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Local Media Association at a glance

· Public charity

Local Media Association

LOCAL MEDIA ASSOCIATION is intensely focused on helping media companies discover new and sustainable business models.

$373k
Granted FY2025still arriving
21
Grants FY2025still arriving
14
States reached
$30k
Largest
01What it fundsRead
02The needRead
03Its granteesRead
04Its fieldRead
01What it funds
01100% classified

What it funded, over time

Every grant placed by its stated purpose and the recipient’s mission, by year, FY2021 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$2.8MEducation$678kPublic Benefit$241kReligion$159kPhilanthropy$50kEnvironment$50kHuman Services$50kSocial Science$32kOther$0
02FY2025 · 21 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 21 grants below total $281,770, the rows itemized in this filing. The $373,258 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $91,488 is giving the schedule does not break out (grants under the $5,000 itemization floor, grants to individuals, grants on other schedules). Every figure below describes the itemized rows only.

By grant size · FY2025

  • Under $10k3 grants · $21k
  • $10k–50k18 grants · $261k
$14,000
Median grant
14
States reached
$3.0M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
IMPREMEDIA OPERATING COMPANY LLC$30,000
VOICE NEWS NETWORK INCATLANTIC VOICE NEWSPAPER$15,860
AFRO AMERICAN COMPANY OF BALTIMORE INC$15,740
LA NOTICIA INC$15,000
HOUSTON DEFENDER NEWSPAPER INC$14,000
AMNEWS DBA THE NEW YORK AMERSTERMAN NEWS$14,000
LEE PUBLISHING INC THE OBSERVER NEWSPAPERS$14,000
AD-MAST PUBLISHING CO DBA DALLAS WEEKLY INC$14,000
MICHIGAN CHRONICLE PUBLISHING CO$14,000
TILOBEN PUBLISHING CO INC SEATTLE MEDIUM NEWSPAPER$14,000
THE WASHINGTON INFORMER NEWSPAPER CO INC$14,000
AMERICAN PUBLISHING COMPANY INC DBA ST LOUIS AMERICAN NEWSPAPER$14,000
BORDERLESS MAGAZINE NFP$13,750
COLORADO HISPANIC MULTIMEDIA PLATFROM DBA EL COMERICO CASA MAGAZINE$12,500
KHQ INCORPORATED$12,500
02The need
03

Does the money reach high-need areas?

Each grant placed by the hardship in its grantee’s ZIP, against the area’s typical level.

show:

Its human-services grants (FY21–25, $114k) land where the poverty rate runs at 17%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 88% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%ACCELERATE ACTION: $50k → 16%DOCUMENTED LTD: $50k → 20%TILOBEN PUBLISHING CO INC SEATTLE MEDIUM NEWSPAPER: $14k → 9%0%20%40%50%more need →
grant to an above-average-need area below average· circle size = grant amount
How this is measured
Matched: human-services grants are those whose grantee’s IRS cause code is Human Services. Placed by people below the poverty line in the grantee’s ZIP, averaged from the tracts in that ZIP.

Which US states its grants reach

WA
ID
MT
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
SD
IA
OH
PA
NJ
CT
RI
CA
MO
VA
MD
NM
KS
NC
SC
DC
LA
MS
GA
TX
How this is measured
US grants placed by each grantee’s ZIP, which can differ from where services are delivered. Need from public data (U.S. Census/ACS, CDC PLACES, Eviction Lab, USDA), shown as context about the area, never attributed to the funder’s giving.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

Organizations funded in more than one year, against those funded once.

38%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$1.6M · 14 repeat orgs$2.7M to everyone else

14 repeat relationships: 9 still active in FY2025, 5 since wound down; 12 grantees were first funded in FY2025 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

14
62

Total granted

$1.6M
$2.5M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+1%
+29%

Still filing today

7%
32%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2025, 42% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $162k went to new ones.

