Underscore Native News

What Underscore Native News does

Underscore Native News is a nonprofit news organization headquartered in Portland, Oregon, that produces in-depth, Indigenous-centered journalism focused on tribal communities in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon and Washington). The organization covers four core topic verticals — Culture, Justice, Land, and People — including investigative beats such as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR), tribal sovereignty, Land Back, and cultural preservation. Content is co-published with Indian Country Today (ICT), a national Indigenous news outlet, enabling combined regional depth and national reach.

The publication operates on Newspack, an open-source publishing platform built on WordPress, and distributes content through a free weekly Thursday email newsletter, its underscore.news website, and a multi-platform social presence spanning Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and Bluesky. A Creative Commons (CC BY-ND 4.0) republishing program allows other news outlets to redistribute Underscore's journalism at no cost.

Underscore generates no subscription or paywall revenue. The organization is funded through individual reader donations and grants from regional and national foundations, including Meyer Memorial Trust, Press Forward, Inatai, Collins Foundation, and Knight Foundation. Distribution is community-led and free to readers; commercial GTM mechanics are absent, and the newsroom relies on philanthropic support, foundation grants, and Report for America journalist placements to sustain operations.

Name

Underscore Native News

Legal name

Underscore Native News

Website

https://underscore.news

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Underscore Native News is a Portland-based nonprofit news organization producing free, Indigenous-centered investigative journalism for tribal communities across the Pacific Northwest, distributed via a weekly newsletter, website, and co-publishing with ICT.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Independent Digital News

NAICS

Newspaper Publishers (51311)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)

akta.pro primary industry

Community, Ethnic & Multilingual News Publishers (MPAJADAG)

Keywords

• Indigenous journalism
• Nonprofit news
• Tribal community reporting
• Pacific northwest media
• Investigative reporting

Headquarters

HQ city

Portland

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Donor Contributions: Underscore is a nonprofit organization funded primarily through donations from individual readers and supporters. The site explicitly states reliance on reader support to fund independent journalism.
2. Grants and Foundation Funding: The organization receives funding from foundations and grants including Meyer Memorial Trust, Press Forward, Inatai, Collins Foundation, and others. Funding supports investigative reporting and operational costs.
3. Newsletter and Content Distribution: Free weekly newsletter delivered every Thursday morning to subscribers. The newsletter provides top stories, breaking news, and staff insights.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Underscore Native News is an independent, Indigenous-led nonprofit news organization that publishes original reporting and a weekly newsletter focused on Indigenous communities and tribal nations across the Pacific Northwest, including Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana. It operates a co-publishing partnership with Indian Country Today (ICT) and maintains a free Creative Commons republishing program that allows other news outlets to syndicate its stories.

Product overview

Underscore Native News is a nonprofit news organization offering a single unified product: in-depth, Indigenous-centered reporting focused on tribal communities in the Pacific Northwest. The organization's primary offerings include a free weekly newsletter delivered every Thursday, published news articles and investigative reporting across Culture, Justice, Land, and People categories, and a republishing program that allows partner outlets to distribute their journalism under Creative Commons licensing.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Weekly Newsletter
• News Articles and Reporting
• Creative Commons Republishing Program

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• ICT (Indian Country Today)coreGTM or Marketing PartnerCo-publishing partnership with ICT, a national Indigenous news outlet. Stories are jointly published by both organizations, with ICT providing national reach and Underscore providing Pacific Northwest focus.
• Report for AmericacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational service program that places journalists in local newsrooms. Jarrette Werk joined Underscore in June 2022 in partnership with Report for America.
• Northwestern University Medill School of JournalismminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partnership providing journalism training and resources to support the newsroom.
• UnkitawaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerIndigenous nonprofit that helped establish the totem pole carving program at Cedar Creek Corrections Center, featured in Underscore reporting.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Regional players

• Oregon Public Broadcasting: Pacific Northwest public media organization that covers Indigenous communities in the region. Comparable in geography and nonprofit structure, though much larger and broader in editorial scope.
• Crosscut (Cascade PBS): Pacific Northwest-focused nonprofit news outlet. Operates in the same geography and produces investigative and civic journalism, but is broader in scope and not Indigenous-centered.

Peers

• Grist:

Broad incumbents

• ProPublica: National nonprofit investigative newsroom funded by foundations and donors. While much larger and not Indigenous-focused, it shares the same nonprofit investigative model and foundation-funding dependency.
• The Oregonian / OregonLive: Legacy for-profit regional newspaper covering Oregon. Operates in the same Pacific Northwest geography, providing broader but less Indigenous-centered coverage that competes for the same reader attention and advertiser dollars.

Direct peers

• InvestigateWest: Pacific Northwest investigative nonprofit journalism outlet. Closely aligned as a regional, mission-driven investigative newsroom dependent on philanthropic support and focused on under-covered stories.
• Honolulu Civil Beat: Nonprofit investigative news outlet serving Hawaii with a mix of grant and reader-revenue funding. Comparable in nonprofit regional investigative structure and reliance on philanthropic support.
• High Country News: Nonprofit news organization covering the Western United States, with significant Indigenous affairs and tribal-land coverage. Closely comparable mission of independent, community-focused reporting on under-covered Western and Indigenous communities.
• Indian Country Today: National nonprofit Indigenous news outlet that co-publishes with Underscore. Operates in the same niche (Native news), serves overlapping audiences, and shares editorial content — making it the most directly comparable peer.
• Montana Free Press: Nonprofit regional investigative news outlet serving Montana with a similar grant- and donor-funded model. Comparable in mission, funding approach, and small newsroom structure.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Underscorenews
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@underscore_news
• Facebookfacebook.com/underscoremediacollaboration
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/underscore-news
• Instagraminstagram.com/underscore.news
• TikToktiktok.com/@underscore.news

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 Underscore Native News