What OpenNews does

OpenNews is a nonprofit community organization founded in 2011 and incubated at the Mozilla Foundation from 2011 to 2016, currently operating as a project of fiscal sponsor Community Partners. It serves developers, designers, journalists, and editors working at the intersection of journalism and technology, with the stated goal of strengthening relationships across organizations and building a more equitable future for journalism. Its portfolio of free programs includes SRCCON (an annual peer-driven journalism technology conference), Source (a publication platform at source.opennews.org that amplifies journalism code and best practices), Community Calls (interactive virtual events), Scholarships+ (accessibility funding for program participants), the News Nerd Survey (periodic community research that drew 600+ respondents in 2022), and the DEI Coalition for Anti-Racist, Equitable, and Just Newsrooms (a Slack community of 1,000+ members launched in March 2021).

The underlying technical footprint is modest: OpenNews is a community facilitation organization rather than a technology product company, with its primary digital assets being the Source publication platform, the DEI Coalition Slack workspace with private staff/management channels, and the News Nerdery Slack community. Programs are distributed through the opennews.org website, Source, Slack communities, social channels (notably @opennews on Twitter), email newsletters, and annual in-person SRCCON events with scholarship-supported access.

The business model is nonprofit: there is no paid product, and all programs are free to participants. Revenue is sourced from individual donations via a sustainer program on the Network for Good platform (with a stated goal of becoming majority community-funded), foundation grants (notably Press Forward funding in 2025 as one of 22 organizations sharing $22.7M, and prior Democracy Fund support for the News Nerd Survey), and historical funding rounds of $1.1M in 2017 and $4M in 2013. The organization has 1-10 employees, operates on a distributed/remote basis, and is governed by an Advisory Council that replaced its Board of Directors in early 2026.

Name

OpenNews

Legal name

OpenNews

Website

https://opennews.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

OpenNews is a nonprofit community organization that runs free programs, including the SRCCON conference, the Source publication, and the DEI Coalition Slack, serving developers, journalists, and editors working at the intersection of journalism and technology.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Journalism Community Programs

NAICS

Social Advocacy Organizations (8133)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Open Educational Resources (OER) & Open Access Academic Publishing (MPAJABAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Developer & Open-Source Communities (MPACAJAK), Open Courseware & Course Modules (OCW) (EDAGAJAB)

Keywords

• Journalism community programs
• Newsroom technology events
• Open source journalism
• Media equity training
• Journalist peer learning

Headquarters

HQ city

Mountain View

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: Community sustainer program through Network for Good platform; OpenNews aims to become majority community-funded
2. Foundation Grants: Press Forward funding ($22.7M shared among 22 organizations); Democracy Fund supports News Nerd Survey; fiscal sponsorship through Community Partners

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

OpenNews is a nonprofit community organization that operates a portfolio of programs for journalism technologists, including the annual SRCCON conference, the Source publication platform for journalism code and resources, Community Calls, Scholarships+ financial support, the News Nerd Survey community research, and the DEI Coalition Slack community for anti-racist and equitable newsrooms. All programs are free to participants and aimed at strengthening relationships across journalism organizations.

Product overview

OpenNews is a community organization, not a unified software product, that operates a portfolio of programs designed to strengthen relationships across journalism organizations and build a more equitable future for journalism. The core offerings include SRCCON Events (annual conferences), Source (a publication platform for journalism code and technical resources), Community Calls, Scholarships+, the News Nerd Survey (community research), and the DEI Coalition (a Slack-based community for diversity, equity, and inclusion in journalism). These programs work together to facilitate peer knowledge sharing, skill building, and community connections among developers, designers, journalists, and editors working at the intersection of technology and journalism.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Source: An OpenNews project that amplifies the impact of journalism code and the community of developers, designers, journalists, and editors who make it.
• SRCCON

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 1000 members in DEI Coalition Slack
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and historical.

• Community PartnerscoreOthersCommunity Partners serves as OpenNews' fiscal sponsor, providing administrative infrastructure and organizational support. OpenNews is a project of Community Partners, which manages their organizational structure and compliance.
• Mozilla FoundationhistoricalStrategic or Co-development PartnerOpenNews was incubated at Mozilla Foundation from 2011-2016 before becoming independently operated as a project of Community Partners. This historical incubation provided initial infrastructure and support.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Online News Association: Online News Association is the most direct peer to OpenNews: a journalism membership organization that runs the annual ONA conference, nurtures journalism-tech community, and convenes professionals at the intersection of news and technology. It serves an overlapping audience and competes for the same SRCCON-attendee mindshare.
• Poynter Institute: Poynter is a journalism-education nonprofit that runs training programs, conferences, and an international fact-checking network. Like OpenNews it focuses on peer skill development in newsrooms and provides free/scholarship-backed learning resources, making it a directly comparable mission-aligned peer.
• Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE): IRE is a journalism membership nonprofit that runs conferences, training, and resource-sharing for investigative reporters. Its community-building and conference-driven model mirror OpenNews's SRCCON and community calls, and its audience overlaps with OpenNews's journalism-technologist base.
• American Press Institute: American Press Institute is a nonprofit that provides research, training, and resources to newsrooms and journalists. It is directly comparable as a journalism-education nonprofit serving similar audiences with peer-learning programs and best-practices resources.
• News Literacy Project: News Literacy Project is a nonpartisan education nonprofit that teaches news literacy to students and the public. It mirrors OpenNews in being a journalism-focused nonprofit that combines community building, content publishing, and equity-driven programming funded by foundations.
• Report for America: Report for America is a journalism nonprofit that places reporters in underserved newsrooms. As a journalism-support nonprofit funded largely by philanthropy and individual donors, it is comparable in funding model and mission orientation to OpenNews.
• Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy: The Shorenstein Center at Harvard is a journalism research and education institution that convenes practitioners and produces scholarship. It is comparable as a journalism-knowledge nonprofit serving a professional community, though it sits within a university rather than as an independent project.
• GroundTruth Project: GroundTruth Project supports local journalism through fellowships, training, and reporting support. It is a directly comparable journalism-support nonprofit that combines grant-funded programming with individual-donor revenue, much like OpenNews.
• LION Publishers: LION Publishers is a membership organization that supports independent local online news publishers. Its membership-driven, foundation-supported model and focus on journalism sustainability make it a strong peer analog to OpenNews, despite a more publisher-facing orientation.

Broad incumbents

• Knight Foundation: Knight Foundation is one of the largest journalism funders in the U.S., supporting many of the same community and infrastructure organizations that OpenNews collaborates with. It is comparable as the dominant funder in OpenNews's space rather than as a direct competitor, and its convenings shape the journalism-tech landscape.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/OpenNews
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/opennews

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about OpenNews