For the second year in a row, Montana Free Press has been selected to participate in the national NewsMatch campaign, a grassroots effort to help fund nonprofit newsrooms.
During the campaign, which runs through Dec. 31, individual donations to MTFP will be generously matched up to $1,000 per donor by the John and James L. Knight Foundation, the Democracy Fund, the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation, Dirk and Natasha Ziff, the Present Progressive Fund, and the Facebook Journalism Project.
The cap for this year’s match is set at $20,000.
MTFP is one of nearly 200 nonprofit U.S. newsrooms participating in this year’s campaign. Threshold, a Missoula-based public radio program and podcast, is also participating in this year’s NewsMatch campaign.
“Without quality journalism, without giving people the information they need to make well-informed decisions, our democracy doesn’t function as well as it could or should,” said Montana Free Press founder John S. Adams. “NewsMatch presents an excellent opportunity to be part of this growing nonprofit journalism movement.”
In its last three years of operation, NewsMatch has helped news organizations across the country raise $14.8 million and attract nearly 100,000 new donors to nonprofit news. Participating in 2018, MTFP raised funding that helped the organization cover the 2019 Montana Legislature with multiple reporters, hire a full-time editor, and launch the Montana Lowdown Podcast.
MTFP, founded in 2016, is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit affiliated with the Institute for Nonprofit News.
MTFP coverage, from the Long Streets economic reporting series to in-depth reporting on legislative power dynamics, evolving responses to wildfire, and renewable energy, is regularly republished by news outlets in urban and rural communities across the state.
“We’ve seen a lot of growth over the past three years and we’ve had a lot of success,” said Adams. “In order to continue that success into the future, we need the support of readers like you.”
Donate to Montana Free Press at montanafreepress.org/donate.
