By Michele McLellan and Ha Ta
Aug. 8, 2023
Definition: National organizations focus on public affairs issues that affect the entire country. “National” in this context largely means the United States, except for two survey respondents that cover national news in Canada. Global organizations generally take aim at broad world topics or they produce news of distant places. This study covers 62 national and 22 global organizations, collectively making up 20% and 7% of the field, respectively.
National and global news organizations are the oldest and most established group of nonprofit news outlets. Their prominence and reach dwarfs the rest of the field, and as a group they receive more foundation funding than their local, state and regional counterparts.
More than half (55%) of the national and global outlets in this study have been operating for a decade or more. Additional organizations have launched at an average rate of about four per year since 2012. However, only one national outlet and no global outlet launched in 2022. The bases of operations for this group are heavily concentrated in the Northeast and in Washington, D.C.
Mission and impact
National and global outlets are most likely to produce analysis and explanatory reporting and investigative reporting. Nearly half cover a limited number of related topics, such as environment, education or health typically under a common umbrella of policy. Well over one-third specialize in a single topic.
In keeping with a primary mission of producing analysis and explanatory journalism, 85% of these outlets say building knowledge around a complicated topic is a top priority, according to our survey in 2022.
The top three topics this group covered in 2022: Equity, inequality and justice, and environment and climate, and politics.
Change over time in the makeup of INN member outlets’ primary mission
About one in five of these organizations say serving communities of color is a primary mission, about the same as the field as a whole.
The majority of national and global organizations enjoy much larger budgets than their counterparts. Median revenue in 2021 was just above $1.2 million, about the same as in the prior two years.
More than half (54.4%) generate yearly revenue of $1 million or more while only one in six operates on less than $250,000 annually.
National and global outlets enjoy strong support from foundations that provide nearly half of all revenue for this group and from a mix of small donors and major gifts of $5,000 a year or more. Earned revenue from sources such as advertising, sponsorship or events plays a much smaller role in the revenue mix.
Share of foundation funding
Foundation support for national and global outlets outstrips the size of this group of outlets within the nonprofit news field. They employ half of the field in terms of staff size and represent about one-fourth of the total number of nonprofit outlets. Yet they bring in close to 60% of foundation dollars for nonprofit news.
With their prominence and reach, national and global organizations are well positioned to continue to expand their donor base. At the same time, some of the national foundation support they enjoy could shift to resources for the rapidly expanding local nonprofit news ecosystem.
The median number of personnel in this group is 10 and the number of paid employees per organization ranges from 0 to 144. Seven in 10 FTE are allocated to editorial activities while the rest have duties including revenue generation and technology.
Nearly four in 10 (38%) of all personnel in this group are people of color, as are one third (32%) of the top executives, meaning this group is more diverse at the top than its counterpart organizations. People of color make up 40% or more of all personnel at four in 10 outlets, while fewer than one in 10 reported no employees of color.
More than half of national and global outlets say they reach most of their audience directly via their own platforms or newsletters. Three in 10 say third-party platforms are the primary way they reach their audiences and the rest say they use a mix of the two.
As a group, national and global nonprofit outlets estimate their work was republished regularly by more than 3,300 third-party publications, primarily news websites and print newspapers. The median number of publication partners per outlet was 12.
