Beth Francesco will build a fundraising toolkit to help local, small news organizations diversify their revenue streams and decrease their reliance on traditional ad sales, designed for those newer to philanthropy.

“Fundraising is not something that a lot of people are familiar with or comfortable with,” Francesco said. “As we have this need for newsrooms to really look outside of advertising and traditional revenue streams, this toolkit will put turnkey strategies and templates in their hands.”

Francesco is the deputy executive director for the National Press Club Journalism Institute in Washington, D.C., and has deep experience as a working journalist, nonprofit professional, and journalism educator. She published her first book in 2019.