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Solutions Journalism Network Inc at a glanceMostly funded, not a grantmaker: see who funds it →

· Public charity

Solutions Journalism Network Inc

Define, legitimize and spread "solutions journalism" - rigorous, unbiased reporting about credible responses to social problems by establishing solutions journalism as a core function in journalism, conforming to the highest standards of independence and accuracy.

$933k
Granted FY2024still arriving
30
Grants FY2024still arriving
20
States reached
$139k
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, FY2017 to 2024.

Arts & Culture$3.4MEmployment$1.5MEducation$949kPhilanthropy$436kEnvironment$284kPublic Benefit$190kCommunity Improvement$33kReligion$31kOther$0
02FY2024 · 30 grants

Where the money goes

Grants by size, and the largest recipients.

How this is measured
The 30 grants below total $523,675, the rows itemized in this filing. The $933,425 headline is the total grant expense on the return; the other $409,750 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 · FY2024

  • Under $10k8 grants · $60k
  • $10k–50k21 grants · $325k
  • $50k–250k1 grant · $139k
$10,000
Median grant
20
States reached
$8.6M
Total assets
Largest grants
RecipientAmount
LOCAL MEDIA FOUNDATION (ON BEHALF OF NY & MICHIGAN SOLUTIONS JOURNALISM CO)$139,175
CHEROKEE NATION$38,000
SENTIENT MEDIA$25,000
MONGABAY ORG CORP DBA MONGABAYORG CORPORATION$20,000
PUBLIC MEDIA NETWORK (ON BEHALF OF SW MICHIGAN JOURNALISM COLLABORATION)$20,000
THE OSAGE NATION$20,000
STATES NEWSROOM$20,000
SISSETON WAHPETON OYATE$18,000
BOISE STATE UNIVERSITY$18,000
SHOSHONE BANNOCK TRIBES DBA SHO-BAN NEWS$18,000
KANSAS LEADERSHIP CENTER$17,500
HAITINEX MEDIA GROUP DBA THE HAITIAN TIMES$10,000
RICHLAND SOURCE$10,000
THE BOARD OF REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN SYSTEM$10,000
THE CURRENT MEDIA INC$10,000
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 (FY20–24, $882k) land where the poverty rate runs at 13%, against an area that typically sits at 11%. 100% of those dollars go to grantees based in above-average-need neighborhoods. Most of its grants land in higher-need ZIPs.

area typical 11%LOCAL MEDIA FOUNDATION ON BEHALF OF NEW YORK & MICHIGAN: $358k → 13%STREET ROOTS: $7k → 12%LOCAL MEDIA FOUNDATION ON BEHALF OF SOLVING SACRAMENTO: $150k → 13%CENTER FOR RURAL STRATEGIES: $11k → 29%LOCAL MEDIA FOUNDATION (ON BEHALF OF NY & MICHIGAN SOLUTIONS JOURNALISM CO): $139k → 13%LOCAL MEDIA FOUNDATION (ON BEHALF OF NEW YORK & MICHIGAN SOLUTIONS JOURNALI: $70k → 13%LOCAL MEDIA FOUNDATION ON BEHALF OF SOLVING SACRAMENTO: $50k → 13%LOCAL MEDIA FOUNDATION ON BEHALFC OF CHICAGO COLLABORATIVE: $25k → 13%LOCAL MEDIA FOUNDATION (ON BEHALF OF NEW YORK & MICHIGAN SOLUTIONS JOURNALI: $25k → 13%Local Media Foundation: $25k → 13%LOCAL MEDIA FOUNDATION ON BEHALF OF NEW YORK & MICHIGAN SOLUTIONS JOURNALIS: $21k → 13%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

AK
ME
NH
WA
ID
MT
ND
MN
IL
WI
MI
NY
MA
OR
WY
SD
IA
IN
OH
PA
NJ
CT
CA
UT
CO
NE
MO
KY
VA
MD
DE
AZ
NM
KS
AR
TN
NC
DC
HI
OK
LA
MS
AL
GA
TX
FL

Grants abroad, by region: $124k on the FY2024 return

Schedule F, as filed: 1 region. The IRS asks for region and purpose, not the recipient, so no country or grantee can be named here.

