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Three BenitoLink staffers joined over 470 people attending the Institute for Nonprofit News’ two-day conference in San Diego which featured panels and breakout sessions focused on news coverage, philanthropy and audience development.
All told, Executive Director Leslie David, Marketing Coordinator Mo Ismail and this reporter attended 20 of the conference’s 29 sessions June 11 and 12.
Ismail said the session that stood out to him was titled “Breaking News is Bound to Happen. What’s your audience and fundraising plan?”
The session featured staffers from Honolulu Civil Beat and VTDigger of Montpelier, Vermont, who spoke about covering and reaching their audiences during the 2023 Maui Fires and Vermont floods. Both nonprofit new outlets used various communication channels including texts, social media and special newsletters to provide essential updates to their readers in a timely way.
“It was beneficial to exchange ideas with other similar organizations and I think it will help us further serve our community,” Ismail said. “We were able to compare our mission, values and processes with other nonprofit newsrooms, which was a good experience.”
Ismail also participated in sessions on storytelling using the Canva graphics application, data-driven fundraising and increasing brand awareness.
This reporter attended a session discussing why newsrooms need lawyers. (Thanks to INN, BenitoLink partners with ProJourn for legal assistance.) A breakout session looked at practical uses of artificial intelligence in the newsroom; another addressed one of BenitoLink’s focus areas: election coverage. Our election coverage over the years has produced valuable resources for the community, such as candidate Q&As, election forums—which are recorded and available on BenitoLink’s Youtube channel—and voter guides.
Executive Director Leslie David participated in sessions on succession planning, keeping track of promises made by election candidates and balancing a newsroom’s pressing needs with big-picture tasks. She also attended an all-day session with the Rural News Network on June 10.
David said she was amazed after reflecting on the early days of INN, which had only 30 member newsrooms, compared with this year’s conference hosting 450 member newsrooms.
“It’s great hearing good ideas that are working in other newsrooms,” David said. “Being in a room with people all trying to achieve the same thing in their communities is encouraging. The nonprofit world of news is so different. People are focused on a mutual benefit rather than a competitive mindset.”
The Institute for Nonprofit News was founded in 2009 to help rebuild local newsrooms, providing ethical guidelines and using a nonprofit business model. BenitoLink took part in INN’s NewsMatch in 2017 where the institute matched local donations up to $20,000. By matching funds, INN’s goal has been to encourage residents of counties like San Benito to donate and support their local news organizations.
We need your help. Support local, nonprofit news! BenitoLink is a nonprofit news website that reports on San Benito County. Our team is committed to this community and providing essential, accurate information to our fellow residents. It is expensive to produce local news and community support is what keeps the news flowing. Please consider supporting BenitoLink, San Benito County’s public service, nonprofit news.
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