A new study confirms what we’ve been hearing in our discussions with development experts and news organizations themselves: Foundation coffers — and interest — in funding news non-profits are running dry. The headline from a San Francisco State Renaissance Journalism Center survey is that many nonprofit sites are in need of new revenue sources. Two-thirds of the survey’s 32 respondents said they faced a funding “crossroads” and would need new funders to achieve sustainability; seventy percent “wanted information” about innovative revenue streams. Among the anecdotal quotes the study provides on this issue: “We believe that the window for foundations’ intense interest in funding journalism is probably limited, so we are intensely focused on how to be sustainable through earned income.” “We have been 85-90 percent dependent on foundation support, and that support is declining.” Tolstoy’s … Read entire article »