The Governance Gap: Strengthening Boards for the Next Era of Nonprofit News
By Julia Wallace and Emily Hedegard
June 10, 2026
Executive summary
In journalism, we celebrate heroes and heroines. So, it’s no surprise that as nonprofit news organizations have grown, much of the narrative centers on the visionary founders. Think Evan Smith of The Texas Tribune, Maritza Félix of Conecta Arizona and Elizabeth Green of Civic News Company. Each of these leaders saw possibilities others missed.
But the long-term sustainability of nonprofit journalism will not be determined by individual founders. It will depend on what lies beneath the surface: a healthy, mature, governing board of directors. This report highlights the critical need to transform the boards of nonprofit news organizations and offers guidance on how to effectively make the transition. In the past 10 to 15 years, hundreds of nonprofit news organizations across the country have blossomed – often led by courageous and visionary leaders. In a 2025 Knight Center for the Future of News report, ASU professor Len Downie examined this growth.1 While the report showed reason for optimism about the hundreds of startups created, it raised concerns about the models’ financial sustainability. And that’s just the beginning — newsroom safety and security, declining audience trust, rising misinformation and disinformation and the growing use of AI add to the challenges facing this growing sector. During times of stress, boards of directors can literally make or break organizations.
In 1990, researcher Karl Mathiasen identified different phases of nonprofit board development, a theory which is used extensively today to help nonprofits perform more effectively. It’s simple. In the startup phase, a board is created by the founder and doesn’t follow many of the established policies and procedures of good governance. That can suit a startup well as long as legal compliance is met. But once an organization moves to the growth stage and beyond, a different kind of board is needed. Many
nonprofit news organizations are at that inflection point.
To better understand the current role and future potential of boards in nonprofit news, the Knight Center for the Future of News partnered with the ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation, the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) and the Media Information, Data, and Society (MIDaS) Lab at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. We specifically focused on organizations who have moved or are moving beyond the startup phase.
Across interviews, focus groups, a survey of leaders and board members in nonprofit news organizations beyond the startup phase and an analysis of board members in those organizations, we found that few have made the necessary transition to mature governance boards.
•While about two-thirds of nonprofit leaders in our survey view the board’s role in long-term strategy as highly important, only about 10 percent believe their board is very effective in carrying out this function.
•While about half of the organizations' leaders say they have an extremely effective relationship with their board chair, only about 15% say they have that same effective relationship with other board members.
•Only a few leaders report boards having formal succession plans (13%).
•About one-third have not discussed their CEO’s performance in the past year.
•Only about one-quarter of organizational leaders reported that their board is very or extremely effective at meeting the organization’s fundraising goals.
In nonprofit news organizations, there is also a troubling tendency to fill the board with former or current journalists and other media members.
Boards — at their best — should help management better understand the community, help raise money and advise in areas where the leaders don’t have expertise. In our analysis, 37% of board members are from the media. The board members also tilt male — 57%, an issue through many sectors of journalism.2
None of this is unusual for a young and fast-growing sector. What we are seeing are the predictable growing pains of organizations that were built for speed and mission, not for long-term governance. The gaps are real—but also fixable.
The good news is that there has been considerable research in the broader nonprofit community on improving governance as organizations move beyond the startup phase; research that can be used by nonprofit news to support them in their transition
In this report, we outline ways nonprofit news organizations can advance governance systematically and intentionally. We provide resources and hear from experts, board members and CEOs on what they’ve learned along the way.
“ We know strong boards strengthen organizations in countless ways, but the hard part is carving out the time to get there.”
— Courtney Lewis Chief of growth programs at INN
Said Lewis, “For founders and executive leaders, that means deliberately doing less in other areas to create the capacity to focus on board development. The increasing risks…mean this is an even greater priority for today’s moment.”
Why board governance matters
Nonprofit board governance did not become a priority overnight. During the past two decades, governance itself has been redefined across for-profits and nonprofits. Enron’s 2001 collapse, widely viewed as a failure of corporate governance and board oversight, and the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act soon after, changed how Americans think about boards.3, 4 Directors were no longer seen as ceremonial figures or occasional advisors. They were recast as guardians: responsible for asking hard questions, understanding financial risk and ensuring that leadership could not operate without oversight.5 Even though Sarbanes-Oxley applies directly to public companies, its influence spilled into the nonprofit sector. Audit committees became more common. Conflict-of-interest policies eventually became standard. Expectations around financial literacy and independence increased. The message was clear: Governance failures can destroy institutions.
In nonprofit organizations, boards hold ultimate legal and fiduciary responsibility for the organization. They are charged with hiring and evaluating executive leadership, safeguarding the organization’s finances and assets, ensuring compliance with laws and regulations and protecting the mission. But that’s just the beginning. In interviews, a high-functioning board was described as “the steward of the mission,” “the heart and soul of the organization” and the “conscience of the organization.”
Effective boards provide stability and continuity in organizations built to serve the public. They help set strategic direction without substituting for management, ensure that leadership transitions do not destabilize the institution and create the
conditions under which journalists can operate with independence and credibility.