50%100%’21’22’23’24’25
RenewedFirst-time

Where new relationships form · theme of each grantee’s first grant

’21’22’23’24’25
Arts & CultureEducationHuman ServicesPublic BenefitCivil RightsCommunity ImprovementOther
How this is measured
First-time means a grantee’s first year in the filing window; renewed means funded in an earlier year too. The renewed share climbs naturally as a portfolio matures, so the signal is a year that bucks it (a wave of new grantees). The earliest year is left-censored: relationships that predate the data read as new. Theme is the grantee’s IRS cause.

Backed again, and grew

  • HD
    HOUSTON DEFENDER NETWORK
    4× · 2022–2025 · $265k
  • AC
    AMNEWS CORPDBA NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS
    4× · 2022–2025 · $205k
  • LP
    LEE PUBLISHING COMPANY INC
    5× · 2021–2025 · $170k

Funded once

  • EL
    ENLACE LATINO NC INCgraduated
    one grant, 2022 · $50k · revenue +83%
  • MP
    MCKENNA PUBLISHING COMPANY
    one grant, 2022 · $50k
  • DM
    DORSEY MEDIA LLC
    one grant, 2021 · $50k
How this is measured

Repeat means funded in two or more distinct years. Growth and survival are read from each grantee’s own subsequent IRS filings.

04Its field

Closest unfunded matches

The nonprofits that most resemble its grantees but are not funded by it, scored along the direction from the rest of the field toward the portfolio. A resemblance in what they say they do, not a recommendation.

1
Press Watch

To educate journalists and the public, and foster public debate, about improving political journalism to reflect public needs and hold the powerful accountable.

—
2
Trusting News Inc

Trusting News improves the quality of news reporting by studying trust in news and training and coaching journalists to demonstrate credibility and actively earn trust. Their work equips thousands of journalists every year to better…

Arts & Culture
3
Texas Tribune Inc

The texas tribune promotes civic engagement and public education across the state by producing and sharing for free public data interactives, statewide events and intensive and daily reporting on texas public policy, politics and current…

Education
4
City Report Inc

CITY REPORT, INC. serves the people of New York through independent journalism that answers their information needs and holds the powerful to account.

Arts & Culture
5
Nc Local Inc

Expands local news across North Carolina

Civil Rights
6
San Francisco Public Press

The mission of the San Francisco Public Press is to enrich civic life by publishing investigative and solutions journalism that engages diverse audiences and promotes public accountability. The San Francisco Public Press…

Education
7
San Antonio Report

Publishing a local online news source. We believe a well informed and connected community is essential to making San Antonio a better place to live, work and play.

Arts & Culture
8
CalMatters

Our team of experienced journalists, with the time and resources to dig deep, is committed to meaningfully informing Californians about the players, politics, and interests that shape the issues that affect their lives.

Civil Rights
9
Springfield Daily Citizen Inc

The mission of the springfield daily citizen is to inform our community and be a catalyst for good.

Arts & Culture
10
Nashville Public Media Inc

To empower the people of Nashville to make informed decisions by providing non-partisan journalism from an independent, nonprofit newsroom.

Arts & Culture
11
Citizens News Guild Inc

Citizens news guild educates the public by publishing non-partisan state and local news.

Community Improvement
12
The Conversationalist
—
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is New Bedford Light; the most unlike its peers is Voice News Network. Resemblance is measured on each organization’s own IRS 990 mission text; it reflects how work is described, not its quality or impact.
04the grantee network

27 grantees tracked through their own filings, 2017–2025.

Each grant beside the grantee’s revenue from every source, year by year.

How this is measured

Counted here: distinct organizations funded across 2017 to 2025, not grant rows in a single year, so this will not match the grant count on the cover. 27 of the 89 grantees resolved in that span have returns of their own we could reconcile.

Each grantee is resolved to its own IRS returns. Association, dated; never a causal claim.