Sub-Saharan Africa$124k · 100% · 2 grants

Stated purpose: TO SUPPORT THE TRAINING AND PRODUCTION OF SOLUTIONS JOURNALISM

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. Grants abroad on Schedule F are filed by region, purpose and amount with no recipient name, so they are shown by region and cannot be placed on the country map or matched to a grantee.
03Its grantees
repeat funding

Who it funds again

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

49%of every dollar goes to organizations it has funded before.
$3.1M · 36 repeat orgs$3.2M to everyone else

Grantees it renews have grown median revenue +35% since the first grant, against +15% for those funded once.

36 repeat relationships: 8 still active in FY2024, 28 since wound down; 21 grantees were first funded in FY2024 (too recent to call).

How the two cohorts compare

Re-uppedFunded once

Organizations

36
100

Total granted

$3.1M
$2.9M

Median revenue growth · since first grant

+35%
+15%

Still filing today

58%
48%

New vs renewed · share of each year

In FY2024, 42% of grant dollars renewed an existing relationship; $297k went to new ones.

50%100%’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
RenewedFirst-time

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

’17’18’19’20’21’22’23’24
Arts & CultureEducationEnvironmentHuman ServicesPhilanthropyCommunity 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

  • LM
    LOCAL MEDIA FOUNDATION
    5× · 2020–2024 · $863k · revenue +70%
  • RP
    RESOLVE PHILADELPHIA INC
    3× · 2019–2021 · $324k · revenue +122%
  • TG
    THE GROUNDTRUTH PROJECT INC
    3× · 2018–2020 · $205k · revenue +150%

Funded once

  • TS
    THE SEATTLE TIMES
    one grant, 2018 · $825k
  • UO
    UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
    one grant, 2020 · $165k
  • PM
    PUBLIC MEDIA NETWORK
    one grant, 2021 · $100k · revenue -40%
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
America's Newspapers

Providing research, education and practical information all aimed at optimizing newspapers' business operations, deepening their community engagement and enhancing the quality of their journalism.

Employment
3
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
4
Open Campus Media Inc

Higher education shapes the future of every community in america-determining who moves up the economic ladder, where good jobs develop, and how regions prosper. this promise depends on the public's ability to see and understand how their…

Arts & Culture
5
Nashville Public Radio

Nashville public radio's mission is to be the most trusted & independent nashville voice, connecting our communities through non-partisan journalism, compelling storytelling, civil conversation and music discovery.

Arts & Culture
6
Springfield Daily Citizen Inc

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

Arts & Culture
7
The Minnesota Daily

1. provide independent student journalism and comprehensive coverage of news, media and events that serve the public interest and inform the university of minnesota community.2. offer a forum for the free exchange of ideas and civil debate…

—
8
The Associated Press Foundation for Journalism Inc

The foundation's mission is to produce, support and promote high-quality journalism focused on underserved issue and focus areas in order to educate and inform the public and ensure widespread, ongoing public access to educational,…

Arts & Culture
9
Canary Media Inc

Canary Media is an independent, nonprofit newsroom covering the transition to clean energy.

Environment
10
Public Media Nj Inc

To bring quality public television programs and resources to communities throughout new jersey and its tri-state neighbors. its content, both on-air and online, aims to reflect the diverse

Arts & Culture
11
Wyofile

Wyofile is an independent, nonprofit news service focused on the people, places and policy of wyoming. recognizing the rapid decline in resources among traditional news outlets, wyofile offers in-depth coverage of complicated subjects and…

Arts & Culture
12
Daily Nebraskan

To communicate quality information for and about the University of Nebraska-Lincoln community, and thereby, to provide a quality experience for the students involved in its production.

Arts & Culture
How this is measured
The grantee most central to the portfolio’s shape is Capital & Main; the most unlike its peers is Drexel University. 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

92 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. 92 of the 166 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.

