Three news leaders share how they’ve sought funding and share advice for those just starting out

This month Innovation in Focus spoke with three different news leaders to learn more about how they find funding for interns. From universities to press associations, they shared their tips for newsrooms looking to find support for internships. 

Athens County Independent is an independent, nonprofit, locally governed and operated news source in Athens County, Ohio.

Dinneen: Can you tell me how your newsroom has secured funding for internships?

Colbert: We are very good at working our networks and taking advantage of opportunities. We are a part of the community work study program at Ohio University. That program places income eligible students to work with nonprofits around the county.

Through the INN Rural News Network, we have had Scripps Howard funded internships. We’re able to offer two a year, with one in the summertime. By taking advantage of every program available to us, we’ve been able to ensure that our interns are getting paid for their work. 

Dinneen: Which of the funding opportunities you’re utilizing to bring interns into your newsroom have worked out the best for you? 

Colbert: The Scripps Howard ones are great because once you’re in the program and if you’re getting good reviews from the students, you’re going to get applicants. And we’ve had such tremendous luck with the students we’ve had through that program. We must work a little harder with the work study to get the word out about that because if we don’t promote that opportunity then we don’t get many applicants.

Dinneen: What is your advice to other newsrooms about securing funding for interns? 

Colbert: Look at your local college or university. They may not have a work study program, but they may have some kind of program to get students working in the community. And if not, have those conversations with your local higher learning Institution about setting something up. You don’t have to wait for them to create it, you can take the initiative. And I think that that is one of the things that has worked well for us. We go after it. If it doesn’t exist, then we say could we do that? Just put yourself out there!

Me: Is there anything else you want to share that I haven’t asked you about yet? 

Colbert Interns are not free work, even if you’re paying them. Working with interns is a lot of work. I’m fortunate that we have eight full-time staff members now. But even when we didn’t have that many staff members, I still had people on the team who wanted to work with students and who took that mentoring, shepherding role to help them develop the story and get it into a place where it was ready for me to look at. Having someone who can run interference editorially between you and the intern and help them get that piece into shape so that you’re not spending your time on developmental editing is great. If you’ve got an old English teacher or ex-newspaper editor or somebody who knows their way around the English language, who can work with those students, you save yourself a lot of time and effort and the students get a good experience too. They’re not just turning something in and you’re ripping it to shreds and throwing it on the internet. They’re learning how to shape a story. And that’s a lot more meaningful.

Oklahoma Watch 

Oklahoma Watch is a statewide digital-only nonprofit investigative newsroom.

Dinneen: Can you tell me about how your newsroom has secured funding for interns?

Streuli: We have a couple of long-standing relationships The Oklahoma Press Association has internships for Oklahoma journalists. The system is you apply for those; they have a certain amount of money for a certain number and not everybody who applies gets an intern. But once you’re accepted, then you get the pool of candidates. And you can either select one of those or if you have somebody else in Oklahoma that meets the criteria, you can hire outside of that.

We’ve had interns that decided they wanted to live and work in Oklahoma after spending a summer with us and moved from somewhere else. So that’s been pretty successful. We did also have an INN Columbia funded internship this year that fell apart at the 11th hour. By the time he let us know he wasn’t coming, it was too late to find a replacement. And then we also had one this year from Scripps Howard, where we participated in their 20-week program. It was really fun to have somebody here for five months or so.

Dinneen: How difficult was it and what was that process of actually getting accepted for the funding/internship?

Streuli: They’re all a little bit different. But if you’re a nonprofit accustomed to filling out grant applications, it’s kind of similar. Some are way more detailed than others, but none of them are terrible. If you pay attention to the application process as you would a grant application, and you can make a solid case for why a student would benefit from spending time with your organization, you can get it. I don’t think we’ve ever been turned down for one. I also feel like we have a pretty strong program for interns. And a pretty good track record, which doesn’t hurt. 

Dinneen: What of the funding opportunities that you have that you’re utilizing to bring interns into your newsroom worked out the best for you? 

Streuli: The local ones from OPA and InasMuch. They’ve known us a long time. And those are wide open. They’re like, yes, you’re approved, go find yourself an intern. So, the application process and the documentation process are both simple for those. INN Columbia is a little more difficult. But some of these students we’ve gotten through INN have been spectacular. There are also some trade-offs, right? It’s more work on our end, but they also do more work on their end. And so, the pool of interns that you’re presented with is a pretty deep pond. 

Dinneen: What is your advice to other newsrooms about securing funding for interns? 

Streuli: Once you’ve got your foot in the door it gets easier. In the application process, demonstrate that you have some stability, that you’re not a fly by night newsroom that may fold up its tent in the middle of the internship. Their interest is in the intern, not in you. And I think if you have a realistic plan for how you’re going to work with an intern which you can articulate, that’s also very helpful. In our case, we pair them up with a full-time reporter as a mentor. And they’ll usually do a story together at the beginning of the internship and share the byline. And then that full-time experience reporter will work with them over the course of the internship to help them develop story ideas and help them with the first draft of each story and make suggestions about additional sources they might want to contact. And because we only do investigative work, that is maybe more necessary than if you can send them to cover a city council meeting. By the time they’re done here, they’ve got some great clips to add to their files. 

