One of the big debates about the nonprofit model in journalism is whether nonprofit news organizations should accept advertising. Some do. Some don't. Some are thinking about it.
Now, the City University of New York's New Business Models for News Project is rendering its own verdict: Nonprofits can't afford not to.
CUNY has developed financial models for three different types of news organizations that could serve a metro area of 5 million people if the daily newspaper ceased to exist. The models are being presented this week at the Aspen Institute's annual Forum on Communications and Society.
What may be most striking about the "Not-for-Profit News" model is the extent to which it relies on advertising as a source of revenues: In Year 3 of CUNY's model, advertising revenues account for about 50 percent of total revenues, up from 18 percent of in Year 1. (Total revenues would be about $2.8 million in Year 3, up from about $1.4 million in Year 1).
CUNY's models were based on exhaustive research, including the amount of foundation money that likely would be available in a given community. I have no reason to doubt their assumptions. But the model suggests that the new organization's ad department would be in overdrive from Day One, racing to push ad revenues from a standing start at $0 to a rate of about $117,000 per month.
The prospect raises a difficult question for nonprofits and would-be nonprofits: How can they keep a small newsroom in a small organization insulated from the pressures associated with that kind of metric? And is that possible when, as the CUNY model suggests, the Editor also is the CEO?
One of the supposed advantages of the nonprofit model is that it can help relieve news organizations of the financially driven biases that afflict for-profit newspapers. Given limited foundation resources and limited potential for membership development, it seems that might be a taller order than some had expected.
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