INN’s NewsMatch program offers a mix of tools, training and matching gifts to help member newsrooms build their fundraising muscle.
Since 2022, the amount participating newsrooms have raised in local matches has exceeded the amount of match funding provided through the program, signaling an opportunity to create pathways to sustainable community funding for newsrooms.
INN Network member the CT Mirror has secured local matches for its annual NewsMatch campaign every year since 2021.
Clare Dignan is the Chief Growth Officer at CT Mirror, a nonprofit newsroom covering public policy, government and politics in Connecticut. Dignan talked to INN about CT Mirror’s two-prong strategy to secure local matches during the annual NewsMatch campaign: a reliable major six-figure donor, plus raising new or additional money from new, lapsed or existing donors.
INN: Can you give us an overview of your newsroom’s local match strategy?
Clare Dignan: We used to be a small publisher, but as our revenue has grown, we’ve outgrown the main match received from NewsMatch, and looked to what local matches we could generate. We know how motivating it is for our members and donors to see that their gift is matched, so our focus is using the match as leverage.
INN: Who are you looking to secure local matches and how are you making those decisions?
CD: We have a long-term major funder that comprises the majority of local match funds, which gives us a really good base so that we have something to say to new donors, ‘Hey, make a gift. It will be matched.’ We’re always pretty successful with NewsMatch, so we’re comfortable putting that money up for it, and that it’s not really at risk for us in terms of general revenue.
The other thing that we started to do in recent years was expand matching to a larger community of businesses and in lower-level major donors; people who are giving $1,000, $2,500, $5,000. The individuals that we identify to ask are champions of us: people who love CT Mirror. They give fairly regularly, and we’ve reached out to them as champions to become bigger champions of CT Mirror by using their gift as a match. We have found it’s really good stewardship for donors. When we first started doing more outreach into our community of members, people were really happy to be asked to play that part.
Another strategy for finding local matches is local businesses. Connecticut has a lot of insurance companies who’ve done some small advertising with us, and they were a natural fit to ask as a local match. They had some relationship with us; they knew who we were, it wasn’t a cold call.
The other strategy for finding people is lapsed folks. Going to them is a strategy for us to recapture some revenue and a real, tangible reason to re-engage someone. When we talk with individuals, we talk about a goal that we had for raising matching funds. It helps the individuals see their place in the bigger effort.
INN: How are you messaging local matches to your prospective local match donors and during the campaign?
CD: We’re sharing that goal of $20,000, asking them to be a part of that goal and what it looks like for them to be a part of it. The individuals get a special match day, which we call lightning matches during the campaign. If you gave $2,500 as a match, we’ll have special graphics and a special email that goes out on a special day that says, ‘Today only, [donor name] is matching all the gifts up to $2,500 in total gifts.’ During a two-month-long campaign, it creates some urgency. We try to pair the matches with days that are meaningful, like election day or Giving Tuesday. In 2025, we also tried setting the matches during lulls to reinject some energy and agency into otherwise a quiet time during the campaign.
INN: How did you set your campaign goals?
CD: We set our overall campaign goals in the context of our revenue goals for the year. We know that NewsMatch and end-of-year giving always makes up a really big portion for CT Mirror. We’re always trying to stretch and generate new revenue during NewsMatch, and find those new donors. When we thought about goal setting for the local matches, we did it in the context of what would be meaningful and achievable. We couldn’t set the bar too low at just $5,000 because for the number of new donors and new funds we were trying to generate, it wouldn’t get us very far. We knew from ideating on who we might ask, what could be achievable. In 2024, our goal was an additional $20,000 for local matches. We got that between individuals and local businesses.
INN: What advice would you give to a newsroom pursuing local matches for the first time?
CD: You need to plan this in advance. The idea is to get to your donors early, and have a clear picture of the matching pool you have available when you design your messaging. Also, identify who your champions are because those are easier wins. Messaging around a goal – not just the matching goal – but explaining the incentive of what the match is doing for building a larger donor base is really important. Individuals also want to see that their dollars are generating new dollars, and that their gift is bringing more people to the table.