Research across the nonprofit sector consistently shows that board effectiveness is correlated with organizational resilience, leadership stability and financial health. A 2015 study shows that clarity among board members regarding governance roles significantly improves organizational performance, including fundraising and community engagement.6 However, when governance is weak, unclear or misaligned with organizational needs, the consequences can be significant. Boards that overstep into operations undermine leadership. Boards that disengage from oversight can miss warning signs of financial or strategic risk.
In both the Houston Landing failure and the Center for Public Integrity’s closure, board failures were cited as contributing factors.7, 8 Carlos Barrionuevo, director of Public Media Company, who works with many public media organizations on strategic development, emphasized the risk of boards becoming overly aligned or too comfortable with organizational leadership, warning that such dynamics can erode the board’s willingness to ask difficult questions or exercise critical oversight.
“A board, without key information and involvement in leadership, may overreact to a crisis.” Barrionuevo said. “In other words, they may impose draconian cuts that just put you on that doom spiral.”
Boards can also miss strategic opportunities when focusing on the organization and losing sight of the mission. A two-decade-old story illustrates today’s issues. The American Society of Newspaper Editors and the Associated Press Managing Editors were both strong, vibrant organizations when the industry was robust. Some visionary leaders, including the Arizona Republic’s Pam Johnson, discussed the need to merge to be stronger together as the industry began to face the headwinds of digital technology. But the two boards got stuck supporting their organizations rather than their missions, so nothing happened. Twenty years later, that merger took
place, but it was too late. The combined organization closed in 2023.
“Too often, the board is just another box to check. That is so misguided. You look at the research and it’s incontrovertible. Boards matter,” said Deirdre Conner, publisher and CEO of The Florida Trib.
Why governance is vital now
Crises expose the true character of governance. Research from outside journalism shows that boards often blur the line between oversight and management when organizations face instability. Some adapt productively; others overreach or withdraw. A 2020 review of nonprofits during the COVID-19 pandemic found that boards often shift between leadership and managerial roles in response to uncertainty.9 In a sector where change is constant, governance must be ready. It cannot be designed for calm periods. As in the pandemic, news nonprofits today navigate a volatile landscape marked by significant challenges and ongoing uncertainty. Boards can help navigate through these times — always keeping an eye on the mission. But too often, they are not ready for the moment and not engaged in the conversation.
“The nonprofit news industry needs to pay attention to this,” said Dale Anglin, executive director of Press Forward. “We’re at an inflection point. The industry has grown and there are more eyes and ears on you.” Anglin became passionate about board governance when working for the Victoria Foundation in Newark, N.J. “I’ve just seen enough boards. They can really help you. They can break you.” She said that other nonprofit sectors – like organizations addressing homelessness - have been around longer and, over time, have navigated through many of these same growing pains.
Right board at the right time
In the 1960s, researchers began studying the life cycle of organizations, recognizing that each phase has its own challenges and opportunities. How a startup is run is very different from how a mature organization is run, and the board needs to adapt and change. Karl Mathiasen (1990) identified three phases of nonprofit board development.10 This theory is used extensively today to help nonprofits be successful.11
• Stage 1 – Organizing board (founding stage):
When a nonprofit begins, this board is created and can take two forms. One: a founder’s board, where the founder or founders build a kitchen cabinet/ board, often of friends and family. It is a small, tight-knit group that is informal and flexible. Two: a board is created with a small group, often funders, management is hired and an initial set of bylaws is put in place.
• Stage 2 – Governing board (developing stage):
At this point, good governance processes and procedures are put in place, and there is clearer delineation between the board and management. Recruiting and selecting the right board members, based on the organization’s needs, becomes a priority. Board training and onboarding are built in. Term limits are put in place. Bylaws, policies and board procedures are expanded, modified and used as guiding principles. Committees begin to be created. The board is actively engaged in oversight of finances and risks. It works closely with management on strategic planning. It hires, fires and evaluates the CEO/executive director and ensures that a succession plan is in place. Most importantly, it understands not to cross the line into operations.
• Stage 3 – Institutional board (mature organization):
Members often serve as community ambassadors, major donors and governance stewards. The role of the board expands to include significant fundraising expectations and increased representation of varied stakeholders. Not all boards reach this phase.
As organizations mature, they often struggle to transition from Stage 1 to Stage 2. The conversations and steps needed are not easy. Founders often feel a very personal attachment to the organization and have difficulty sharing ownership with a board. Board members may also not want to change, becoming comfortable with how they operate. They enjoy being on the board as it is — sometimes it’s even part of their identity.
But when boards don’t evolve to the scale and changing needs of an organization, the effects are significant. Failure to adapt governance structures across life-cycle stages is associated with reduced board effectiveness and organizational vulnerability. Boards, however, are seldom prepared for this transition, and incomplete bylaws — with no clear term limits — can exacerbate the problem.
Elena Marks was recruited to join The Texas Tribune board in 2024 to help transition from a founder’s board to a governing board. Her mission is to “institutionalize governance.” She had served on many national boards, including Planned Parenthood, and previously ran a health foundation. Following the founder’s retirement, the new CEO recognized the need for a board transition.
Marks said that board changes often happen with the hiring of a new leader. She emphasized the importance of recruiting board members with strong nonprofit governance experience and who are closely aligned with the organization’s mission and leadership approach. “The board is your boss and you don’t want someone you’re going to have friction with or who is going to behave badly.”
