For newsrooms looking for philanthropic support, you’ve probably heard a lot of advice about how to talk to funders. Communicate your value. Talk about your impact. Build the relationship instead of just making the pitch. 

But sometimes, it fails. You don’t get the grant, you aren’t able to make the relationship warmer. And the reasons why may remain completely invisible. 

The fact is this: Even when you have built trust with your contact at a funder, deep-seated internal doubts remain in their organization, particularly if it hasn’t traditionally supported news. And tension, misinformation or negative perceptions — particularly on boards — can derail your best efforts.

So as a news organization, you don’t just have to make your own case in a pitch. You need to understand the doubts that exist, and anticipate and actively counteract them. That may mean equipping your contact at an organization with the information they need to get buy-in with their board.

The examples that follow are not hypothetical. These are all real examples of internal resistance we’ve heard in our workshops for local news funders. We’ve broken them into five categories, and have a few suggestions of how you can counter each narrative.

We’ve also created an open-source doc for strategies that address these concerns. Take a look and add your own. 

Mission/capacity limits

“This isn’t essential to our focus right now.”

What this sounds like:

• “Journalism is outside our mission.” 
• “We are a small organization, we can’t expand what we support right now.”

The context here is pretty obvious: Over the past year, community needs have skyrocketed, and many funders feel stretched thin. When funders believe that local news is scope creep, not a core part of their work, it makes it easy to say no.

Getting to yes: Countering this perception means bridging your work and a funder’s mission. Help a funder connect the dots: How your work directly serves the community, raises the profile of their issues to policymakers, complements the other funding they do. Funders need to understand how your work is essential, not extra, to their priorities. 

Reputational risk

“Supporting news could have consequences for us.”

What this sounds like:

• “News is too polarizing / politically risky right now.”
• “Local news is too partisan; funding it will impact our relationships/ability to fundraise.”

These concerns are driven by fear. Funders’ work depends on relationships, and in our political climate where news is under attack, some funders fear that supporting local news could make them a target, or damage their reputation with donors.

Getting to yes: If you suspect that this is a concern, you might try a few different tactics. Talk about local news as a community builder, and the broad utility your work plays in the community. Emphasize the difference between local and national news organizations. Pitch projects that aren’t content focused or that have tangible local benefits (such as building fundraising capacity, newsroom training, emergency alerts, events calendars, technological transformation, community events, etc.). Help funders see your work as of and by your community, of service and benefit to all. 

It’s also a good practice to have an ethics policy for funding, that defines the boundaries of the relationship and guardrails that protect your journalistic independence. A policy like this communicates clearly that funders have no say in the editorial decisions you make, and protects both parties. 

Sustainability concerns

“Local news is not a good investment.”

What this sounds like:

• “Journalism is a private, for-profit business/dying industry, and we shouldn’t support it.”
• “We can’t take on local news until it finds a sustainable model.”

This is an unfortunate byproduct of research on news deserts. Yes, it’s important to chronicle the crisis that local news is facing. But it’s also created the perception that news is a dying industry, which doesn’t always inspire philanthropic investment. In some cases, funders feel that a declining for-profit model falls outside of what philanthropy is for; in other cases, risk-averse funders may want to wait and see until there are more proven interventions. 

Getting to yes: One way to counter this narrative is to talk about it head on. What is your organization doing to diversify your revenue streams? How do you see a plan where your organization isn’t reliant on funder support? As newsrooms, we tend to talk about our content goals and diminish our ambitions for a sustainable business model. Funders can help news organizations get there, but we should be prepared to show that it’s a place we are trying to go.

Perceived lack of need

“The situation doesn’t seem important to us.”

What this sounds like:

• “The local news organization is hanging on and we don’t see a need there.”
• “Other groups need our support more.”

While some funders may be concerned about the decline of local news, others — and it can’t be overstated — may just not know much about it at all.

Getting to yes: As a news organization, telling the story of what’s happening to the industry — not just your organization — may be an essential part of the work. There may need to be a lot of education in their organization about why local news is important to the community. (Just be careful that you don’t lead with the narratives that will lead you to the problems above.)

Interpersonal reasons

“We don’t want to support these organizations.”

What this sounds like:

• “I don’t like the way local news has covered (issue/organization).”
• “We don’t want to support (news leader) because of interpersonal conflicts.”
• “We don’t think the quality of the newsroom merits support.”

This is a tough one, and inevitable in communities small enough where everyone knows each other.

Getting to yes: Working on this — like many of the above concerns — might be slow. Building trust isn’t done in one meeting, and may take time before the work bears fruit. And some of these perceptions may not be insurmountable; it may make sense to move on or wait until there are changes on the board.

This list is not exhaustive. But it’s a useful guide to what your connections at a funding organization may need to answer internally.

Making the case —  for your organization and for local news funding more broadly — can be a lot of work. But over time, building this muscle can help you build relationships that last longer than one grant.

Megan Griffith-Greene is a Poynter faculty member who educates funders and potential funders about local journalism. This work is funded through a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which is also a funder of the Press Forward movement.