Social Finance launches a $21 million fund to invest in local news outlets, with MacArthur and Knight as anchors
The Local News Impact Investment Fund, announced Oct. 27, will put debt and equity, mostly $500,000 to $2 million a deal, into nonprofit and for-profit newsrooms with a credible path to growth. The money is invested, not granted.
Boston. Social Finance, a nonprofit based in Boston that is also a registered investment adviser, said on Oct. 27 that it has launched the Local News Impact Investment Fund to put investment capital into local news organizations across the United States. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation are its anchor funders.
The fund starts with $21 million, including commitments from the two foundations and money from other partners, among them Social Finance itself and Press Forward, a network of more than 40 local chapters that works to strengthen local news. It plans to grow by bringing in more investors. Social Finance, through its registered investment adviser, will manage it.
Who can apply
Most deals will range from $500,000 to $2 million, in debt and equity, according to the fund's page. Independent newsrooms, nonprofit or for-profit, may qualify if they are actively building a sustainable business, understand their market and audience, and have a credible path to revenue growth and profitability.
The money is meant to help outlets modernize their platforms, launch and test business models that raise revenue, and expand into new places, communities and topics. Social Finance said it will source and underwrite the investments, coach the newsrooms that receive them, and track each one's finances alongside its reach in the community, with a focus on communities that have the least access to local news.
Capital alongside grants
The organizers present the fund as a complement to grantmaking for newsrooms that have relied on gifts and grants. The fund's page says traditional lenders are unfamiliar with these business models and that philanthropic money alone cannot close the gap. It cites a Northwestern University report that 50 million Americans have limited or no access to local news.
Because the money comes as debt and equity, it is meant to come back. The fund's page says newsrooms need the chance to prove that new models can revitalize their businesses and repay investment capital. Social Finance, founded in 2011, says it has mobilized more than $500 million for results in workforce and education, health and housing.
“This is the first fund built to connect local news organizations with the capital they need to develop sustainable business models that will support local news for generations to come.”
About this story
501c3.help wrote this story from the sources listed with it, not from material an organization sent. Our editors approved it on Nov. 2, 2026. Stories in The Nonprofit Herald are free, and nothing is asked in return. Editorial rules.
Found an error? Write to [email protected] and we will correct it.
For the organizations in this story: put the badge on your website
Put it on your About page or wherever you list press mentions, rather than in a footer that repeats on every page. It links to this story.
Linking is welcome and never required. Nothing about the story changes either way.