How effective is the partnership between you and your board chair?
How effective is the partnership between you and your other board members?
Figures 1 and 2: Effective Partnerships with Board Chairs, 2026. Source: Knight Center for the Future of News using information from a survey conducted by ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation on Dec. 3, 2025-Feb. 9, 2026.
Making the transition can be difficult, particularly when organizations don’t have experts on board governance to help guide it. Joe Germuska has been on the board of City Bureau in Chicago for a decade. In the beginning, he said, the co-founders “led and managed the board. We were okay with it. Just tell us where to be when.” With the hiring of an executive director, the board recognized the need to evolve its structure and practices, gradually introducing more procedural steps. But the transition has been slow and the board still remains small, with only four members at present. “We go back and forth on the right place to apply governance beyond the obligatory,” he said. He will soon be joining a cohort of board leaders to learn more about the topic.
Steve Katz, special advisor to the dean at UC Berkeley and former publisher of Mother Jones, consults with INN, Lion Publishers and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism members on fundraising, leadership and board governance. He believes
the smartest strategy is to think ahead and try to get your first board as close to a governing board as possible. “If the board is only seeing itself as an adjunct to where the real action is, we need to decouple that and put the board at the center of the conversation about the future.” Anglin from Press Forward agrees on the importance of a strong governing board, but suggests a slightly different approach: establishing a board for the startup phase while clearly explaining that it will evolve over time, with different kinds of board members needed as the organization grows.
What you need to know to improve your board
Improving a board can feel like a daunting task, yet it is essential to the effectiveness of the board and the health and stability of the organization. The process requires intentional attention to several key areas: strengthening governance literacy and clarifying roles and responsibilities, ensuring diversity in composition to reflect a range of perspectives and expertise, reinforcing financial oversight practices and building a shared awareness of risk with clear mitigation strategies.
BoardSource is a great resource for information about board governance. They provide a checklist for board roles and responsibilities.12 The answer for most (if not all) of the questions on the checklist should be a strong ‘yes’ for boards that have moved to Stage 2.
In our research, some of the news nonprofit leaders interviewed said that they do not invest the time and effort into board development because of the unique characteristics of news nonprofits. Conner, the CEO of the Florida Trib, strongly disagrees. Conner started as a journalist, then spent more than a decade in the nonprofit sector. Among her passions is board governance. While she agrees that news nonprofits are different from other nonprofits because of the need for editorial independence, she stresses that the majority of the issues are the same. “I find it curious and somewhat surprising how infrequently nonprofit news organizations have availed themselves of the resources of the larger nonprofit sector.”
Nonprofit board members, by law, have three obligations, which can vary slightly by state.
• Duty of Care: Come to board meetings prepared, review financial and strategic materials, ask thoughtful questions and make informed decisions. It also includes appropriately relying on qualified professionals.
• Duty of Loyalty: Board members must place the organization’s interests above their own personal, financial or professional interests.
• Duty of Obedience: Board members must ensure the organization remains focused on its mission and complies with all applicable laws and governing documents.
Here are four critical components to incorporate when moving to Stage 2.
1. Governance Literacy and Role Clarity
Board effectiveness is strongly associated with governance literacy and clarity of roles between the board and executive leadership. In practice, however, many executive directors/CEOs assume leadership without formal training in governance. For the organization’s founding stage, that approach may be appropriate given the demands and constraints of the startup phase. However, as an organization matures, both top management and the board need to better understand what’s required for good governance. Said one CEO in a focus group, “Many organizations have leadership that doesn’t know how to utilize their board and/or they have board members who don’t understand what their actual roles are.”
As Conner of the Florida Trib noted, there are excellent resources available for nonprofit boards in general. Among them:
• BoardSource: Offers excellent free, and some paid, resources
• National Council of Nonprofits: Organization with state offices
• Nonprofit Quarterly: Newsletter that offers resources and keeps up with trends
• Chronicle of Philanthropy: Covers news of nonprofits and offers reasonably-priced training
For information specific to nonprofit news organizations, resources are more limited:
• INN: Chapter on board governance
• Lenfest Institute: Advice on boards
A key starting point in this transition is clearly defining the roles of the board and management. Research consistently identifies role ambiguity as a central predictor of governance dysfunction. This lack of clarity may lead to inconsistent shifts between micromanagement and disengagement. For news organizations, this is of utmost importance due to editorial independence.
It is imperative for board members to understand that they cannot get involved in editorial decisions. Richard Tofel, former president of ProPublica and author of the well-respected newsletter “Second Rough Draft,” explained that he knows prominent people who join boards expecting something in return. For example, people on hospital boards may get special access to doctors and clinics. A news nonprofit board member needs to be comfortable staying out of editorial decisions. This distinction can be challenging for some potential board members to understand.
If the line around editorial integrity isn’t clear, it can lead to board members resigning or disengaging. Or worse: It can result in disputes between the board and management.
Effective governance also requires intentional board education, formal orientation processes, committee structures aligned with strategy and ongoing board performance assessment. Without such infrastructure, even well-intentioned boards struggle to fulfill their oversight function. At the simplest, the board should have four key areas of responsibility:
• Setting the overall mission/vision/values and strategic positioning, in collaboration with management
• Fiduciary duty and oversight (tied to mission, strategy and long-term sustainability)
• Oversight of the CEO/ED and succession planning (including annual reviews and accountability around goals)
• Ensuring compliance with legal/ethical issues (i.e., review of IRS Form 990, audits, key internal processes, etc.)
