Miami Foundation
Project Title
For core support to NewsMatch to increase education news coverage in rural newsrooms across the country
Date
Sep. 10, 2026
Duration
24 months
Description
NewsMatch, housed at the Miami Foundation and operated by the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN), addresses the collapse of local journalism that has left two-thirds of media outlets without any education reporting. NewsMatch supports over 500 nonprofit newsrooms across the U.S. with targeted funding, training, one-on-one coaching, and tools to build fundraising strategies, run digital campaigns, secure local matches, and strengthen donor relationships. Through its Education Partner Fund, NewsMatch ensures that critical coverage of school boards, budgets, and education equity reaches the communities that need it most. The Foundation’s funding has directly supported 119 newsrooms across 38 states, with a targeted focus on rural newsrooms and K–12 education coverage in news desert regions. With continued support, NewsMatch will launch the 2026–27 Education Partner Fund campaign with a back-to-school focus, deepening coverage that helps citizens make informed decisions during school board elections. NewsMatch will also survey Education Partner Fund recipients to surface real-world examples of how local education journalism keeps communities informed and civically engaged, strengthening the long-term sustainability of local newsrooms serving rural America.
Website
Project Title
For core support to NewsMatch to increase education news coverage in rural newsrooms across the country
Date
Dec. 12, 2024
Duration
15 months
Description
NewsMatch housed at the Miami Foundation is the largest collaborative fundraising campaign to support nonprofit news in the U.S. Since 2017, the campaign has helped raise over $271 million to jumpstart emerging newsrooms and support independent media outlets that produce fact-based, nonpartisan news and information. NewsMatch leverages the support of national funding partners to generate support from individuals and local supporters for hundreds of independent media outlets across the country. This proposed project would be a new initiative influenced by the Corporation to help identify a list of 10-12 newsrooms across the country that reach non-English speaking, immigrant, and/or newly arrived communities. Once identified, NewsMatch will help us gather data on how to reach and inform these communities about education issues affecting families and other key community stakeholders. These learnings will help the Corporation make informed decisions on future investments to build a stronger and informed society.
Website
Project Title
For core support of Press Forward, a national journalism initiative aimed at improving local news coverage
Date
Jun. 08, 2023
Duration
60 months
Description
Since 2005, approximately 2,200 local newspapers have closed, resulting in twenty percent of Americans living in areas with little to no reliable coverage of news. In response, a coalition of twenty donors have established Press Forward, an ambitious national initiative to strengthen communities and democracy by supporting local news and information with an infusion of more than a half-billion dollars over the next five years. Press Forward will support new models and solutions that are ready to scale and close longstanding inequities in journalism coverage and practice. National, regional, local, and issue-specific funders co-designed Press Forward with the aim of deploying significant new resources to the field through greater coordination and peer learning. In addition to direct grantmaking, Press Forward has established a collaborative pooled fund, fiscally sponsored by the Miami Foundation, which the Corporation is joining, to make investments in geographic or other areas not covered by the direct grantmaking.