What Colorado Media Project does

Colorado Media Project (CMP) is a nonpartisan philanthropic initiative founded in summer 2018 and housed at the Rose Community Foundation in Denver, Colorado. The organization was created in the wake of the 2009 closure of the Rocky Mountain News and subsequent cuts at The Denver Post to serve as a "center of gravity" for rebuilding Colorado's local news ecosystem. CMP unites funders, journalists, and community leaders through strategic grantmaking, matching campaigns, research, and convening, and operates as a project of the Rose Community Foundation rather than as an independent 501(c)(3). Its stated model is to commit roughly 80% of its budget directly to ecosystem support for newsroom sustainability, with the remainder allocated to operations and infrastructure building.

CMP's core products are grant programs and ecosystem convening rather than technology. Grant programs include the Closing Colorado Coverage Gaps Grant (flexible operating support for newsrooms serving BIPOC, linguistically diverse, and rural communities), the #newsCOneeds matching campaign (which multiplies community donations to local newsrooms at a claimed 5:1 return), the Newsroom Safety and Resilience Fund (addressing physical, digital, mental, and legal challenges for news providers), and the new Public Media Innovation Fund (backing public media business model evolution). CMP is the host of Press Forward Colorado and founded the Ecosystem Builders Network in 2022, and helped launch the Colorado News Collaborative (COLab). Research outputs include the Colorado News Mapping Project and annual Statewide Survey of Attitudes Toward State & Local Media conducted with Corona Insights. CMP does not offer software products, APIs, or proprietary technology platforms.

CMP's revenue model is philanthropic grantmaking and donations from a concentrated set of Colorado-focused and national foundations — Rose Community Foundation, Colorado Health Foundation, Gates Family Foundation, Democracy Fund, and Bonfils-Stanton Foundation — plus individual donors routed through matching campaigns. Since 2018, CMP has raised over $9.1 million and distributed more than 310 grants to newsrooms, journalists, and ecosystem-building projects across Colorado, with a current core team of approximately 5 employees.

Name

Colorado Media Project

Legal name

Colorado Media Project

Website

https://coloradomediaproject.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Colorado Media Project is a Denver-based, nonpartisan philanthropic initiative founded in 2018 and housed at the Rose Community Foundation that strengthens Colorado's local news ecosystem through strategic grantmaking, matching campaigns, research, and convening of funders, journalists, and community leaders.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

News Philanthropy and Media Grantmaking

NAICS

Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Grantmaking and Giving Services (8132), Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813)

akta.pro primary industry

Community Foundations (BPAGAKAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Investigative & Nonprofit News Organizations (MPAJADAF), Public Media Fundraising & Membership (Pledge Drives, Major Gifts) (MPABADAJ)

Keywords

• Local news philanthropy
• News ecosystem grantmaking
• Journalism funding
• Media sustainability grants
• Newsroom capacity building

Headquarters

HQ city

Denver

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Philanthropic Grants and Donations: CMP raises funds from foundations (Rose Community Foundation, Gates Family Foundation, Colorado Health Foundation, Democracy Fund) and individual donors to support local news ecosystems through strategic grantmaking, pooled funds, and matching campaigns.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Colorado Media Project is a nonpartisan philanthropic initiative that raises funds from foundations and individual donors and redistributes them as strategic grants to Colorado local newsrooms serving BIPOC, linguistically diverse, and rural communities. It also convenes funders, journalists, and community leaders through the Press Forward Colorado funder collaborative, #newsCOneeds matching campaign, and ecosystem-building initiatives, and produces statewide research on the local news landscape.