How clearly do board members understand the unique challenges facing nonprofit news organizations when compared to other nonprofits? n=33
Figure 3: Understanding of Nonprofit News Organizations, 2026. Source: Knight Center for the Future of News using information from a survey conducted by ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation on Dec. 3, 2025-Feb. 9, 2026.
Tactics for improving governance literacy and role clarity:
• Review of bylaws. For most, bylaws are not the most exciting part of the work, but good bylaws ensure clarity. They should be flexible but include information on board member elections, officer elections, term limits, the meeting schedule, the range of board member numbers, standing committees, process for removing board members, etc. Stage 2 bylaws will likely look very different from Stage 1 and will continue to evolve. A regularly recurring process to review and amend bylaws ought to be in place. BoardSource expects organizations to take about three years to move to a full governing board once the process begins.
• Review of policies. The conflict-of-interest policy is important for any organization but it is vital for nonprofit news organizations. Key questions, such as whether board members can contribute to political parties or candidates, and what they can post online, are critical to have in writing. It is also important to be clear on editorial independence. Wyofile, an independent news organization in Wyoming, says on its website that the board has “no authority to direct news coverage or news content.” The same policy questions need to be answered for donors. A 2023 survey found that only about half of the 293 nonprofit news operations surveyed had written guidelines about what money they would accept and that only 68 percent had a written policy regarding disclosing funders.13 Boards should regularly review all policies that govern the operations of the organization, including HR, ethics and financial integrity policies.
• Intentional board development. Just like any organization, a successful board requires a strong and healthy culture, which includes a robust onboarding process, regular training and consistent self-evaluations. A 2023 study found that regular self-evaluations are critical to board development.14 These self-evaluations give board members and management a chance to reflect on
what’s working and what’s not. Intentional activities for board members to socialize are also important. BoardSource recommends that at least five to eight hours per year be devoted to “social time.” Meeting in person, whenever possible and practical, is an important way to build board cohesion. Some boards have also found that board coaching can be beneficial.
• Effective board meetings. Tofel says that every board meeting should set aside significant time for a deep discussion of one critical issue facing the organization. “It needs to be more than show and tell,” he said. Other important steps: Provide materials in advance so members have time to review; be efficient with people’s time; and ensure all board members are heard and not just a few. In healthy nonprofits, the board chair and CEO often talk regularly and plan the meeting together.
While this can all sound overwhelming, the more the board takes responsibility for its own development, the better, said Sayu Bhojwani, who has served on many boards and been the executive director of several nonprofits. She describes an ideal governing board as highly engaged, overseeing the budget, ensuring good policies and procedures are in place, serving as a resource, helping with fundraising and supporting, rather than micro-managing, the leadership team. “In the best scenario, they are recruiting, onboarding and training board members,” she said. She stresses the importance of having a strong governance committee or board members committed to that work.
Case Study 1: Merger and acquisition
Over the past decade, conversations about nonprofit news have consistently revolved around a recurring theme: the need for more cooperation and consolidation. While a 2026 report discusses the importance of building more shared infrastructure, the sector is also turning to mergers and acquisitions for scaling and sustainability.15 In one high-profile example, Mother Jones merged with the Center for Investigative Reporting 16
This merger illustrates a successful partnership that leveraged each organization’s operational strengths and relied on experienced boards to ensure a smooth transition. It was made possible because of Mother Jones’ nearly 50-year history and their established board. While Mother Jones had added digital, social and video during the previous 15 years, the Center for Investigative Reporting had added the popular podcast, Reveal, making them an ideal match The directors approached the merger as an opportunity to build a stronger news organization
The first conversations about merging Mother Jones and the Center for Investigative Reporting began with a simple question: If two nonprofit newsrooms were chasing the same mission in a tightening funding environment, why do it separately?
“ We’ve done an amazing job letting a thousand flowers bloom, and now we urgently need to make some bouquets—put some of these flowers together in ways that are compatible and enhance the beauty,”
— Monika Bauerlein CEO of Mother Jones and now CEO of the merged Center for Investigative Reporting
The merger, which was publicly announced in December 2023, took effect on Feb. 1, 2024, creating a unified nonprofit under the Center for Investigative Reporting while retaining the brands Mother Jones and Reveal. Maintaining their established brands during the merger allowed the new organization to unify operations and governance while preserving the trust, recognition and community relationships those brands had built over time.
Before the merger was announced, there was much work to do internally. Initial conversations about the
merger began with leadership but quickly shifted to the boards. Before the merger went public, directors ensured key groups were briefed in sequence. “We wanted to make sure none of the important stakeholders would learn about it from somebody other than us,” Bauerlein said.
Another consideration the boards needed to address were finances. Sara Frankel, now the board chair of the Center for Investigative Reporting and the Mother Jones board treasurer during the merger, said the Mother Jones board was apprehensive about fiscal responsibility. Mother Jones had long operated leanly, while CIR had experienced periods of larger funding and internal turnover — often ending up in the red. “I was concerned to make sure that our approach to financial management would continue going forward,” Frankel said.
