Delaware · Nonprofit
Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc
Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc (Delaware) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,073,648 to it, the largest being JOHN S AND JAMES L KNIGHT FOUNDATION ($2,531,333). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2024
- $12M
- Funders on record
- 12
- Grants received
- $7.1M
- Net assets
- $7.8M
What Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc does
Mission
To strengthen the local news industry by helping independent news publishers build more sustainable businesses.
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
Membership Services & LION Awards: We completed the successful Sustainability 360 pilot and launched our first full S360 cohort, providing members with hands-on back-office support and strategic coaching. In parallel, we piloted a new Back Office support program focused on helping early-stage members build strong HR and finance foundations for long-term sustainability. We partnered with Press Forward on a new program that offers Audits and strategic business coaching to the 205 news outlets awarded Closing Local Coverage Gaps grants in 2024. This marks the first time in LION history that a program serves more non members than members. We also launched the members-only LION Growth Grant program, reviewing over 220 applications from members in 48 states, and distributing $750K of a planned total $1.5M to 15 publishers for operational funds to strengthen their business operations. Finally, we piloted and expanded direct consulting services in our Back Office and Sustainability 360 programs, which both included consulting hours with HR and/or Finance experts to provide publishers with hands-on support for strengthening their operations.
$2,481,434 spentof which $1,310,000 as grants$468,611 earned by the program58% of program spendingMembership Education: More than 150 LIONs participated in peer-led learning groups, culminating in an in-person session at the 2025 Summit. Across the network, the LION community continued to provide a trusted space for publishers to exchange ideas, challenges, and resources during a difficult year for many newsrooms. Year round, LION members and other industry colleagues make up the community of 1600 members in the News Entrepreneur Community Slack. Participants have focused discussion spaces for peer learning and specific LION programs, as well as place-based and other channels that any member of the Slack can contribute to.
$790,775 spentof which $3,655 as grants$397,800 earned by the program18% of program spendingData & Evaluation: We launched the self-serve Audit, transforming a cohort-based, highly customized program into a scalable product available to any LION member at any time. In its first six months, members completed 402 Audits, nearly matching the 450 completed over the programs previous three-year history.
$650,564 spent$239,509 earned by the program15% of program spendingPolicy & Advocacy: LION strengthened its member advocacy efforts, shifting from reactive responses to proactively mobilizing members to engage in policy conversations affecting independent news organizations.
$353,822 spent8% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2025 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $4,276,595.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2019, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2019, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $4.7M to $8.9M (+90%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2021 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
43% of Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc’s revenue is contributions — about as donation-reliant as the typical peer (58% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 6 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Chief executive
Chris Krewson
Executive Director
Board chair
Cierra Brown Hinton
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2019 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 5 funders, grant income rose $150k → $1.2M.
4 of 12 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 16% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc leans on a few funders — its largest provides 36% of grant income and the top three 79%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
Largest funder’s share by year: 2019 100% · 2020 100% · 2021 100% · 2022 67% · 2023 74% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
71% of Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc's funders are still giving 1 year after their first grant; 50% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc draws 99% of its grant income from funders outside Delaware, across 7 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $1.1M arriving through sponsors registered in 4 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 772 arts & culture nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 772 arts & culture nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2024
Organizations like Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In Delaware
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
24%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 12 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc?
- Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc (Delaware) receives grants from 12 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,073,648 to it, the largest being JOHN S AND JAMES L KNIGHT FOUNDATION ($2,531,333). 6 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc have?
- IRS filings report 12 organizations giving $7,073,648 in grants to Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc, 6 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc?
- JOHN S AND JAMES L KNIGHT FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $2,531,333 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Local Independent Online News Publishers Inc find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Delaware. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2024 (financials across 2019–2024), and the filings of 12 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing