We are thrilled to share that the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation (PJMF) has renewed its support for Tiny News Collective with a $400,000 grant to continue and expand our Tiny Vitals metrics and data literacy work. This renewed investment builds on the strong foundation laid in the first phases of the program and reflects a shared belief that small, early-stage newsrooms deserve tools that are right-sized, ethical and genuinely useful for their stage of growth.
Three cohorts of Tiny News members have deepened their knowledge and understanding of their audience, revenue and impact data in this program. That has helped them begin to create audience funnels that integrate information including newsletter signups and live event participation. Others are now using audience data to test new product ideas and content strategy.
As founders began onboarding, we learned that motivation to use data is high, but time, capacity and complexity remain barriers. Large analytics platforms often overwhelm small teams, and benchmarks for early-stage publishers are largely nonexistent. What works best is contextualized guidance: pairing simple, focused insights with coaching, clear documentation and step-by-step onboarding that helps founders build confidence and habits around data use.
The new PJMF grant allows us to take these learnings further and make data even more actionable, contextual and intelligent. A major focus of this next phase is expanding Tiny Vitals earlier in the member journey through a pre-launch data literacy program. This pilot will help founders understand their total addressable market, test assumptions, refine their MVP and use audience insights before they launch, setting them up for stronger product–market fit from day one.
“This renewed investment from the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation allows us to meet early-stage news founders where they are and give them data tools that actually make sense for their capacity and goals,” said Amy L. Kovac-Ashley, executive director of Tiny News Collective. “By expanding Tiny Vitals earlier in the founder journey and pairing metrics with coaching, benchmarks and responsible AI, we’re helping newsrooms move from guessing to making confident, informed decisions that support long-term sustainability and community impact.”
TNC
Industry benchmarks and AI tools
This investment will also support the creation of practical industry benchmarks for pre-launch and early-stage newsrooms, drawn from anonymized quantitative and qualitative data across Tiny News Collective members. These benchmarks will help founders understand what realistic progress looks like at different stages, while giving funders and partners a clearer picture of sustainable growth for small, independent publishers.
As our members and TNC consider the use of AI tools, the grant will fund the development of Tiny News Collective’s first AI policy, ensuring transparency, privacy protection and responsible use. In partnership with Datasketch, we’ll continue strengthening the Tiny Vitals Dashboard with new integrations, reduced manual data entry and an enhanced AI-assisted chatbot that surfaces insights, flags trends and suggests next steps in plain language.
Finally, this next phase includes building an AI assistant for the TNC Member Portal, designed to help members quickly find trusted tools, templates and guidance from TNC’s internal knowledge base.
“At a time when the information landscape feels uncertain, independent journalism remains one of the strongest anchors communities have,” said Vilas Dhar, president of the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation. “Local founders are doing critical work with limited capacity, and they should not have to navigate unnecessary complexity to sustain it. Tiny News Collective’s AI tools and data literacy initiatives are built for the realities of early-stage newsrooms. Our continued partnership reflects a heartfelt belief: when journalism thrives, public trust deepens."
Together, these efforts represent a major step forward in our mission to help early-stage news founders make smarter, faster decisions, and to ensure that data and AI serve independent journalism, not the other way around. We’re deeply grateful to the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation for its continued partnership and belief in this work.
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