While formal decisions are important when merging boards, just as important is building in social time to allow relationships to form. Judy Wise, then chair of the Mother Jones board, focused on building trust across the newly combined board. At the team’s second inperson meeting, Wise organized a scavenger hunt in a nearby park to encourage collaboration. “It was a way of getting us together in an informal way,” Wise said. “After that, I think we all felt much more comfortable together.”
Wise also emphasized repeatable governance practices and increased communication during the merger. She set twice-yearly in-person meetings with time set aside for informal connection and executive sessions for candid discussion. Instead of relying solely on quarterly meetings, she scheduled additional calls every four to six weeks. “We really stayed in touch,” she said.
But even the best-laid plans are never perfect. After the merger closed, governance challenges persisted. The combined board initially included more than two dozen members, and early meetings struggled. “It was just a giant table,” Bauerlein said. The board remained flexible and continuously reassessed and adjusted. Full sessions focused on key decisions, while substantive work moved into committees and rotating breakout groups that mixed members from both legacy organizations. A “board buddy” system, instituted but not frequently implemented before the merger, paired members for regular one-on-one check-ins. And, the adjustments continue.
In retrospect, some board members, who were familiar with the merger, felt the two boards did not develop a clear enough shared strategic plan to define what the combined organization would do differently or better than either one could alone.
Lesson learned: Early alignment on meeting cadence, communication and trust-building provided a foundation for the board merger, but these structures had to remain flexible and be continuously refined as the merged board evolved and its needs — and opportunities for further reform — became clearer.
2. Board Composition
Board composition can also significantly influence organizational performance. High-performing boards are intentionally constructed to include expertise in areas like finance, law, fundraising and human relations. They also think very intentionally about representation. When creating the board, it is vital to determine which attributes and expertise the organization needs. BoardSource provides excellent resources for board composition and recruitment. Recent studies have shown that diverse and inclusive boards can create more successful organizations. And, a 2016 study found that better governance occurs if all voices are heard and there’s openness to candid, productive discussion.17
Expiration
A best practice is to create a matrix of current board members to assess strengths and identify gaps on an annual basis. As organizations move to a Stage 2 board, the required skill sets often shift. And as strategy and external conditions change, so does the need for different expertise, perspectives and professional networks. Board members may be added based on their expertise, but are not meant to perform that function on behalf of the organization. A lawyer may advise the board and executive director on legal matters, but is not the organization’s attorney. Here is a sample of a board matrix.
NONPROFIT BOARD SKILLS & CONNECTIONS MATRIX
PROFESSIONAL EXPERTISE (examples) Media & Communications
Finance & Accounting
Legal & Compliance
Technology & Digital
NETWORKS & CONNECTIONS (examples)
Major Donor Network
Community Connections
Corporate & Business Ties
DEMOGRAPHICS & LIVED EXPERIENCE (examples)
Geographic Representation
Racial & Ethnic Diversity
Gender Diversity d dfd
Subject-Matter Lived Experience Key
Figure 4: Nonprofit Board Matrix, 2026. Knight Center for the Future of News.
Tracie Powell, CEO and founder of The Pivot Fund, which empowers news outlets serving underresourced urban and rural areas, uses a board matrix. She maps the skills and qualities on her current board and analyzes what’s needed. She believes journalism boards are too full of journalists. Our research reflects this as well with participants reporting that more than a third of their board members work or have worked in the media. Most founders know journalism, but they lack expertise in areas like business and technology.
These board members are not there to do the work, but rather to add as informal consultants — seeing gaps management may miss and providing resources.
Boards need to be filled with people who are willing to help you grow and do additional outreach in the community. That’s who you want on your board, not necessarily other journalists,”
— Tracie Powell CEO and founder of The Pivot Fund
Another good check for recruiting board members is the “Three T’s”: time, treasure and talent. Successful board members are expected to contribute their time, their talent and, ideally, the treasure (funds) or connections to people who can contribute financially. One place to look for inspiration is public
media governing boards. These organizations have been in place for decades and often have robust governance processes. Some public media outlets are licensed to and run by universities or other public institutions. In those cases, they have only advisory boards. However, many others are community licensees and the board of directors truly governs the organization. In statewide organizations, there is careful geographic diversity. The board members are generally prominent community members with a mix of professions. There are few journalists on these boards by design. The organizations also often have a community advisory board to help ensure that a variety of voices are part of their strategic planning.
New Hampshire Public Radio is a textbook example of good board selection and development. They use a matrix that tracks gender, geography, political point of view and more. They specifically look for people with business, legal, investment, fundraising (in several dimensions) and government affairs expertise.
Each board member is asked to make “a deep and meaningful contribution.” Additionally, prospective
Case Study 2: Financial support and oversight
Public media organizations, for the most part, operate at a different scale and maturity than most nonprofit news organizations, particularly when it comes to governance and financial stewardship. Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB), for example, traces its roots back to 1923 as an experiment at the Oregon Agricultural School and has functioned as an independent nonprofit community organization since 1981. Over that time, it has developed well-established governance procedures and rigorous financial management practices, which are critical with the large pools of capital they manage.
