the Knight-Google News Initiative Sustainability Audits and Funding program with 179 participants. The first goal of our five-year strategic plan was to deliver programming that moves our members closer to sustainability. We’re thrilled that nearly everyone who received a LION Sustainability Audit shared that it helped them feel more sustainable.
Yet another of our goals was to make these Audits available to any member who wants one. To achieve that, we need to transform the Audit. I’m happy to report that we’re well on our way to a new, self-service, scalable Sustainability Audit, and we expect to roll out this approach in 2025.
Also, a whopping 85 of our members closed out 2024 with an incredible boost from Press Forward’s first open call, with most organizations receiving $100K over two years. That open call included our definition of sustainability in its application criteria, furthering another goal in LION’s strategic plan: making this definition an industry standard.
And our community welcomed news of a generous grant from the John T. and Catherine M. MacArthur Foundation, totaling $4M over three years, which will enable us to expand programming, training, and access to critical resources for LION members. For members, $1.5M of that will be re-granted in a program we’ll build and share in 2025. And for LION’s staff, this helps with yet another strategic goal: diversifying our revenue streams with a focus on institutional giving.
What else is on our plates? Well, during the last Independent News Sustainability Summit in Chicago, you told us you need help navigating the complex and ever-changing policy landscape. So we’ve hired a full-time associate director of policy & advocacy to help develop our organization’s policy priorities and, most importantly, keep members informed on legislation that could affect their businesses. We caught a glimpse of this in 2024 with California’s negotiated settlement with Google, among other things, which could have serious ramifications for our members’ vital efforts to inform communities. One thing we know is that 2025 will carry its own challenges — and we’re working hard to meet that moment with thoughtful programs and products that meet our members where they are.
Thank you so much for being a part of this greater effort to strengthen the independent news ecosystem.
2024 Overview
$3.9 million
In direct dollars given to LION members
Our programs gave 187 LION members access to direct dollars to invest back into their businesses.
While being a funder isn’t our primary strategy for helping our members build more sustainable businesses, we’re grateful for the opportunity to work with journalism vendors and funders who give us the ability to distribute these dollars.
535
Total LION members in the U.S. and Canada
We currently support publications in 49 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, as well as more than 30 Canadian members across eight provinces.
Sixty-eight percent of LION members indicate that they support systematically excluded or underserved communities, including rural (population < 50K), BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and immigrant communities, among others.
640 hours
Of coaching and consulting given between November 2023 and December 2024
Direct dollars given to members were paired with personalized training, coaching, and consulting to offer support and suggestions on how to spend the money.
We wrapped up the Booster Coaching program in 2024; seventy-eight organizations benefited from 192 hours of coaching held between November 2023 and April 2024.
600+
Unique organizations participated in LION programming
While many of our offerings are members-only, we welcome and encourage non-members to attend events like the Independent News Sustainability Summit.
Program Progress
In October 2023, we published a five-year strategic growth plan outlining who we are, where we’re going, and how we’re getting there. This plan identifies six essential goals to meet by the end of 2028 to ensure we’re fulfilling our mission and providing the best possible service to our members. As we work towards these goals through our LION programs, we’re making a substantial impact within the industry.
The Sustainability Audit collects a member publication’s operational, financial, and journalistic impact data and pairs it with an interview led by an Audit analyst. This industry expert then compiles a personalized report with recommendations for how the publisher can move closer to sustainability.
98%
Of Audit participants feel more confident in their organization’s ability to achieve sustainability
Case Studies
CivicLex
In 2023, following a few years of rapid growth, CivicLex signed up for a LION Sustainability Audit, hoping the coaching provided would help them better articulate and optimize their non-traditional business model. Founder Richard Young worked with Audit analyst Bene Cipolla, who encouraged them to embrace their uniqueness and gave them recommendations on how to enhance their operations.