1
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
11
Early backer (in before they grew)
27/27
Grantees still filing
18/27
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

HOUSTON DEFENDER NETWORK: $265,000 · OtherHOUSTON DEFENDER NETWORKAMNEWS CORPDBA NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS: $205,000 · OtherAMNEWS CORPDBA NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWSLEE PUBLISHING COMPANY INC: $170,000 · OtherVOICE NEWS NETWORK: $156,860 · OtherAFRO AMERICAN COMPANY OF BALTIMORE CITY: $151,000 · OtherTILOBEN PUBLISHING COMPANY INC: $141,000 · OtherMICHIGAN CHRONICLE PUBLISHING CO: $128,000 · Other+61 more: $2,262,290 · Other+61 moreENLACE LATINO NC INC: $50,000 · Arts & CultureThe Land Cle: $50,000 · Arts & CultureREADER INSTITUTE FOR COMMUNITY JOURNALISM INC: $50,000 · Arts & CultureDEEP SOUTH TODAY: $50,000 · Arts & CultureNEW BEDFORD LIGHT: $50,000 · Arts & CultureMONTANA FREE PRESS: $50,000 · Arts & CultureBorderless Magazine NFP: $13,750 · Arts & Culture+1 more: $10,000 · Arts & CultureBLOCK CLUB CHICAGO NFP: $50,000 · EducationINVESTIGATIVE NEWSOURCE: $50,000 · EducationCanopy Atlanta: $50,000 · EducationINVESTIGATIVE PROJECT ON RACE & EQUITY: $8,750 · EducationCARDINAL PRODUCTIONS INC: $50,000 · Public BenefitTHE WAR HORSE NEWS INC: $50,000 · Public BenefitEL PASO MATTERS INC: $50,000 · Public BenefitDocumented LTD: $50,000 · Human ServicesACCELERATE ACTION INC: $50,000 · Human ServicesLOCAL MEDIA FOUNDATION: $14,000 · Human ServicesMUCKROCK FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 · Civil Rights365 Media Foundation Inc: $50,000 · Civil RightsCHARLOTTESVILLE TOMORROW: $50,000 · Community Improvement
Other$3,479,150Arts & Culture$323,750Education$158,750Public Benefit$150,000Human Services$114,000Civil Rights$100,000Community Improvement$50,000

Each grantee by its size and the funder’s share of it; top left is load-bearing

25%50%75%100%$1.0M$10Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetVOICE NEWS NETWORK: $156,860 over 4y, 26% of budgetENLACE LATINO NC INC: $50,000 over 1y, 6.0% of budgetThe Land Cle: $50,000 over 1y, 14% of budgetBLOCK CLUB CHICAGO NFP: $50,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetINVESTIGATIVE NEWSOURCE: $50,000 over 1y, 2.4% of budgetSEARCHLIGHT NEW MEXICO NEWS: $50,000 over 1y, 4.2% of budgetREADER INSTITUTE FOR COMMUNITY JOURNALISM INC: $50,000 over 1y, 4.6% of budgetDocumented LTD: $50,000 over 1y, 7.6% of budgetCanopy Atlanta: $50,000 over 1y, 7.3% of budgetMUCKROCK FOUNDATION INC: $50,000 over 1y, 1.5% of budgetCHARLOTTESVILLE TOMORROW: $50,000 over 1y, 7.2% of budgetDEEP SOUTH TODAY: $50,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetNEW BEDFORD LIGHT: $50,000 over 1y, 3.2% of budgetNext City Inc: $50,000 over 1y, 3.5% of budgetACCELERATE ACTION INC: $50,000 over 1y, 1.7% of budgetCARDINAL PRODUCTIONS INC: $50,000 over 1y, 3.8% of budget365 Media Foundation Inc: $50,000 over 1y, 7.7% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION FOR MISSISSIPPI: $50,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMONTANA FREE PRESS: $50,000 over 1y, 5.4% of budgetTHE WAR HORSE NEWS INC: $50,000 over 1y, 6.8% of budgetGrist Magazine Inc: $50,000 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetEL PASO MATTERS INC: $50,000 over 1y, 3.4% of budgetLOCAL MEDIA FOUNDATION: $14,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetBorderless Magazine NFP: $13,750 over 1y, 1.1% of budget
Grantee by grantee: a decade per organization, before and after funding

A decade per grantee: revenue shaded, grants as bars, all rows on one timeline.

