Philanthropy overtakes advertising as most common revenue stream for LIONs

Breakdown of revenue streams across all LION members in 2025.

Posted Thursday, December 11, 2025 9:23 am

Dylan Sanchez and Natalya Dreszer | LION Publishers

As philanthropic funding at the national and local levels is on the rise, as seen by the over $400 million distributed to local newsrooms by Press Forward, LION members are leaning into philanthropy and cultivating audience-supported revenue. ...

Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen philanthropy and community-driven revenue streams play a more important role in revenue strategies for both for-profit and nonprofit newsrooms. For the first time since LION started tracking this data in 2020, philanthropic funding is the most common revenue stream across our membership, unseating direct-sold advertising. The share of organizations with philanthropic giving as a revenue stream increased by 35 percent in 2025 across our membership of for-profit and nonprofit newsrooms, as more philanthropic dollars from national and local foundations reached local newsrooms.

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Philanthropy overtakes advertising as most common revenue stream for LIONs

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