LION Publishers 2021 Annual Report

In 2021, our team at LION started with a hypothesis: If we could identify the building blocks of a strong and sustainable news business, we could help more publishers bring more vital news and information to more communities – and we’d find more founders willing to take that leap with LION and become independent news entrepreneurs. 

As the calendar turns now to 2022, I’m glad to report we’ve made tremendous progress, not only by developing a framework for news business sustainability that’s been cited by news executives and industry leaders around the world, but by using its insights to help our members build stronger, more impactful, more resilient small businesses that can serve as a model for those who follow in their footsteps. 

I’m also proud to share that LION is growing as an organization: In 2021, we brought on six full-time staffers and three new board members, increased our budget by 200 percent, designed and launched signature programs such as the GNI Startups Lab and Meta-LION Revenue Growth Fellowship, piloted a news entrepreneurship podcast, set up a Media Liability Insurance program for our members, and grew a Slack community where aspiring and established news founders can learn with and from each other.

This work in 2021 has set us on a clear path for the foreseeable future: helping our members build stronger small businesses by achieving operational resilience, financial health, and journalistic impact. Then we can begin to address the problem of misinformation and news deserts with a proven solution: more news entrepreneurs like the ones at LION.

Chris Krewson, Executive Director, LION Publishers

Read our 2021 Annual Report, and sign up for the LION newsletter to learn about future opportunities and resources for independent local news publishers.