WyoFile receives $75K Knight Foundation grant
— March 18, 2014
by WyoFile staff
Wyoming’s premier nonprofit online news organization WyoFile is pleased to announce it is the recipient of a $75,000 grant from the John S. James L. Knight Foundation Fund at the Miami Foundation. The grant will be awarded to WyoFile over the course of 2014 and 2015 for the purpose of providing additional strategic development toward sustainable revenue and journalistic excellence.
The funding is part of the Knight Local Media Initiative that aims to help nonprofit news organizations establish long-term sustainability. The initiative comprises various other investments in the space, including $5 million in grants to over 25 local online news organizations that have demonstrated potential for growth and the INNovation Fund, which promotes newsroom innovation.
“This investment is intended to help organizations that have shown promise to develop new innovations, while adding to the momentum they have already built towards further growth and sustainability,” said Michael Maness, Knight Foundation vice president of journalism and media innovation.
“Since WyoFile launched in 2008, we have been committed to filling a gap left by shrinking newsrooms, providing in-depth reporting on Wyoming’s people, places and policy in ways that educate the public and help citizens become more engaged in public life,” said WyoFile editor-in-chief Dustin Bleizeffer. “We are extremely pleased to have the support of the Knight Foundation in our continuing mission.”
WyoFile gained its nonprofit 501(c)(3) status in 2009, and has relied on foundations, readers and donors who generously support the work of proven journalists who write about matters of health care, energy, environment, government and Wyoming communities with the depth and context that is sometimes missing from the daily headlines. The nonpartisan organization has relied on the work of three experienced Wyoming reporters and a network of Wyoming journalism veterans to expose a $10 million Department of Energy federal stimulus project now under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, to delve into cultural and policy challenges on the Wind River Indian Reservation, and to cover in detail Wyoming’s lacking health care delivery systems, among other key issues in the state.
For the past two years, WyoFile has committed to covering key legislative work that shapes the state’s budget and social agenda as lawmakers meet throughout the year and while lawmakers are in session. “Our readership is expanding, and all of our readers are demanding more of the smart and informative reporting they have come to expect from WyoFile,” said Bleizeffer. “The generous support of the Knight Foundation will help us build a sustainable revenue model that will allow us to continue our mission for many years to come.”
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