Michele McLellan na Ha Ta Aug 8, 2023 Ufafanuzi: Mashirika ya kitaifa yanazingatia masuala ya masuala ya umma ambayo yanaathiri nchi nzima. "Taifa" katika muktadha huu kwa kiasi kikubwa ina maana ya Marekani, isipokuwa kwa wawili waliohojiwa utafiti kwamba kufunika habari ya kitaifa katika Canada. Kwa kawaida mashirika ya kimataifa huelekeza tahadhari zake kwenye masuala makubwa ya ulimwengu au hutokeza habari za maeneo ya mbali. Utafiti huo umehusisha mashirika 62 ya kitaifa na 22 ya kimataifa, ambayo kwa pamoja yanawakilisha asilimia 20 na asilimia 7 ya uwanja huo. Mashirika ya habari ya kitaifa na ya kimataifa ni kundi la zamani zaidi na lililojengwa zaidi la vyombo vya habari visivyo vya faida. Utangulizi wao na kufikia dwarfs mapumziko ya uwanja, na kama kundi wanapata fedha zaidi ya msingi kuliko wenzao wa mitaa, serikali na kikanda. Zaidi ya nusu (55%) ya maduka ya kitaifa na ya kimataifa katika utafiti huu yamekuwa ikifanya kazi kwa muongo mmoja au zaidi. Mashirika mengine yameanza kwa kiwango cha wastani cha karibu nne kwa mwaka tangu 2012. Hata hivyo, ni moja tu ya kitaifa na hakuna kimataifa outlet ilizinduliwa katika 2022. "Mashirika ya habari ya kimataifa yanafanya kazi katika maeneo ya kaskazini mashariki ya Marekani na Washington, D.C. ""Mission and Impact"" ni taarifa za uchunguzi na uchambuzi." Karibu nusu hufunika idadi ndogo ya mada zinazohusiana, kama vile mazingira, elimu au afya, kwa kawaida chini ya mwavuli wa sera ya kawaida. Zaidi ya thuluthi moja hujifunza juu ya jambo moja tu. "Kwa kuzingatia utume wa msingi wa kutengeneza uchapishaji wa uchambuzi na ufafanuzi, 85% ya vituo hivi vinasema ""kujenga maarifa karibu na mada ngumu ni kipaumbele cha juu,"" kulingana na uchunguzi wetu wa 2022." "Mitu mitatu ya juu ambayo kikundi hiki kilifunika katika 2022 ni: usawa, ukosefu wa usawa na haki, na mazingira na hali ya hewa, na siasa. """ Mabadiliko ya muda katika muundo wa maduka ya wanachama wa INN: Ujumbe wa msingi Karibu moja katika tano ya mashirika haya wanasema kuwahudumia jamii za rangi ni utume wa msingi, karibu sawa na uwanja kwa ujumla. Wengi wa mashirika ya kitaifa na ya kimataifa hufurahia bajeti kubwa zaidi kuliko wenzao. Kiwango cha mapato ya mwaka 2021 kilikuwa karibu $ 1.2 milioni, karibu sawa na miaka miwili iliyopita. Zaidi ya nusu (54.4%) hutengeneza mapato ya kila mwaka ya $ 1 milioni au zaidi wakati moja tu kati ya sita inafanya kazi kwa chini ya $ 250,000 kwa mwaka. Vituo vya kitaifa na vya kimataifa vinapata msaada mkubwa kutoka kwa misingi ambayo hutoa karibu nusu ya mapato yote kwa kikundi hiki na kutoka kwa mchanganyiko wa wafadhili wadogo na zawadi kubwa za $ 5,000 au zaidi kwa mwaka. Mapato yanayopatikana kutoka vyanzo kama vile matangazo, udhamini au matukio hucheza jukumu dogo sana katika mchanganyiko wa mapato. Ushiriki wa ufadhili wa msingi: Msaada wa msingi kwa maduka ya kitaifa na ya kimataifa unazidi ukubwa wa kikundi hiki cha maduka ndani ya uwanja wa habari usio wa faida. Wanafanya kazi nusu ya uwanja katika suala la ukubwa wa wafanyakazi na kuwakilisha karibu robo ya idadi ya jumla ya maduka yasiyo ya faida. Hata hivyo, ni karibu asilimia 60 ya fedha zinazotumiwa na shirika hilo kwa ajili ya habari zisizo za faida. Kwa sababu ya umaarufu na upatikanaji wao, mashirika ya kitaifa na ya kimataifa yako katika nafasi nzuri ya kuendelea kupanua msingi wao wa wafadhili. Wakati huo huo, baadhi ya msaada wa msingi wa kitaifa wanaofurahia inaweza kuhamia kwa rasilimali kwa ajili ya kupanua haraka mazingira ya habari ya faida isiyo ya faida ya ndani. Idadi ya wastani ya wafanyakazi katika kundi hili ni 10 na idadi ya wafanyakazi waliolipwa kwa kila shirika inatofautiana kutoka 0 hadi 144. 7 katika 10 FTE ni kugawanywa kwa shughuli za uhariri wakati wengine wana majukumu ikiwa ni pamoja na uzalishaji wa mapato na teknolojia. Karibu watu wanne kati ya kumi (38%) wa wafanyakazi wote katika kundi hili ni watu wa rangi, kama vile theluthi moja (32%) ya watendaji wa juu, ikimaanisha kundi hili ni tofauti zaidi juu kuliko mashirika yake. Watu wa rangi hufanyiza 40% au zaidi ya wafanyakazi wote katika maduka manne kati ya kumi, wakati chini ya moja kati ya kumi iliripoti kuwa hakuna wafanyikazi wa rangi. Zaidi ya nusu ya vyombo vya habari vya kitaifa na kimataifa vinasema kuwa wanafikia watazamaji wao wengi moja kwa moja kupitia majukwaa yao au jarida. Watatu kati ya kumi wanasema majukwaa ya mtu wa tatu ni njia ya msingi ya kufikia watazamaji wao, na wengine wanasema wanatumia mchanganyiko wa mbili. Kama kikundi, vyombo vya habari vya kitaifa na vya kimataifa visivyo na faida vinakadiria kazi yao ilichapishwa mara kwa mara na zaidi ya machapisho ya 3,300 ya mtu wa tatu, haswa tovuti za habari na magazeti ya kuchapisha. Idadi ya wastani ya washirika wa uchapishaji kwa kila kituo ilikuwa 12.