How to become a LION member
Thanks for your interest in joining more than 275 other independent news publishers as LION members. Below we’ve answered some questions about the benefits of becoming a member and how you can join us.
If you already know you’re ready to apply to join us, visit this link to submit your application.
For any additional questions, check out the FAQs below or email membership@lionpublishers.com.
What types of membership does LION offer?
LION Aspiring Entrepreneur
Who: This membership tier is for news entrepreneurs who want to launch a publication or have begun work on a publication that is in beta and/or has not built a substantial audience. Some of the questions you may be trying to answer are: Who is my audience? Where can I get startup funding? What is the best ownership structure for me? Learn more about our membership criteria.
Cost: $50/year for up to one year. After one year of this membership, you can apply to become a LION member organization.
LION Member Organization
Who: You are an independent news publication in the U.S. or Canada that is digitally native and/or digital-first. Some of the questions you may be trying to answer are: How do I grow my audience? How do I grow/diversify my revenue streams? When and how do I hire talent to help me grow my business? Learn more about our membership criteria.
Cost: $150–$250/year. For a small newsroom (less than 5 full-time employees), you’ll pay $150/year. For a medium newsrooms (between 6 to 20 full-timers), you’ll pay $200/year. For a large newsroom (more than 21 full-timers), you’ll pay $250/year. If you run multiple publications that serve different audiences, you must apply for the membership tier based on the total number of employees across your network.
How do I apply to be a member?
Submit your application here. You will hear back from us within one week. We’ll either approve or deny your application, or ask you for more information.
What benefits are included in my membership?
Currently, here’s what we offer for all members, regardless of membership type:
- Eligibility for the LION News Revenue Fellowship, which will give $1,000,000 over two years to selected LION member organizations that are ready to design or bolster their revenue strategy
- Access to the LIONs Den, a private members-only Facebook group (Request to join this group through Facebook and we’ll add you!)
- Access to the members-only channels within our News Entrepreneur Community Slack group
- Eligibility to apply for the annual LION Local Journalism Awards (details here) or, for Aspiring Entrepreneurs, eligibility to apply for the Aspiring Entrepreneur of the Year Award (details here)
- Free services through Cloudflare’s Project Galileo that provide increased security and performance of your website
- Access to LION Lessons, monthly Zoom calls featuring LION members and other experts
- Discounted rate for our annual LION summit
- Members with fewer than 200,000 monthly unique visitors gain access to Local Media Consortium membership perks, including shared resources, webinars, and access to their discounted partnership arrangements with popular service providers.
Does LION offer dues forgiveness?
LION recognizes that there are publications that would benefit from membership, but may not be able to afford dues. During most of the pandemic, LION extended dues forgiveness for any organization that requested it for 2020. Moving forward, dues forgiveness will be available to small news outlets (with 2 or fewer full time employees) applying for full membership and your publication’s annual revenue is less than $3000.
If your organization fits this criteria, please check the appropriate box on the LION membership application to request dues forgiveness.
If you don’t fit the above criteria, but would still feel we should consider you for dues forgiveness, let’s have a conversation! We recognize membership in LION Publishers provides real value which is why we charge dues. We also recognize how difficult the road to sustainability is and we want to ensure our network is an inclusive, vibrant and diverse community. If you have questions, please reach out to our membership programming manager, Cassie Balfour, at cassandra@lionpublishers.com
More questions? Email membership@lionpublishers.com.