3
Load-bearing (≥25% of a budget)
18
Early backer (in before they grew)
89/92
Grantees still filing
60/92
Grew since first funded

Where the money sits, by cause and then by grantee

THE SEATTLE TIMES: $825,000 · OtherTHE SEATTLE TIMESUNIVERSITY OF OREGON: $165,000 · OtherUNIVERSITY OF OREGON+89 more: $1,948,537 · Other+89 morePENNON ORGANIZATION: $202,945 · Arts & CulturePENNON ORGANIZATIONNEW HAMPSHIRE PUBLIC BROADCASTING: $142,400 · Arts & CultureNEW HAMPSHIRE PUBLIC…PUBLIC MEDIA NETWORK: $100,000 · Arts & CulturePUBLIC MEDIA NETWORKTHE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE INC: $94,427 · Arts & CultureTHE SALT LAKE TRIBUN…INSTITUTE FOR JOURNALISM & NATURAL RESOURCES: $58,000 · Arts & CultureAPPALSHOP INC: $54,000 · Arts & CultureBEACON MEDIA INC: $54,000 · Arts & CultureACCION LATINA: $54,000 · Arts & CultureArizona Local Post: $54,000 · Arts & Culture+24 more: $453,096 · Arts & Culture+24 moreLOCAL MEDIA FOUNDATION: $863,143 · Human ServicesLOCAL MEDIA FO…+2 more: $18,400 · Human ServicesRESOLVE PHILADELPHIA INC: $324,300 · EducationRESOLVE PHILA…PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY: $130,000 · EducationPEPPERDINE UN…PRISM REPORTS INC: $70,000 · EducationPRISM REPORTS…SACRED HEART UNIVERSITY INCORPORATED: $39,890 · EducationWashington Informer Charities: $31,800 · EducationTeachers College Columbia University: $30,450 · EducationTEXAS TRIBUNE INC: $30,000 · EducationMONTANA NEWSPAPER FOUNDATION INC: $30,000 · Education+16 more: $171,800 · Education+16 moreSANTA FE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $200,000 · PhilanthropySANTA FE CO…DELAWARE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $200,000 · PhilanthropyDELAWARE CO…COMMUNITIES FOUNDATION OF TEXAS INC: $143,125 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITIES…COMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER FORT WAYNE INC: $60,442 · PhilanthropyCOMMUNITY F…Advocate Foundation Inc: $50,000 · PhilanthropyAdvocate Fo…THE LENFEST INSTITUTE FOR JOURNALISM SPECIAL ASSET FUND OF TPF: $25,000 · PhilanthropyCommunity Trust of Utah: $24,575 · Philanthropy+3 more: $32,500 · PhilanthropyTHE GROUNDTRUTH PROJECT INC: $205,000 · EmploymentHIGH COUNTRY NEWS: $24,000 · EnvironmentGrist Magazine Inc: $20,000 · EnvironmentMONGABAY ORG CORP: $20,000 · EnvironmentMICHIGAN ENVIROMENTAL COUNCIL: $17,400 · Environment
Other$2,938,537Arts & Culture$1,266,868Human Services$881,543Education$858,240Philanthropy$735,642Employment$205,000Environment$81,400