The Audit funding then supported a series of staff retreats so the CivicLex team could think critically about their work. Following these retreats, they invested in new staff wellness policies, grew two revenue streams that brought in almost one-third of their budget, and they built a new organizational impact framework. In addition to increased funder support, this introspection and subsequent work led to CivicLex being nominated for four 2024 LION Awards and winning two.
Khasokhas
After becoming a LION member in 2023, Khasokhas quickly took advantage of several member benefits, most notably participating in the LION Sustainability Audit program, where they received funding and personalized business advice. Following a recommendation from their Audit analyst, Joanne Griffith, they launched an anniversary giving campaign that generated over $10K in 2024 and surpassed $15K in 2025. They also revived their weekly newsletter, which now boasts an open rate of approximately 65 percent.
Additionally, Khasokhas Editor Suresh Shahi developed the Community Cornerstone podcast and started producing TikTok videos and reels that garnered millions of views and generated revenue. And finally, equipped with new business and strategic plans created with Joanne's support, they were chosen to receive a $100K Press Forward grant at the end of 2024.
Looking Ahead
Based on the vision in our strategic plan, we have one metric that’s most important to measuring our impact:
Providing interventions that will move at least 100 LION members to the “Growing” stage of our maturity model.
Our pilot Sustainability 360 program jump-started this goal in 2024, and we intend to build upon and expand this work significantly in the coming years.
Here’s a look at other key initiatives coming up in 2025:
We’ll create a second cohort of our Sustainability 360 program.
We aim to scale this program from six participants to 40 and determine what other back-office support and resources we can provide to maximize its impact. We’ll also use learnings from 2024 to inform program adjustments as needed.
We’re rolling out the latest version of our Sustainability Audit program.
We’ve streamlined the process so more publishers can utilize this transformative tool. Members will no longer need to apply and be accepted into a specific cohort, as the Audit will be available to them at any time via our new member portal.
We’re hosting our third Independent News Sustainability Summit.
Join us for two full days of keynotes, educational sessions, and ample networking opportunities. Stay tuned for details on the 2025 dates and location. At the 2025 Summit, we’ll also host our seventh annual LION Awards Ceremony & Dinner, celebrating excellence by independent news sites in award categories focused on our pillars of sustainability
We’re developing new policy priorities for LION.
Our new associate director of policy & advocacy joined at the beginning of 2025 and will work with members on policy proposals at the state and federal levels and lead the development of our organization's policy priorities.
We’re expanding our reach in Canada.
We’ll recruit more industry experts with experience in the Canadian local news ecosystem, offer additional training and support to our Canadian members, and conduct outreach to current and potential members to boost our membership.
We’ll grow our membership services.
With support from the MacArthur Foundation, we’ll grow existing programs and also be able to provide $100K to 15 publishers over two years, starting in 2025.
Financials
Revenue
Unaudited actuals
Audited actuals
Audited actuals
Category
2024
2023
2022
Contributed Revenue
$5,100,063
$1,653,994
$1,627,337
Earned Revenue
$6,772,711
$5,349,110
$2,345,651
Net Assets Released from Restriction
$(3,774,120)
$75,413
$891,208
Total Support and Operating Revenues
$8,098,654
$7,078,517
$4,864,196
Expenses
Category
2024
2023
2022
Program
$5,918,219
$5,667,528
$3,325,887
General and Administrative
$693,257
$661,459
$437,506
Fundraising
$353,188
$225,479
$466,308
Total Expenses
$6,964,664
$6,554,466
$4,229,701
Net Assets
Category
2024
2023
2022
Change in Net Assets
$4,908,110
$448,638
$(256,713)
Beginning Net Assets
$3,043,607
$2,594,969
$2,851,682
Ending Net Assets
$7,951,717
$3,043,607
$2,594,969
Revenue Analysis
- In 2024, a multi-year grant from the MacArthur Foundation represented $4M in revenue, which will enable LION to provide more direct funding support to a cohort of members and expand our Sustainability 360 program in 2025 and 2026. And a $1.2M sponsorship from the Google News Initiative increased our reserves and will be deployed in 2025 and 2026 to further expand the Sustainability 360 program, provide subsidized back-office support to a cohort of LION members, analyze and share learnings from the Sustainability Audit program, and support the 2025 Summit.