Me: Is there anything else you want to touch on today that I haven’t asked you about yet? 

Streuli: When I’ve talked to colleagues in the industry, sometimes the timbre of the conversation is we want interns because we don’t have enough people and it will help us. And that may be true, but I don’t recommend that that be the motivation for an internship program. 

The motivation should really be part of our mission to help the next generation of journalists. And maybe we get lucky and find somebody we want to hire permanently when they graduate. We’ve hired interns that have ended up working here full time. I think the important thing is if you’re demonstrably stable, if you have a well-articulated plan for what the internship is and what they’re going to be doing while they’re in your shop and you’re putting the interns experience first and thinking about how you’re helping them, not how they’re helping you, those are the three most important things to both having a successful program and successfully finding funders for that program. When you demonstrate that it’s valuable to the intern, it’s a lot easier to get the next round of funders. 

Borderless Magazine

Borderless Magazine is a nonprofit newsroom focused on immigration in Chicago.

Dinneen: How has Borderless Magazine secured funding for interns? 

Villafranca-Guzmán: Our internship and fellowship program is called Pathways. It’s been going on for years now, and so we’ve been training through that program and really providing firsthand journalism experience and project work for our interns, whether in school or emerging and the opportunities and the funding for these internships have really been based on relationships and partnerships. 

We’ve had so many types of funders. For example, Report for America, where the funding comes from the partner. But we also have different kinds of partnerships that are local, such as with professors. We’ve also done projects where we work with a professor and the student journalist works on stories as part of their class. We’ve been flexible in the way that we’ve done this or through work study.

At this point, we fundraise more for the indirect cost associated with running this because we don’t have a dedicated person running the internship program. That’s been a shared responsibility between administrative staff and editorial staff. We are currently trying to secure grant funding to more formally operationalize the program by having someone to manage it, to scale it and have a few more interns at a time. We’re excited that we’ll hopefully soon get the opportunity to have someone coordinating and then being a mentor and an editor for our interns.

Dinneen: What is your advice to smaller newsrooms trying to secure funding for interns? 

Villafranca-Guzmán: Develop as many relationships as possible. Fundraising goes beyond either the grant or an individual donor. And the funding that comes through is a resource. Make sure that you’re meeting people from all the institutions and news serving organizations. I would say that those are probably critical to make sure that you’re involved in, because then that’s how you’ll know that these opportunities are coming up. It could start with a relationship with a professor, and the school is able to pay the intern. A lot of times it does mean working directly with a school within a university for that kind of funding. Develop relationships and look at newsroom service organizations at a national level that have these internship funding programs. CUNY is a good example, we’ve had partnerships with them. Also Chicago Headline Club, Chipps Quinn, Catchlight, Report for America and Howard fellows.

I would recommend starting local with your circle of allies within journalism and building relationships with schools. Those journalism schools are one of the best ways to start locally. Then just being open and flexible of what the internship could look like. It could be a work study opportunity at first or in class project collaboration where there’s no cost associated but they’re also not in your newsroom full time. 

Dinneen: Your newsroom has been selected for competitive opportunities such as Report for America. What’s your advice to newsrooms for applying for competitive programs?

Villafranca-Guzmán: I think relationships are a very important early step, and then the application is just as important. The application is an important process and your ability to convey the need and the impact within. Really help the partner and funder understand how critical this resource is, but also how it’s going to advance the mission of the newsroom. 

Dinneen: What is your unique proposition that you think has been the reason you’ve earned these opportunities?

Villafranca-Guzmán: We have been lucky to have been founded by passionate journalists. I think when Borderless began, it was so authentic and clear about the why early on. And like I said, a lot of passionate individuals who donated their time. But also, I think we’re lucky that Chicago has a rich news ecosystem, too. We’ve got a very active Press Forward chapter here. And MacArthur with Chicago land area being one of the geographies that they focus on. But with 1.6 million immigrants in Chicago, the need for Borderless was obvious. It is very easy to make a case for why this type of storytelling is critically important. 40% of Chicagoans, for example, speak Spanish at home and we’re publishing in English and in Spanish.

Dinneen: Is there any other advice or something that I haven’t asked about yet? 

Villafranca-Guzmán: Really clarify from the beginning the “why” of the internship. For us, it is important that we are helping train and give opportunities to BIPOC, people of color, immigrants and immigration journalists. BIPOC journalists are underrepresented in the grand scheme of things. A clear commitment and a reason for why the internship, how is the internship promoting the mission and then being able to articulate why this work matters to your potential funder. 

Go meet with the funder, learn about their program, before you apply. What do they care about? What are their priorities? How does that align with yours? I do think the pre application touch points with these partners is critical and that’s part of the relationship building that will lead to a successful partnership. 

Note: These interviews have been edited for clarity and brevity. 

Sign up for the Innovation in Focus Newsletter to get our articles, tips, guides and more in your inbox each month!