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

25%50%75%100%$100k$1.0M$10M$100Mgrantee revenue →↑ funder's share of their budgetLOCAL MEDIA FOUNDATION: $863,143 over 5y, 8.8% of budgetRESOLVE PHILADELPHIA INC: $324,300 over 3y, 14% of budgetTHE GROUNDTRUTH PROJECT INC: $205,000 over 3y, 1.7% of budgetPENNON ORGANIZATION: $202,945 over 2y, 0.9% of budgetSANTA FE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION: $200,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetDELAWARE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC: $200,000 over 2y, 0.3% of budgetCOMMUNITIES FOUNDATION OF TEXAS INC: $143,125 over 2y, 0.1% of budgetNEW HAMPSHIRE PUBLIC BROADCASTING: $142,400 over 4y, 0.8% of budgetPEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY: $130,000 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetPUBLIC MEDIA NETWORK: $100,000 over 1y, 5.3% of budgetTHE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE INC: $94,427 over 4y, 0.3% of budgetCORPORATION FOR NEW JERSEY LOCAL MEDIA: $75,000 over 1y, 19% of budgetPRISM REPORTS INC: $70,000 over 2y, 3.5% of budgetCOMMUNITY FOUNDATION OF GREATER FORT WAYNE INC: $60,442 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR JOURNALISM & NATURAL RESOURCES: $58,000 over 2y, 6.7% of budgetAPPALSHOP INC: $54,000 over 1y, 1.2% of budgetBEACON MEDIA INC: $54,000 over 1y, 6.3% of budgetACCION LATINA: $54,000 over 2y, 7.0% of budgetArizona Local Post: $54,000 over 1y, 20% of budgetAdvocate Foundation Inc: $50,000 over 2y, 58% of budgetGlobal Press Institute: $40,000 over 2y, 0.8% of budgetKENTUCKY PUBLIC RADIO INC: $40,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetSACRED HEART UNIVERSITY INCORPORATED: $39,890 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetNATIONAL CONGRESS OF AMERICAN INDIANS FUND: $37,500 over 1y, 0.4% of budgetMONTANA FREE PRESS: $35,000 over 2y, 1.7% of budgetWashington Informer Charities: $31,800 over 2y, 11% of budgetTeachers College Columbia University: $30,450 over 2y, 0.0% of budgetTEXAS TRIBUNE INC: $30,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMONTANA NEWSPAPER FOUNDATION INC: $30,000 over 1y, 90% of budgetINDEPENDENT WORLD TELEVISION INC: $28,800 over 2y, 0.5% of budgetPUBLIC TELEVISION 19 INC: $28,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetTHE CURRENT MEDIA INC: $26,000 over 2y, 18% of budgetSENTIENT MEDIA: $25,000 over 1y, 1.1% of budgetTHE LENFEST INSTITUTE FOR JOURNALISM SPECIAL ASSET FUND OF TPF: $25,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetTHE 19TH NEWS: $25,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetCommunity Trust of Utah: $24,575 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetINSTITUTE FOR POLICY STUDIES: $24,575 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetHonolulu Civil Beat Inc: $24,500 over 3y, 0.2% of budgetScalawag: $20,000 over 1y, 2.1% of budgetCAPITAL B NEWS INC: $20,000 over 1y, 0.3% of budgetCAPITAL & MAIN: $20,000 over 1y, 0.7% of budgetIndependent Arts & Media: $20,000 over 1y, 0.5% of budgetGrist Magazine Inc: $20,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetRELIGION NEWS FOUNDATION: $20,000 over 2y, 0.6% of budgetMONGABAY ORG CORP: $20,000 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetSTATES NEWSROOM: $20,000 over 1y, 0.1% of budgetKansas Leadership Center: $17,500 over 1y, 0.2% of budgetMICHIGAN ENVIROMENTAL COUNCIL: $17,400 over 2y, 0.5% 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.

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.

The Lenfest Institute…The Miami Foundation …Institute for Nonprof…The Groundtruth Proje…Local Independent Onl…Pro Publica IncThe Int'L Center for …American Press Instit…Alternative Newsweekl…Fund for Investigativ…Local Media FoundationJohn S and James L Kn…
The Lenfest Institute for Journalism Special Asset Fund of TpfPA81.4× affinity39 shared granteesties to 11 of 11Hover any node to trace its alignments.Compare side by side →

Open a dossier: The Lenfest Institute for Journalism Special Asset Fund of Tpf · The Miami Foundation Inc · Institute for Nonprofit News · The Groundtruth Project Inc · Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc · Pro Publica Inc · The Int'L Center for Journalists Inc · American Press Institute Inc · Alternative Newsweekly Foundation · Fund for Investigative Journalism Inc · Local Media Foundation · John S and James L Knight Foundation

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 Solutions Journalism Network Inc funds: left to right is the share of its income from government, bottom to top the share from Solutions Journalism Network Inc. Bigger dots raise more.

2024
’20’21’22’23’24’25
no gov · 70%4%15%34%60%funder's share of their income ↑0%25%50%75%100%share of the org’s income from government →median 11%
  • Delaware Community Foundation Inc: 13% of income from government
  • Tulsa Community Foundation: 11% of income from government
  • The Morgan State University Foundation Inc: 7% of income from government
  • Sacred Heart University Incorporated: 1% of income from government
no gov moneyreceives it· size = income
7get no government money at all
11report government grants on their 990 we could not trace to a source (not plotted)
0rely on government for over half their income
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 166 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 2024, released 2024. Filings run roughly 12 to 24 months behind; figures are dated accordingly.

Source object · view filing

Play a game based on Solutions Journalism Network’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