Community of Practice

The 2025 Lenfest News Philanthropy Summit

Hosted by The Lenfest Institute and Press Forward from May 20-22, 2025 in Philadelphia.

The Lenfest Institute for Journalism and Press Forward are hosting the 2025 Lenfest News Philanthropy Summit from May 20-22, 2025, in Philadelphia — and we hope you will join us.

The Lenfest News Philanthropy Summit is an interactive conference for journalism fundraising and development professionals to connect with colleagues, attend hands-on workshops, and learn from inspirational keynote speakers.

We are no longer accepting requests to attend the Summit.

Schedule

Additional details on each of the sessions will be shared in the weeks leading up to the event.

May 20: Welcome Reception

5:00 – 8:00 PM: Join us for an evening reception to kick off the Summit. This will be an excellent opportunity to meet fellow attendees and get a head start on networking.

May 21: Summit Day 1

8:00 AM: Registration opens, and breakfast will be provided to fuel your day.

9:00 AM – 5:00 PM: The full day of programming will begin promptly at 9:00 AM and run until approximately 5:00 PM. Expect a dynamic mix of keynotes, panel discussions, and interactive sessions.

May 22: Summit Day 2

8:00 AM: Registration opens, and breakfast will be provided to fuel your day.

9:00 AM – 2:00 PM: Day 2 will kick off at 9:00 AM and wrap up around 2:00 PM, concluding with a final discussion on key takeaways.

What topics will the Lenfest News Philanthropy Summit cover?

The Summit will be built on key themes that matter most to news fundraisers in 2025:

Communications strategies to articulate the importance of local journalism and core values to funders, individual donors, and the broader community.
Strategic planning with an emphasis on long-term fundraising, board development, and more.
Fundraising mechanisms that may be new to those of us in the journalism space, including donor advised funds, planned giving, and stock gifts.
The nuts-and-bolts basics of news fundraising: individual giving, institutional funding, and membership

Who will attend the Lenfest News Philanthropy Summit?

The Lenfest News Philanthropy Summit welcomes anyone who participates in the news fundraising process — no matter if you are a membership manager, major gifts officer, head of fundraising, or an editor or news executive that participates in your organization’s philanthropic fundraising efforts.

For-profit, nonprofit, and fiscally sponsored organizations are all welcome.

What does it cost to attend the Lenfest News Philanthropy Summit? Where will it be held?

Thanks to support from Press Forward and The Lenfest Institute, the Summit is free to attend.

The Lenfest News Philanthropy Summit will be held at the Inn at Penn in Philadelphia near the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. We have reserved a block of rooms at the Inn at Penn, the conference hotel, and you can reserve a room at a reduced rate using this special link.

Have there been previous Summits?

Yes! The Lenfest Institute has hosted two previous Lenfest News Philanthropy Summits. The 2021 and 2023 Summits were hosted virtually. You can learn more and access resources and recordings from those gatherings here and here.

The Summit is a project of the Lenfest News Philanthropy Network. You can learn more about the Network and join the free community here.