At the center of OPB’s financial strategy is a sizable reserve. As of mid-2025, the organization reported more than $100 million in endowment and board-designated net assets. While day-today operations are funded through the operating budget, those additional assets have become increasingly important for long-term sustainability. This has become more critical as the organization faces financial challenges, including the loss of federal funding and the ongoing shift from traditional broadcast to digital platforms.
Anticipating some of these threats, OPB’s board proactively developed a strategy to invest its reserves in a way that would strengthen longterm sustainability and mitigate risks. Board chair John Tapogna said the organization made a deliberate decision to use their reserves not as a stop-gap but as a tool to ride out an evolving landscape.
“ We have one of 19 people with media experience. We have lawyers, HR experts, people from finance, people from investing, people from manufacturing, people who’ve been active volunteers,”
— Jim Schachter
President and CEO
at New Hampshire Public Radio
board members increasingly first serve on committees to better understand the organization and work. Before attending the first board meeting, they attend a two-hour orientation. When Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) onboards new board members, they assign to each a board mentor and an executive team buddy to ensure a smooth transition, said Duchesne Drew, senior vice president at American Public Media Group and president of Minnesota Public Radio.
“We agreed it would require a significant, welltargeted investment to get to the other side,” he said, describing a strategy that spans several years.
That strategic flexibility, however, is paired with strict governance controls designed to guide how those funds are managed and deployed. OPB requires a supermajority vote of its board to draw from certain designated funds, and it follows a structured spending policy designed to preserve long-term financial health.
Liquidity management is another key component of OPB’s approach. Excess cash is placed in short- and medium-term investments, allowing the organization to meet operational needs while limiting exposure to market volatility. Long-term investments are held to support sustainability.
Oversight of these decisions is distributed across several board committees, including finance, strategy, audit and governance. Those groups meet quarterly — or more often as needed — and provide a detailed review of both financial performance and strategic direction.
“Every dollar our community gives us, we want to make sure we are stewarding in the best way possible for our journalism service and our sustainability,” said president and CEO Rachel Smolkin. “The structure allows the board to ensure we’re managing our assets in a responsible way for our community, and at the same time, investing in our journalism to serve our community.”
3. Financial and fiduciary responsibility
Financial oversight is a core governance responsibility. At a very basic level, it involves reviewing the financials and audits, monitoring cash flow and cash on hand, approving the IRS Form 990 and setting CEO/ED compensation. However, a Stage 2 board does much more. As part of the long-term strategy, they are working with the CEO on sustainability. They also act as community ambassadors, helping make community connections and contributing ideas to support financial growth.
Tofel from “Second Rough Draft” goes even further, saying nonprofit news boards today need to be fundraising boards. He believes that more focus is needed on large donors. The board members need to be able to provide significant support, but also connect the organization to others who can donate. He doesn’t believe in fundraising committees. He believes that raising funds is the responsibility of the entire board. Consultant Katz, and others, talk about the need for a culture of philanthropy on the board. Katz says boards need to talk about money from the very beginning and make it part of their regular conversations.
How effective is your board at meeting your fundraising expectations? n=33
said, organizations specifically recruit board members with high net worths. In one case, she noted the board is filled with so many major donors that it contributed more than half of a recent capital fundraising campaign. MacDonald’s advice for building a board is to consider revenue as one component: “Think about where you wish you had expert advice and recruit for those members.”
In the 2021 BoardSource survey of nonprofits, about 67% had a policy requiring board members to contribute financially,18 dramatically higher than the 25% among nonprofit news organizations in the Knight Center survey. They’re “missing a tremendous opportunity,” said author and CEO Susan McPherson, who serves on the board of The 19th. She believes every nonprofit should start the conversation of giving from the outset. When every board member contributes, it shows other potential donors that the board is actively behind the organization. “You don’t want to be a year in and then saying to your board members: We need you to raise money or we need you to write a check or we need you to introduce us to funders. It’s much better off to set that up first,” McPherson said.
Figure 5: Board Fundraising Effectiveness, 2026. Source: Knight Center for the Future of News using information from a survey conducted by ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation on Dec. 3, 2025-Feb. 9, 2026.
Again, public media is advanced in this area. Joyce MacDonald, president and CEO of Greater Public, an organization that helps public media with fundraising, said, “You either have boards that are going to be wealthy people or people who have connections to people with money.” In some situations, MacDonald
This requirement can be a way of showing commitment to the organization, but it can also limit people’s interest in joining the board. A few organizations in this study set specific dollar amounts for a concept known as “give/get” – money board members either give themselves or get from other donors. Other organizations require a “meaningful amount” and may meet with each board member annually to discuss what that means for them. Some organizations even hold retreats to help the board with fundraising – compiling lists of connections and considering potential major donors. MacDonald said the best boards help make the connections, but then it’s up to staff to take it from there.
McPherson warns though that it’s not just about the money. “When you identify somebody who you want to be a board member, you’ve got to figure out what’s going to motivate them to want to do it. What role will they play?” A 2022 research paper finds that strong governance must be the priority. If strong governance
isn’t in place, a board filled with funders can quickly send an organization in the wrong direction. Ananda Valenzuela agrees, recently publishing a three-part series for Nonprofit Quarterly arguing that wealthy donors have hijacked nonprofit organizations.19 She argues for more shared governance, ensuring the community’s voices are heard and part of the decision-making.
