How newsrooms can thrive by “right-sizing” operations, navigating fiscal sponsorships, and avoiding common pitfalls in the early years of growth

In the ever-evolving world of journalism, operational effectiveness is critical — especially for small (nay, tiny!) and emerging news organizations. Entrepreneurs and tiny newsrooms face a unique set of challenges as they try to scale, find sustainability, and provide much-needed coverage. For these startups, strategic planning and financial support are often the missing pieces, and strong partners are crucial to their growth. 

Here, we took the chance to seek insights from Amy Kovac-Ashley, Executive Director of the Tiny News Collective (and former RJI fellow!), a nonprofit dedicated to helping early-stage news founders and entrepreneurs navigate the complexities of starting and growing mission-driven media organizations.

Myers: Amy, thank you so much for agreeing to talk to us. Can you tell us a little bit about the Tiny News Collective?

Kovac-Ashley: The Tiny News Collective is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that supports early-stage news founders and entrepreneurs creating the next generation of news outlets. We have a lot of folks who are doing local news, which is really wonderful for filling news gaps — both in traditional “news deserts” and in places that have been too long neglected by the media.

The Tiny News Collective exists to help them, before they launch, at launch, and then somewhere between one to flourish years after that. The years can be a little tricky, because entrepreneurship does not necessarily have a path where A plus B equals C. Different things happen on different time horizons for different people.

Our mission is to diversify media entrepreneurship as well as the content and information being provided, in order to move beyond the boundaries of what we would call “traditional news,”  to be much more inclusive, community based and providing ways for communities to connect with one another.

Myers: So what makes these tiny news organizations different when it comes to their operational needs? How distinct are their needs from larger organizations?

Kovac-Ashley: When we talk to people who want to partner with us, I always ask, “What’s the smallest newsroom or news organization you’ve worked with?” Often, they’ll say 20 to 30 people, and I have to remind them that’s not what we’re talking about. We’re working with solopreneurs — someone on their own starting something—or maybe a small group of co-founders. 

That’s very different because one person or a small group is filling all the roles themselves. This means their operations must be right-sized for where they are in their development and their own capacity. Take HR, for example. If you’re a solopreneur, you’re not going to think too much about that in the beginning. But when you start paying someone else, there’s a whole list of things you’ll have to consider.  One of the things we talk about is how you go from coming up with an idea, to a founder, and then to a leader. Thinking about some of these operational buckets from the start is important, and knowing you have to save space for those choices as you make your way down your developmental journey. 

Myers: What do you find is the thing that founders or your entrepreneurs most often forget that is really going to help them?

Kovac-Ashley: There are a couple of things. The first that comes to mind is founders often forget to think about paying themselves. When they create budgets, they don’t include a line item for their own time. This means they aren’t thinking about the true and full costs of what they’re doing when they pitch themselves to advertisers, funders, or donors. And that has real implications for their personal sustainability and the sustainability of their organization.

Another issue isn’t so much forgetting but not knowing what they don’t know. Entrepreneurs in these positions juggle so much and may not be aware enough about all the pieces that it takes to kind of put the whole together. And that’s one of the reasons that we exist. There are a lot of decisions that people have to make in these roles.

Myers: One of the other services that the tiny news collective offers is fiscal sponsorship. So when an organization is looking for a fiscal sponsor, what are some things they should look for?

Kovac-Ashley: We actually offer fiscal sponsorship in two ways. First, we provide it for our members. Second, we have a small but growing business where we sponsor clients who aren’t a fit as members but still need fiscal sponsorship.

When considering fiscal sponsorship, it’s crucial for an organization what they want and need. There are two main models:

• Model A: In-depth support where the organization operates as a project of the fiscal sponsor, including services like accounting and HR.
• Model C: The organization remains separate, and the fiscal sponsor provides certain services, such as enabling tax-deductible donations. 

We are a Model C fiscal sponsor. Our board approves every organization we sponsor to ensure we are sponsoring organizations that are mission-aligned that we can take fiduciary responsibility for.

Myers: So, you’re looking for a partner who can meet your needs and aligns with the model you require. You’re looking for a responsible, thoughtful partner—someone who consciously understands your needs and feels comfortable taking fiduciary responsibility for your work?

Kovac-Ashley: Right, I think that partnership part is really important because you need to know the sponsor you’re working with is going to be around. There are many stories of organizations losing their fiscal sponsor because something shady was going on, and then they’re stuck. It can take a while to find a new fiscal sponsor, and they may have grant funds or other resources at risk. You want to make sure your money is being held by someone responsible who will take care of it for you, and who you’ll be able to trust.

Myers: One last question — If we were to ask the members of your collective what one thing could make their lives easier, what would that be?

Kovac-Ashley: Honestly, they’d probably say they want more time or more money—either one would make their lives easier. But you have to think about that in a different frame. What would give them more time? For example, if they don’t have the funding to hire someone, they might need to be more disciplined with how they use their time. If money is the answer, they might need help with fundraising or developing their business plan, whether for advertising or something else. I think many of them would love to have a playbook, like “A plus B equals C,” but even they know that while parts of that exist for everyone, it’s not a one-size-fits-all kind of answer.

One of the areas to focus on is really around finance and money. Creating business plans and helping them think more strategically about how they build a business. One of the things that we did with members last year was a session on strategic planning, even lightweight strategic planning that you can do by yourself. In that, one of the things that we suggested to folks is find someone in the collective to be an accountability buddy to share pieces of what you’re writing,what your goals are looking like, all that kind of stuff, just to get another set of eyes. 

That’s part of the beauty of the “collective” part of what we do, not just in our name, but in mutual aid—people helping each other navigate these things. There’s just a lot of decisions to be made, and it’s really helpful to have somebody else who has a similar perspective, to be able to say, like, oh yeah, I tried that and that didn’t work, or I tried that a few years ago and now it is working because of something else.

Myers: Well, thank you so much. Amy, I’m so glad that you all are able you are out here and doing the work you do with your members.

Kovac-Ashley: Well, we’re grateful to be included, and I think it’s especially important because the future of news is, in many ways, smaller. While medium-sized startups have played a role over the past 10-15 years, the communities that have lost the most are the smaller ones across the country. There’s a real opportunity to focus on them, and we’ll need many people raising their hands to step up and fill those gaps. Right-sizing operations is crucial as more entrepreneurs enter the space. It’s exciting to be part of this movement, helping people avoid mistakes and think about things they may not have thought of before.

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Cite this article

Myers, Kate (2025, Jan. 22). Scaling small: How the Tiny News Collective is helping entrepreneurs build sustainable local news organizations. Reynolds Journalism Institute. Retrieved from: https://rjionline.org/news/scaling-small-how-the-tiny-news-collective-is-helping-entrepreneurs-build-sustainable-local-news-organizations/