Lenfest Institute and Google News Initiative announce new grant opportunity to help strengthen local news

The expanded partnership will provide grants of up to $25,000 to Lenfest Community of Practice members and access to the Google News Initiative’s suite of tools, training, and resources.

March 5, 2025

  

The Lenfest Institute for Journalism and the Google News Initiative are today announcing a new partnership and funding opportunity for local news organizations experimenting with community listening. The opportunity is designed to help newsrooms boost their impact and their businesses. 

The Google News Initiative and The Lenfest Institute have been working together for several years to promote new business solutions to help strengthen local news. As in the past, GNI support will leverage the strength of the Institute’s Communities of Practice, industrywide support networks that serve hundreds of newsrooms and thousands of news professionals nationwide.  

Members of three Lenfest Communities of Practice can apply for funding to support experimentation that addresses news gaps and engages new audiences in-person and online. The Lenfest-Google News Initiative News Catalyst Grants will award a total of $250,000 in grants of up to $25,000 each to members of the Lenfest Audience Community, Engaged Cities, and the Statewide News Collective.  

The deadline to apply is Friday, March 27 at 11:59 p.m. EDT. 

The Lenfest-Google News Initiative News Catalyst Grants are made possible through generous support from the Google News Initiative. Grantees will also have access to the Google News Initiative’s suite of tools which help newsrooms research and report local news, grow revenue, and better understand their audiences. 

The Catalyst Grants expand upon an existing partnership designed to facilitate experimentation and sharing across a broad array of news organizations. The Google News Initiative funded last year’s Lenfest News Philanthropy Network Catalyst Grants, supporting 11 newsrooms experimenting with new approaches for year-end fundraising campaigns.  

The Lenfest Institute will work with the Google News Initiative to share insights from the grant programs with the broader journalism community. 

“The Lenfest Institute and the Google News Initiative both put ambitious but practical, ideas into practice to build solutions for the next era of local news. We believe that local news can most effectively do good for communities when it does well as a business,” said Lenfest Institute Executive Director & CEO Jim Friedlich. “We’re proud to partner with the Google News Initiative to help newsrooms better understand and engage with their communities.” 

In an era of rapidly changing news habits and widely felt distrust in the media, the experiments supported by the Catalyst Grants will help newsrooms better understand community needs, build brand recognition, and engage underserved audiences. Applications are now open to members of the three communities for structured audience outreach and listening efforts aimed at addressing news gaps, reinforcing trust, and reaching underserved audiences. 

“We’re excited to expand our partnership with The Lenfest Institute to support local news organizations as they experiment with innovative ways to engage their communities,” said Chrissy Towle, Director of News Partnerships at the Google News Initiative. “By providing funding and access to Google’s tools and resources, we hope to help newsrooms better understand their audiences, build trust, and create sustainable business models for the future.” 

Grant guidelines 

Applicants must conduct experiments on one of three outreach tracks:  

• Digital focus: How can digital tools efficiently identify community news gaps and drive audience engagement in ways that are scalable, replicable, and monetizable? 

• Physical focus: How can in-person outreach deepen community trust and understanding while creating pathways for sustainable revenue models? 

• Hybrid focus: How do combined digital and physical outreach strategies optimize audience growth, engagement, and long-term revenue sustainability? 

Active members of the Lenfest Engaged Cities, Statewide News Collective, and Audience Communities of Practice may apply regardless of business model or tax status. (You can learn more about the communities here!)  Projects should focus on one of the three tracks outlined above. 

Funding amounts will range from $5,000- $25,000. The grant period can range from 3 to 4 months depending on the scope of the proposed project. We encourage applicants to determine the timeline and grant amount that best suits the proposed project. 

The deadline to apply is Friday, March 27 at 11:59 p.m. EDT.

Organizations who meet the eligibility requirements above may apply through the Institute’s Fluxx grantee portal.

To submit an application through Fluxx, please click here and create an account. An administrator will validate your account within 48 hours via email and send you a link to create a password for your grantee account. You can then access the grantee portal, where you will see a list of open applications. Click the “Apply Now” button under the grant opportunity labeled “Lenfest Institute News Catalyst Grants.”    

Full details about the application and review process are available here.