During the months of November and December, The Acton Exchange (AE) will be participating in its most ambitious fundraising effort to date, in collaboration with the NewsMatch program of the Institute for Non-profit News (INN)
INN is a nonprofit national organization that provides resources, training materials, and other services to nearly 500 independent news organizations. NewsMatch is a donation-matching campaign that is funded by 20 major philanthropic organizations to promote and support the development of local news sources such as AE. INN raises the big money from national foundations, selects local news outlets, and provides training and support to make local fundraising a success. The Acton Exchange competed successfully for a slot in the program by answering 26 detailed questions on everything from our newsletter audience size to the main issues we cover.
INN has informed our board of directors that they will match local donations up to a maximum of $12,000. So, for every local donation we receive, NewsMatch will match it dollar for dollar, up to a maximum of $1,000 per individual. For any donor who signs up for a recurring donation, a match will be made for the annualized amount. For example, if a reader sets up a recurring donation of $10 per month, AE will receive a matching donation for $120. In addition to the matching funds from NewsMatch, INN has secured a commitment from a donor partner, Barr Foundation, to also match the first $2,000 of local donations.
The Exchange Board of Directors has set a goal of raising $12,000 from local donors during the November through December campaign. These local donations would then be matched with $14,000 from INN and Barr Foundation combined. INN has some additional incentives to be paid for certain campaign milestones, such as the number of new donors. To be part of this important effort, visit our Donate page.
The Board thinks this fundraising goal is realistic, given the growth in readership and subscribers for our young organization. More than 1,700 individuals have subscribed to receive emailed Weekly Newsletters with links to that week’s news articles and Quarterly Updates with behind-the-scenes glimpses of how the Acton Exchange does its work. If you are not a subscriber, click on the Subscribe button. It’s free!
On October 20, ActonTV interviewed the AE’s Treasurer, Bob Miller, and Editor-in–Chief, Franny Osman, about the NewsMatch program and how it fits in with the newspaper’s plans and aspirations. The wide-ranging interview by Vivian Birchall touched on AE‘s growth since inception, its 1700+ subscriber base, organizational structure, current/future financial needs, growth plans, journalistic ethics, and diversity; it can be viewed online.
As explained in the interview, the Acton Exchange is currently an all-volunteer operation. The funding model began on a shoestring, backed by a GoFundMe campaign. Since the current version of the website opened in spring of 2024, donations have come in from about a hundred individual donors via the Donate page. In the summer of 2025, the fundraising team began a sponsorship program, which has now attracted 12 businesses and organizations that have their clickable logos on the AE website.
Acton Exchange overhead runs around $8,000-$9,000 per year, accounting for website costs, insurance, and other expenses. But in order to be sustainable into the future, the volunteers will need to be supported by some paid staff, beginning with a part-time staffer to take responsibility for layout and production of each week’s edition. As fundraising capacity grows, a managing editor will be brought on board to coordinate the work of the volunteer writers, keep track of articles in progress, anticipate and assign future articles, help train new writers, and expand types of coverage. Both the 52-year-old Carlisle Mosquito and the 13-year-old Bedford Citizen followed this trajectory, beginning as an all-volunteer enterprise and eventually maturing into a hybrid volunteer + paid staff model. The Acton Exchange aims to follow in their successful footsteps.
Editor-in-Chief Franny Osman closed the ActonTV interview by saying, “There was something I wanted to get across: the enthusiasm around the paper, both readers and volunteers. …It is a true ‘exchange’ — very well named. We welcome new contributors… There are things in there that represent a range of experiences…people can see themselves… It’s that excitement about having a paper, and seeing yourself, seeing your community, represented on the ‘pages’… It’s there, at your fingertips, and I think that people are really enjoying that. It’s been fun, both for the volunteers and the readers… It’s your local free paper…and it’s yours!”
Michael Brandt is the President of the Acton Exchange Board of Directors, and Bob Miller is the Treasurer. Both were involved in securing the Acton Exchange’s spot in the NewMatch program, and they are collaborating to run the campaign.