  • Who funds VOICE NEWS NETWORK ↗
  • Who funds ENLACE LATINO NC INC ↗
  • Who funds The Land Cle ↗
  • Who funds BLOCK CLUB CHICAGO NFP ↗
  • Who funds INVESTIGATIVE NEWSOURCE ↗
  • Who funds SEARCHLIGHT NEW MEXICO NEWS ↗
  • Who funds READER INSTITUTE FOR COMMUNITY JOURNALISM INC ↗
  • Who funds Documented LTD ↗
  • Who funds Canopy Atlanta ↗
  • Who funds MUCKROCK FOUNDATION INC ↗
  • Who funds CHARLOTTESVILLE TOMORROW ↗
  • Who funds DEEP SOUTH TODAY ↗
  • Who funds NEW BEDFORD LIGHT ↗
  • Who funds Next City Inc ↗

Co-funders

Grantmakers whose grantees overlap with this funder’s far more than size alone predicts. Closer means stronger alignment; arcs show where they also fund each other. Here they form a tightly interlocked group: most of these funders back each other's grantees too.

Local Media FoundationThe Miami Foundation …Local Independent Onl…The Groundtruth Proje…Institute for Nonprof…Alternative Newsweekl…The Lenfest Institute…Borealis PhilanthropyAmerican Journalism P…Inasmuch FoundationAmerican Press Instit…Pro Publica Inc
Local Media FoundationMI53.4× affinity23 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: Local Media Foundation · The Miami Foundation Inc · Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc · The Groundtruth Project Inc · Institute for Nonprofit News · Alternative Newsweekly Foundation · The Lenfest Institute for Journalism Special Asset Fund of Tpf · Borealis Philanthropy · American Journalism Project Inc · Inasmuch Foundation · American Press Institute Inc · Pro Publica Inc

How this is measured
Affinity is a Gamma-Poisson posterior co-funding rate, re-centered on the typical rate, so thin evidence shrinks toward no signal. Overlap is association, not proof of shared intent.

How much its grantees rely on government

Each dot is one organization Local Media Association funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Local Media Association. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 30%2%8%17%30%funder's share of their income ↑0%1%3%4%5%share of the org’s income from government →
    no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
    3get no government money at all
    3report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
    0rely on government for over half their income
    ⤢ axis zoomed · 0–5%
    typical government reliance, FY20–25
    How this is measured
    Government income is each org’s traced federal awards (USASpending grants and contracts) plus state payments (open checkbooks) as a share of its total revenue (IRS Form 990); the self-reported government-grant line (990 line 1e) is carried for cross-check: a grantee that reports government grants we could not trace to a source is left off the chart rather than shown as receiving none. An association, not a claim that a grant caused the public funding. Coverage is precision-first, a floor rather than a census; state records exist for 9 states, so a grantee outside them shows no state figure (dimmed) rather than a false zero. Federal award amounts are obligations, which can span years, so a single-year share is indicative. 990 filings lag 12 to 24 months.

    On method. Every financial figure here is read from IRS e-file XML, the funder’s own 990/990-PF, and from the multi-year returns of the 89 grantees we resolved, each linked to its source. Grantee outcomes are each organization’s own program-service reporting (Form 990, Part III), read as association with funding, never as caused by it. Low-confidence name matches are suppressed rather than guessed. How we build these →

    How this is measured
    Each figure carries one of six labels. Filed is what the funder reported on its return. Official is another government record about an organization, such as a federal award or a charity register, joined by name where no shared identifier exists. Resolved is an identity we worked out where the filing named a recipient without an EIN, kept only above a measured confidence threshold. Computed is arithmetic over those, like themes, portfolio clusters and co-funder strength. Context is a statistic about a place rather than about an organization, which is what the need overlay is: it describes the area a grantee’s address sits in, not where its work lands. Inferred is drawn by a model from text, like the partnerships read out of public news and organization websites. Each is labeled where it appears.

    Generated from the IRS Form 990 e-file return for fiscal year 2025, released 2025. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

    Source object · view filing

    Play a game based on Local Media Association’s filings →

    More from the funding graph

    The unnamed billions
    grants reported with no recipient in the public record
    The regranting layer
    51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer
    The DAF merry-go-round
    $9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds
    The endowment market
    who holds foundation money, and what just moved
    The camps
    funders cluster by geography, not ideology
    By state
    where grant money is based, and what stays home