- We are committed to keeping it affordable for independent news publishers to join and engage with LION’s offerings. Membership dues make up approximately 2 percent of our earned revenue, while event registration and program entry fees total about 1 percent.
Contributed Revenue
Category
Amount
Percentage
Foundation
$5,045,667
99%
Individual
$8,077
0%
In-Kind
$46,259
1%
Earned Revenue
Category
Amount
Percentage
Contracts
$4,697,600
69%
Events
$57,723
1%
Membership Dues
$125,167
2%
Sponsorships
$1,847,600
27%
Interest
$44,620
1%
Expenses analysis
- The vast majority — 85 percent — of our expenses went directly toward serving our members and the independent news community.
- We awarded more than $3.9M in direct dollars to our members.
- As we aim to diversify our revenue sources, we have enhanced our infrastructure by adding a full-time development director to the team.
2025 forecast
- We are entering 2025 with a solid financial position and most of the year’s funding already in place. We plan to invest $1M of our reserves — a portion of our unrestricted net revenue from previous years — into our membership programs over the upcoming year.
- Our fundraising efforts in 2025 will focus on supporting our Independent News Sustainability Summit, as well as diversifying and securing multi-year funding for 2026 and beyond.
Our Team
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, LION is led by a volunteer board of directors that consults with executive staff on the organization’s strategic direction.
Board Members
Gunita Singh
Chair
Rebekah Monson
Membership Committee Chair
Cierra Hinton
Vice Chair
Dan Hu
Secretary
Neil Chase
Governance Committee Chair
Alvaro Gurdian
Board Member
Mazin Sidahmed
Board Member
Jiquanda Johnson
Board Member
Ariel Zirulnick
Board Member
Anita Li
Board Development Committee Chair
The board, chaired by Gunita Singh, a staff attorney for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and co-chaired by Cierra Hinton, director of development at Blue Engine Collaborative, supported LION staff on several initiatives, including revising our membership criteria and Code of Conduct. The membership committee also supported Summit speakers and outreach for membership renewals.
LION also thanked outgoing board member Jiquanda Johnson, Flint Beat’s founder and publisher, for four years of dedicated service. She stepped down from the board in September 2024.
Staff
Jess deRivera
Membership Services Manager
Elaine Díaz Rodríguez
Associate Director of Coaching
Lisa Hunter
Director of Finance and Operations
Shelly Hunter
Development Director
Chloe Kizer
Director of Data and Evaluation
Reshma Kothari
Finance and Operations Manager
Chris Krewson
Executive Director
Sarah Gustavus Lim
Membership Director
Hayley Milloy
Marketing Manager
Andrew Rockway
Associate Director of Sustainability Audits
Dylan Sanchez
Research and Evaluation Associate
In 2024, LION staff welcomed three new team members: Jess deRivera, Sarah Gustavus Lim, and Shelly Hunter.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to the funders whose generous support makes our work possible
We’d also like to thank this year’s Summit sponsors: Ballotpedia, BlueLena, Broadstreet, Carol Oppenheim and Jerome S Lamet Charitable Fund, Democracy Fund, Google, Indiegraf, Knight Foundation, Lede AI, MacArthur Foundation, News Revenue Hub, Newspack, Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI), The Joyce Foundation, and The Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
And last but certainly not least, we’d like to give an enthusiastic shoutout to all the incredible people who partnered with us this year, including our members, program participants, coaches, Audit analysts, LION Awards judges, contractors, and community ambassadors.
Get Involved
While we made considerable progress in 2024, we’re ready to ramp up our support for independent news entrepreneurs in 2025 and beyond — and we’d love to have you join us.
Email hello@lionpublishers.com to get in touch, and follow us on LinkedIn, X, Bluesky, and Facebook.
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