Alliance for Community Media

What Alliance for Community Media does

Alliance for Community Media (ACM) is a Minneapolis-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership organization founded in 1976 that serves as the national trade association and advocacy body for Public, Educational, and Governmental (PEG) access television stations, community media centers, independent producers, and student media creators in the United States. The organization operates a portfolio of interconnected programs anchored by the Hometown Media Awards (an annual recognition program receiving nearly 1,000 entries and naming 100+ winners), the ACM Annual Conference (rotating among major US cities, with the 2026 edition scheduled for Madison, WI on June 23-25), and the ACM Foundation, a separately incorporated 501(c)(3) arm that channels donations into community media education.

Its business model is a diversified nonprofit revenue stack: recurring individual and organizational membership dues, one-time conference registration and sponsorship fees, per-entry awards submission fees tiered at $42 (student), $52 (member), and $77 (non-member), and tax-deductible donations to the Foundation. Distribution runs primarily through the allcommunitymedia.org website, an annual conference, regional chapter meetups (West, NW, Public Policy calls) delivered via Zoom, a member newsletter, and a searchable Community Media Directory. Supporting technology is light and entirely third-party: Vimeo and YouTube for video hosting of award submissions, FilmFreeway for submission management, PayPal for payments, and Zoom for virtual programming.

ACM's competitive position rests on five decades of accumulated brand equity as the recognized national voice for community media, ecosystem coordination across regional chapters and broadcast technology sponsors (Cablecast/Tightrope, TelVue, ENCO, Castus, Key Code Media, Municipal Captioning, PEGMedia.org), and a civic engagement partnership with the League of Women Voters Education Fund delivering election information through Vote411. With 1-10 disclosed employees and no venture or philanthropic capital raises indicated, the organization operates as a lean, member-supported association rather than a venture-backed entity.

Name

Alliance for Community Media

Legal name

Alliance for Community Media

Website

https://allcommunitymedia.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1976

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Alliance for Community Media is a Minneapolis-based nonprofit founded in 1976 that serves as the national membership association and advocacy body for PEG access television stations, community media centers, independent producers, and student media creators in the United States.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nonprofit Membership Association

NAICS

Business Associations (813910)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Public Media Partnerships & Content Co-productions (NGO/Cultural) (MPABADAN)

akta.pro secondary industry

Association & Society Conference Management (Nonprofit, Professional Bodies) (THAHACAA)

Keywords

• Community media advocacy
• PEG access television
• Nonprofit media association
• Membership association services
• Community broadcasting

Headquarters

HQ city

Minneapolis

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, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: Individual and organizational membership fees providing access to member benefits including discounted pricing on products and services.
2. Conference Registration: Annual conference fees for attendees, sponsors, and exhibitors.
3. Hometown Media Awards Entry Fees: ACM Member: $52 per entry, Non-Member: $77 per entry, Student: $42 per entry. These fees support the awards program and Foundation activities.
4. Foundation Donations: The ACM Foundation (501(c)(3) not-for-profit) accepts donations. Income is exclusively used for facilitating, preserving and promoting education in community media.

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Alliance for Community Media (ACM) is a nonprofit membership association that supports community media centers and PEG (Public, Educational, and Governmental) access television stations through national advocacy, an annual conference for professional development and networking, the Hometown Media Awards program recognizing excellence in community media production, a searchable Community Media Directory, and a Membership Program offering member benefits such as B&H Photo discounts. The ACM Foundation, a separate 501(c)(3) entity, channels donations toward educational initiatives and administers the Hometown Media Awards program.

Product overview

The Alliance for Community Media is a membership-based nonprofit organization that promotes civic engagement through community media. The organization operates as a unified offering centered on advocacy, professional development, and recognition for the community media/PEG access industry. The core products include the Hometown Media Awards (an annual awards program recognizing excellence across 100+ categories with nearly 1,000 annual entries), the Annual Conference (rotating annual gathering combining education, networking, and awards celebration), and ACM Foundation (501(c)(3) educational arm). Supporting products include Membership Program (individual/organizational tiers with benefits like B&H Photo discounts), Community Media Directory (searchable locator for PEG stations), Regional Meetups (virtual and regional networking events), and ACM Newsletter (member communications). The organization also partners with Vote411 for election information. The portfolio functions as a platform of interconnected services unified by the organization's mission to support public, educational, and governmental access television.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ACM Foundation: The Foundation of the Alliance for Community Media, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that holds the Hometown Media Awards and uses its income exclusively for facilitating, preserving and promoting education in community media.