INN’s Lewis offers this overall advice: “Boards hold important fiduciary responsibilities and financial resilience should be the central framework for fulfilling this duty.
“
— Courtney Lewis
4. Risk awareness and planning
Enterprise Risk Management is an organization-wide approach to identifying, assessing, prioritizing and addressing risks. This is used extensively in large for-profit organizations, but has significant opportunities for nonprofits.20 Nonprofit newsrooms
face many risks — internal and external — including:
• Safety and Legal Threats: Journalism organizations face lawsuits, threats to reporter safety, challenges accessing information and cyberattacks.
• Financial and Funding Risks: The sustainability of nonprofit news outlets can be imperiled by reliance on grants, too few donors and lack of diversification.
• Trust and Reputation: Declining public trust in media, including perceptions of bias or misinformation, directly impacts audience engagement and reach and limits growth.
• AI risks: As with many new technologies, AI offers both risks and opportunities. Better understanding those risks can help organizations move forward with integrity.
A board can play an important role in risk identification, prioritization, mitigation and monitoring. Because boards are removed from the day-to-day operations and may have experience in other sectors, they can add a valuable perspective. Tofel stresses the importance of this external expertise in risk mitigation, saying that every board today needs someone knowledgeable in AI to provide the necessary insights to emerging threats.
Many large organizations create risk dashboards that management prepares and the board discusses. As journalists, it’s more natural to focus on problems rather than on opportunities. But, the conversation should be less about the risk and more about the mitigation strategy. This sample dashboard offers a simple way to ensure the board and management are focused on the right issues. The risk areas will change depending on circumstances and the organization’s evolving priorities.
Figure 6: Risk Management Dashboard, 2026. Knight Center for the Future of News.
For organizations looking to go deeper, here’s an example of what a more comprehensive dashboard could look like. It’s an efficient way to better understand what is being done to mitigate risks. Over time, these dashboards work well in assessing progress.
Reliance on Grant Funding
ISSUE/EXPOSURE
Over 72% of operating revenue comes from three foundation grants, two of which expire in FY26. No multi-year commitments secured.
MANAGEMENT RESPONSE/ACTION PLAN
H: Launch individual major-donor program (target: $400K by Q2).
H: Retain development consultant to diversify to 5+ revenue streams by FY26.
M: Explore earned-revenue models (events, syndication).
M: Develop 18-month cash reserve policy.
DUE DATES & STATUS
Major donor program launch
Revenue diversification plan
Reserve policy adopted
Figure 7: Risk Management Detailed View Matrix, 2026. Knight Center for the Future of News.
Cardinal News, a news organization in southern Virginia, provides an example of how management and the board can work together on key risks. In 2025, Luanne Rife, executive director of Cardinal News, established an AI committee spanning both the business and news departments, which joined one of the first cohorts of the Google News Initiative AI Sustainability Lab to explore responsible AI implementation. The committee developed the publication’s AI policy through internal discussion, staff surveys and monthly reports, distilling findings on how and why AI tools are being deployed across the organization. The resulting policy, intentionally kept broad and embedded in the site’s FAQs, permits AI for transcription and synthesis with mandatory human fact-checking.
Throughout that process, Rife brought the conversations before the board, whose chief concerns centered on protecting the integrity of the business, its reporting and its sourcing. Rather than prescribe specific rules for a rapidly evolving
technology, the board opted for a principlesbased approach: transparency above all else. Board meetings continue to serve as an ongoing feedback loop, where Rife periodically presents AI updates and directors can express concerns or flag considerations the team may have missed. “They may bring up something that we haven’t thought about,” Rife said.
Additional resources on risk management for nonprofits:
• North Carolina State Enterprise Risk Management Initiative
• Nonprofit Risk Management Center
Conclusion
The findings in this report point to a clear and urgent need: Nonprofit news organizations cannot rely on mission alone to ensure their future. Journalistic heroes and heroines may spark an organization’s creation but strong governance sustains it. Board structure and oversight is an opportunity to commit to governance as a core strategic function rather than an obligation.
The path forward is not mysterious. It requires prioritizing board development and governance. For founders and executive leaders, this means letting go of the idea that governance is something to “figure out later.” The transition from a founderdriven organization to an organization with strong governance is not a sign of loss; it is a sign of success. For board chairs, it means leading the maturation of the board-founder relationship and ensuring a path to thoughtfully-designed shared governance. For board members, it means stepping fully into the role — not just as advisors, but as active participants.
“Where you are creating the atmosphere for that board to take on challenges, to understand their fiduciary duty, and you are bringing in information on a constant basis from the outside world,” said Public Media Company’s Barrionuevo, “the most important thing is creating that atmosphere where the CEOs use the board as a resource.”
Press Forward’s Anglin believes that more funders need to ask questions about board governance. “You need to be treating them just like your other nonprofits. You need to ask about boards, you need to ask about succession planning…there’s just a checklist of stuff you ask about,” Anglin said.
The call to action is simple: treat board governance as essential for long-term success. Said Pivot Fund’s founder Powell, “We’re not the center of it all. The work is the center. We must ensure the work is successful and the work continues after us. Choosing the right board members ensures the sustainability of your organization.”
