When natural disasters strike, journalists hit the ground with other first responders, keeping accurate information flowing so residents know when to evacuate, where to seek shelter and how to access resources to rebuild their lives and livelihoods. Smaller news organizations may struggle to allocate resources to cover an unfolding crisis – and yet in some areas, particularly in rural America, these small, local outlets may be the only ones on the scene. Local news outlets are also best positioned to report quickly changing events as they are the most familiar with the landscape, leadership and the needs of their community.
Recognizing the essential role of news organizations in times of weather-related and other natural disasters, Google News Initiative (GNI) worked with the Institute for Nonprofit News to support the launch of a rapid response grantmaking program in January 2025. So far, distributed INN has distributed $470,000 in unrestricted grants of $10,000 each to 47 news organizations through the program.
INN distributed these grants to nine news organizations covering the July 4 flash floods in Kerr County, Texas. The recipients included INN members like San Antonio Report and the Texas Tribune as well as for-profit outlets like The Kerrville Daily Times and the local public media stations Texas Public Radio and KUT Public Media.
“Natural disasters are probably the most expensive news events for newsrooms like ours to cover. But quality coverage is vital,” said Matthew Watkins, editor-in-chief of The Texas Tribune, which has continued to cover efforts in the Texas legislature to address the floods. “Texans need to understand what happened, what went wrong and what can be done to prevent something like this in the future. INN’s funding helped make it possible for us to serve that need, defraying travel costs, photography expenses, open records work and more.”
To access the funding, organizations had to meet eligibility criteria; they completed a brief application indicating that they are based in one of the counties declared a state of emergency, were actively producing coverage of the crisis and—to help ensure their credibility—that they belong to a recognized press association or network. In most cases, funds were distributed within a week of the application approval.
This initiative came about in late 2024, when INN and GNI held discussions about extreme weather events around the globe and the operational challenges for news organizations located in the communities where these crises occur.
INN and GNI piloted the fast-track grant approach when wildfires ripped across southern California in January 2025. A total of 25 news organizations received grants for their efforts to report from the affected areas.
“We could definitely use this help since we’ve pretty much had to suspend any business operations to handle the extra fire coverage,” said Jesus Sanchez, publisher of The Eastsider, in response to the assistance.
Then, in March, when Kentucky and West Virginia experienced devastating flooding, INN was able to provide 18 grants to local news organizations.
“Philanthropy has a role to play in ensuring that communities are informed during life-changing crises caused by extreme weather and other natural causes,” said Karen Rundlet, Executive Director & CEO of the Institute for Nonprofit News. “We look forward to continuing this program with the support of Google and we invite other funders to join our efforts.”
Members of the INN Network that quickly received unrestricted support when disaster hit their communities included: Long Beach Journalism Initiative, Capital & Main and The Imprint for their coverage of the California wildfires in January; Kentucky Public Radio, Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism, Mountain State Spotlight and Hoptown Chronicle for their work covering the March flooding in Kentucky and West Virginia; and San Antonio Report and The Texas Tribune for their response to the July 4 floods in Texas.
