The recipe for successful non-profits is the same as for regular news outlets: Diversify

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The key takeaways from the report cover a number of different aspects of what a non-profit news organization is set up to do, such as providing services that communities need — rather than simply focusing on the bottom line or building an advertising-oriented business, the way a for-profit entity would. But in many ways, the things it suggests successful non-profits do are fundamentally the same things that every media outlet should be doing:
Focus on the market need: The report says successful non-profits have a strategy that “grows out of observing the market in which they operate and identifying a balance between two extremes – coverage that’s so broad it’s hard to build a community around it while so narrow that it creates long-term financial challenges.”
Measure everything: The Knight Foundation suggests that in addition to just tracking traditional metrics like monthly unique visitors, non-profits should “focus on indicators that offer feedback on repeat user engagement [and] combine this data with qualitative narrative accounts on how their reporting affects their target community.”
Diversify your revenue stream: Successful non-profits “strive for diversity in funding,” the report says. They look for ways to decrease the proportion of their funding that comes from foundations, and to raise the amount that comes from their community directly through sponsorship, events and individual donations.”
Go where the audience is: The non-profit organizations worth emulating understand that the way people consume information is changing, the Knight report says — they aren’t just focusing on a homepage on the web, but on new formats such as mobile, building sites that use responsive design and putting a priority on social media.
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