““The good boards I’ve seen are where the CEO is willing to be challenged, where you’re bringing in members that have varied expertise, but expertise that have been identified as essential to the organization,”
— Carlos Barrionuevo Public Media Company
Appendix
Resources
• INN: Chapter on board governance
• Lenfest: Advice on boards
• BoardSource: Offers excellent free, and some paid, resources
• National Council of Nonprofits: Organization with state offices
• ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation: Resources and consulting
• Veritus Group: Resources and consulting services
• Nonprofit Quarterly: Newsletter that offers resources and keeps up with trends
• Chronicle of Philanthropy: Covers news of nonprofits and offers reasonably-priced training
• North Carolina State Enterprise Risk Management Initiative
• Nonprofit Risk Management Center
• Bridgespan: Consulting service for nonprofits with some resources
• Nonprofit Lifecycles Institute
Authors and contributors
Julia Wallace was the launch director for the Knight Center for the Future of News, and she is the Frank Russell Chair in the Business of Journalism at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She has served on a variety of boards, including the Poynter Institute advisory board, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the national Alzheimer’s Association and the Dayton Development Coalition. She was the first woman editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and E&P Editor of the Year in 2004. During her tenure, the organization won two Pulitzer Prizes. She also served as managing editor of USA TODAY, the Chicago SunTimes and the Arizona Republic and was the interim GM of Arizona PBS. She also led Cox Media Group Ohio for five years, running the news and other operations for three newspapers, a CBS station and three radio stations. She is the co-author of the book: “There’s No Crying in Newsrooms: What Women Have Learned About What It Takes to Lead”.
Emily Hedegard is a graduate assistant at the Knight Center for the Future of News. She is an investigative journalist covering local and statewide issues across the country, with reporting experience at The Maine Monitor, Portland Press Herald and Saco Bay News. Her work focuses on public accountability and community impact, with an emphasis on narrative, data-informed reporting. She plans to receive her graduate degree from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in the fall of 2026.
The survey for this project was developed by Arizona State University Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation. Special thanks to Robert Ashcraft, executive director and Saguaro Professor of Civic Enterprise. Ashcraft has earned a global reputation for his pioneering work to advance the understanding of and effective practice for leaders of nonprofit/philanthropic organizations. The survey was designed and results were analyzed by Dan Hunting, a senior data scientist for the center.
Hazel Kwon, professor of digital audiences and founder and leader/researcher at the MIDaS Lab at Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, advised on the project, analyzed board composition and provided research support. Courtney Lewis, chief of growth programs at INN, was an advisor and huge supporter throughout this project.
Other contributors: Deandre Williamson, Paige Mckenna, Christian Ramirez, Jade Cruz and Carrie Whitten Simmons
About the survey
We compiled a list of all INN members in the fall of 2025, selecting those organizations that have reported revenue of $500K or more for three years, a group likely ready to move beyond the startup phase.
Survey Caveats and Limitations
Several limitations to this study should be considered when interpreting these findings:
1. Sample Size and Selection: The analytic sample includes 43 respondents from 34 (out of 141) nonprofit news organizations. In a few cases, a board member and a CEO/executive director from the same organization both completed the survey. The survey was sent to a select group of nonprofit news leaders and board members, and respondents were selfselected. Results from such a convenience sample should therefore not be interpreted as representative of all nonprofit news organizations nationally.
2. Perceptual Data: All findings are based on self-reported perceptions rather than objective performance metrics. Reported effectiveness reflects respondents’ views, which may be influenced by organizational culture, tenure or interpersonal dynamics.
3. Cross-Sectional Design: The survey captures a snapshot in time. It does not allow assessment of change over time or causal inference.
About the analysis of board members
Using IRS 990s, we gathered the names of 720 board members from INN members with at least three years of reported revenue of $500K or more. We used ChatGPT to analyze members’ occupations and gender. Faculty and students then checked and edited those results.
Use of AI
ChatGPT and Claude were used for chart design, transcription and research. All information was checked by humans.
Report partners
The Knight Center for the Future of News is on a mission to envision and accelerate a better future for the news industry. It works to reimagine and strengthen the information ecosystem by democratizing research and development — turning
insight into action, bridging academia and industry and sharing knowledge widely to drive innovation. By including real people and true partners, we focus on accelerating progress through real life application. The Knight Center is a part of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.
The ASU Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation is a global leader in advancing understanding and effective philanthropic and nonprofit practice as a distinctive community development strategy. The center educates, empowers and connects nonprofit leaders, including board members, to accelerate social impact.
The Institute for Nonprofit News strengthens and supports 500 independent news organizations in a new kind of news network: nonprofit, nonpartisan and dedicated to public service. From local news to indepth reporting on pressing global issues, members of the INN Network tell stories that otherwise would go untold – connecting communities, holding the powerful accountable and strengthening civic life. INN programs help these news organizations develop revenue and business models to support strong reporting, collaborate on editorial and business innovation, share services and advance the diverse leaders who are forging a new future for news.
MIDaS Lab: The Media Information, Data and Society (MIDaS) Lab at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication is an interdisciplinary lab that explores how the public navigates and makes sense of social, political and global issues in a contemporary data and information-rich media environment. The lab produces socially impactful studies through dataintensive as well as theory-driven media research projects.
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