Impact Stories

Next City [January 2022]: Next City, a nonprofit newsroom in Philadelphia with a strong focus on solutions journalism, generated $115,000 in reader revenue in 2021, part of a trend of increasing audience support for the publication. Next City puts a priority on its solutions reporting and highlights it as part of its mission.

Red/Acción (2021): Red/Acción, an online publication in Argentina that specializes in “periodismo humano” (aka solutions journalism), recruited seven media organizations in seven other Latin American countries to experiment with a story-sharing network (https://www.redaccion.com.ar/red-accion-se-une-a-una-red-de-medios-de-america-latina-para-multiplicar-el-impacto-de-las-historias-que-contamos/). When it launched, editor David Flier wrote that the news organizations “believe that sharing these kinds of stories, the experiences and knowledge they contain, helps us imagine better solutions.” The collaboration published and shared hundreds of stories (https://www.redaccion.com.ar/secciones/red-periodismo-humano/) throughout 2021.

Infobae and Red/Acción (2022): Solutions journalism-focused outlet Red/Acción of Argentina developed a paid syndication partnership (https://www.infobae.com/america/2021/04/28/infobae-y-redaccion-presentan-la-iniciativa-soluciones-para-america-latina/) to cross-publish stories with Infobae, a digital publication that is one of the most read Spanish-language online newspapers worldwide. Over a hundred stories were published in a dedicated section titled “Soluciones.” (https://www.infobae.com/america/soluciones/) Both outlets won multiple prizes from Adepa, the Argentinian journalism organization, for their solutions journalism, and a couple of the partnership’s stories received more than one million page views.

The 19th [November 2021]: After The 19th, a nonprofit newsroom based in Texas, wrote about a diaper bank that helps parents obtain that costly necessity, the public responded with a flood of donations. Readers told The 19th that the story helped them understand why diapers, which can’t be purchased with federal aid, are a mostly invisible contributor to poverty, and many contributed to the Diaper Bank of the Ozarks, their local diaper banks or the National Diaper Bank Network.

Granite State News Collaborative [April 2022]: Since 2019, the Granite State News Collaborative has raised more than $140,000 for its work, which includes a significant amount of solutions journalism, and several of its major funders have said the group’s solutions journalism is one key reason for their support. More than 20 media and educational organizations across New Hampshire are members of the collaborative, which jointly writes stories and convenes community conversations on critical issues. The group’s latest project centers on race and equity, with solutions stories focused on refugee education, restorative justice and responses to hate crimes in the state.

Montana Free Press [December 2021]: A three-part solutions-focused series on regenerative agriculture helped Montana Free Press (MTFP) significantly increase readership and raise more than $8,000 directly from readers. The first part of the “Common Ground” series brought in 29,000 visitors, 78% of whom were new to the site. MTFP then decided to launch a crowdfunding campaign to support reporting for the series, which brought in more than three times the initial goal of $2,500. The news team also embedded a short survey with its first two stories and received 850 responses, with 61% expressing interest in a limited-newsletter series on the subject of regenerative agriculture.