By SUZANNE DOWNING
The Anchorage Daily News has launched its first year-end fundraising campaign, marking a notable shift for Alaska’s largest for-profit news organization.
The campaign began Dec. 19 and was introduced in an opinion column by publisher Ryan Binkley on behalf of Binkley Company LLC, the family firm that owns the newspaper. In the piece, Binkley described the effort as “something new” for the publication and cast it as a way for readers to financially support the newsroom amid ongoing changes in the media industry.
The newspaper is asking readers to make tax-deductible donations — a move more commonly associated with nonprofit journalism organizations rather than privately owned, for-profit newspapers.
While reader donations have become standard for nonprofit investigative outlets such as ProPublica, they remain relatively uncommon among commercial newsrooms that also sell subscriptions and advertising.
In its fundraising appeal, the Anchorage Daily News states that donations are tax-deductible “to the extent of the law,” that no goods or services are provided in exchange for contributions, and that the program is administered by the Local Media Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable trust affiliated with the Local Media Association. The Local Media Foundation operates as the fundraising arm of the association.
The Local Media Association itself is a 501(c)(6) trade organization focused on the business side of local media, offering conferences, research, training, and revenue-development programs. Its affiliated foundation describes its mission as supporting journalism through philanthropy, business transformation, industry collaboration, and sustainability initiatives, including programs aimed at publishers of color.
“The LMA partners with left-of-center foundations, organizations, and businesses, including Google, the Google News Initiative, and the National Association for Media Literacy Education to support its programs, including programs focused on providing financial and strategic support to media organizations run by racial minorities and people who identify as LGBT,” according to InfluenceWatch.org.
The organization set up a Covid-19 reporting fund to generate donations to newspapers, including the Anchorage Daily News, during the Covid pandemic. Thus, it’s not entirely a new approach for the newspaper, but is an expanded use of philanthropy laundered through a nonprofit organization. Through this structure, donations made by readers are routed through a nonprofit foundation, allowing contributors to claim tax deductions while the funds ultimately support journalism produced by a for-profit company.
The model effectively allows private media owners with tax liability to benefit from charitable tax treatment while continuing to operate as commercial enterprises.
The Anchorage Daily News has undergone changes in ownership and readership in recent years, moving from being owned by McClatchy, to being purchased by Alice Rogoff, and then purchased out of bankruptcy by the Binkley Company. Meanwhile, readers have moved overwhelmingly online. In 2024, the paper reduced its print edition to two days per week. More than 90% of its audience now engages with the paper through its website or app.
By mid-2024, the paper reported nearly 19,000 digital subscribers. The newspaper’s website reportedly generates close to one million page views per week, making it a dominant source of news in Alaska.
This fundraising drive arrives at a time when mainstream media outlets are experimenting with revenue that blends subscriptions, advertising, sponsorships, grants, and donations.
The Anchorage Daily News pairs a for-profit ownership structure with a nonprofit fundraising mechanism, a strategy that blurs the traditional lines between charitable journalism such as public media, which is supported in part by tax dollars and tax-deductible contributions, and traditional commercial media. This is a trend among newspapers that are paddling upstream to survive in an increasingly fragmented media world.
Whether the model represents an innovative adaptation to economic pressures or simply a way to reduce tax exposure while appealing to reader goodwill is a question for readers to decide.
2 thoughts on “Anchorage Daily News launches year-end fundraising model through nonprofit”
Yep, another money laundering scheme at taxpayer’s expense. I’m really disappointed in Binkley. They had a chance to move the newspaper from a worthless rag to at least an unbiased rag but they didn’t even try.
Binkley should’ve just stuck with the River Boat venture. Or(?), sell the boat to a Native Corp and invest the proceeds into a 8-10% return. The newspaper business is a dying business venture. Only 19K subscribers … WOW! And now(!), the Binkley’s are stuck with it.