Product overview

Colorado Media Project is a single, unified philanthropic initiative (not a multi-module platform) that serves as a strategic funder and intermediary for Colorado's local news ecosystem. Its core offerings consist of grant programs including the Closing Colorado Coverage Gaps Grant and Newsroom Safety and Resilience Fund, the #newsCOneeds matching campaign, and the Press Forward Colorado funder collaborative. The organization also produces research including the annual Statewide Survey of Attitudes and the Colorado News Mapping Project. While it helped launch the Colorado News Collaborative (COLab), this is a separate entity. The organization does not offer software products, APIs, or technology modules—the offering is grantmaking, ecosystem-building, research, and convening services for local journalism.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Press Forward Colorado A statewide funder collaborative housed at Colorado Media Project that connects Colorado funders to a national network of local news ecosystem resources, supporting pooled and co-investment for local news.
• Closing Colorado Coverage Gaps Grant A grant program providing flexible general operating support to Colorado newsrooms serving BIPOC, linguistically diverse, and rural communities, enabling expanded editorial coverage of issues vital to underserved communities.
• #newsCOneeds Matching Campaign A matching grant campaign that multiplies donations made to local Colorado newsrooms, with $1 invested yielding $5 from community donors to local news.
• Newsroom Safety and Resilience Fund A fund addressing emergent physical, digital, mental, and legal challenges to keep Colorado local news providers safe and resilient.
• Colorado News Mapping Project A continuously updated interactive map of where Colorado's journalism producers and news deserts are located, developed in partnership with Colorado College, University of Denver, COLab, and Hearken.
• Statewide Survey of Attitudes Toward State & Local Media Annual research surveys conducted with Corona Insights measuring Coloradans' news consumption patterns, trust levels, and willingness to pay for local news.

Quantifiable outcome

• For every $1 invested in #newsCOneeds match challenge, the community gives back $5 to local news
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers19 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Ecosystem Builders NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Collaborative founded by CMP in 2022 and now industry-led. Includes KUNC, National Trust for Local News, Rocky Mountain Radio Coalition, The Colorado Sun.
• Press Forward (National)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCMP serves as the home of Press Forward Colorado, connecting Colorado funders to national network of resources and peers while keeping strategies locally driven.
• Colorado News Collaborative (COLab)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKey infrastructure partner that CMP helped launch. Serves as Local News Policy Coalition steering committee member and supports The Voices Initiative.
• Colorado Press AssociationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal News Policy Coalition steering committee member and key industry partner for Colorado news publishers.
• Colorado Public RadiocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLocal News Policy Coalition steering committee member representing public radio sector.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• American Journalism Project: VC-style nonprofit that funds and incubates local nonprofit newsrooms across the U.S. Directly comparable as a philanthropic intermediary building the local news ecosystem through grantmaking and operational support, with a national scope that contrasts with CMP's state focus.
• NC Local News Lab Fund: North Carolina-based funder collaborative supporting local news and journalism innovation. Closely comparable to CMP as a state-level journalism intermediary; Teresa Gorman of Democracy Fund sits on both advisory boards.
• Lenfest Institute for Journalism: Philanthropy-backed organization that invests in and supports The Philadelphia Inquirer and other local news initiatives. Comparable as a journalism-focused grantmaker and ecosystem builder with significant foundation funding, though operating in a single metro rather than a state.
• Democracy Fund: Major foundation that funds press freedom and local news ecosystems, and is itself a CMP funder. Highly comparable in mission (public square, local news sustainability) and operates grantmaking and field-building activities that overlap with CMP's role.
• Report for America / GroundTruth Project: Places emerging and experienced journalists in local newsrooms across underserved U.S. communities. Directly comparable as a funder/intermediary that strengthens local news capacity, with a service model (journalist placement) that complements CMP's grantmaking.
• Press Forward (National): National funder collaborative CMP's Colorado chapter is part of. Closely comparable as a pooled-funding mechanism for local news, though operating at national rather than state level and serving as CMP's parent network.
• NJ Local News Lab Fund: New Jersey-based journalism funder collaborative with a similar state-level ecosystem-building mandate. Directly comparable peer with shared advisor (Teresa Gorman) and similar Press Forward / Democracy Fund network ties.

Emerging players

• Pulitzer Center: Philanthropy-funded nonprofit that supports in-depth journalism, with programs covering local and global reporting. Comparable as a journalism grantmaker and field builder, though its focus skews more toward international and investigative reporting than local news sustainability.
• Solutions Journalism Network: Nonprofit that trains journalists in solutions-oriented reporting and partners with newsrooms and funders. Comparable as a journalism-supporting intermediary, with a narrower programmatic focus on newsroom training rather than unrestricted grantmaking.

Broad incumbents

• Knight Foundation: One of the largest journalism and media innovation funders in the U.S., supporting local news, press freedom, and civic information nationally. Comparable as a journalism grantmaker but with a far larger endowment, broader portfolio, and national remit.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@coloradomediaproject
• Facebookfacebook.com/co.mediaproject
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/co-mediaproject

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Colorado Media Project