Products and services

• Hometown Media Awards Annual awards program honoring excellence in community media, community radio, and local cable programs distributed on PEG access channels. Receives nearly 1,000 entries annually with over 100 award winners across multiple categories. Entry fees: ACM Member $52, Non-Member $77, Student $42 per entry.
• Annual Conference Annual gathering for community media professionals featuring networking, education sessions, and the Hometown Media Awards celebration ceremony. Locations rotate annually across US cities.
• ACM Foundation 501(c)(3) not-for-profit arm of ACM exclusively used for facilitating, preserving, and promoting education in community media. Organizes the Hometown Media Awards and accepts donations.
• Membership Program Individual and organizational memberships offering benefits including B&H Photo discounts, newsletter access, and member-only resources for community media professionals and organizations.
• Community Media Directory Searchable directory for finding community media centers and PEG access television stations by location or organization name, serving both industry professionals and the public.

Quantifiable outcome

• Nearly 1,000 entries per year with over 100 award winners

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• League of Women Voters Education FundcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to provide election information through Vote411 platform, bringing civic engagement resources to community media audiences.
• B&H Photo and VideominorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorProvides discounted pricing on photography and video equipment to ACM individual and organizational members.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS): PBS is the national public television network distributing non-commercial programming to member stations. While ACM represents local PEG access producers and PBS represents the larger public-TV system, both sit at the intersection of civic media and non-commercial broadcasting.
• Independent Sector: Independent Sector is a national membership organization of nonprofits, foundations, and corporate philanthropy programs advocating for the charitable sector. It is comparable to ACM as a peer nonprofit-membership association operating in the civic and advocacy space.
• Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB): CPB is the federally funded umbrella organization that supports PBS, NPR, and hundreds of local public media stations. It overlaps ACM's public-media mission at a much larger scale, representing the established institutional counterpart to ACM's grassroots community-media advocacy.
• National Association of Broadcasters (NAB): NAB is the largest U.S. trade association for radio and television broadcasters, operating the major NAB Show annual conference and advocacy operation. It is comparable to ACM as a broadcast-industry membership body, though it serves commercial broadcasters rather than community/PEG access.
• American Cable Association (ACA): ACA is a trade association representing independent cable operators that deliver PEG access channels to subscribers. It is adjacent to ACM's ecosystem because ACA's members are the cable providers through which PEG content is distributed and the source of PEG franchise fees.
• National Council of Nonprofits: The National Council of Nonprofits is a network of nonprofit organizations providing advocacy, resources, and policy support. ACM is a member of this broader nonprofit infrastructure, and it shares structural characteristics with other small-membership trade and cause-based associations it represents.

Direct peers

• National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA): NATOA is a membership association representing local government officials who regulate cable television and administer PEG access channels. It directly parallels ACM's focus on the PEG access ecosystem, serving as the government-side counterpart that ACM complements on the community-media-center side.
• National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB): NFCB is a national membership organization supporting community radio stations with training, advocacy, and networking. It is the closest functional peer to ACM, serving a parallel community-media constituency (radio rather than television) with comparable advocacy, awards, and conference programming.

Emerging players

• National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE): NAMLE is a membership organization advancing media literacy education across the U.S. It is thematically adjacent to ACM's community-media mission, particularly given ACM Foundation's educational mandate, and could converge as media literacy becomes a more central community-media use case.
• Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA): RTDNA is a membership organization supporting broadcast and digital journalists with training, ethics standards, and awards. While its primary focus is journalism rather than access-media production, it shares ACM's awards-program and professional-development model for local media producers.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses3 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/asicommunity
• Facebookfacebook.com/advsol
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/alliance-for-community-media

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

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 Alliance for Community Media