What Visit Tulsa Flyer does

Tulsa Flyer is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit news organization (TAX ID #331544773) headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, operating two newsrooms—the digital-native Tulsa Flyer and The Oklahoma Eagle, a Black community newspaper in continuous publication since 1922. The organization serves the Tulsa metropolitan area with free local journalism covering government, schools, culture, food, arts, immigration, and community life, targeting all Tulsans regardless of income, with dedicated outreach to Latino/Hispanic residents and to civic-minded residents via paid civic-engagement programs. The stated mission frames journalism as a mechanism for improved health and vibrancy of Tulsa, and the organization maintains a formal policy against accepting government, political party, or partisan funding to safeguard editorial independence.

Core products include the tulsaflyer.org digital news website, The Oklahoma Eagle newsroom, the La Semana Spanish-language section, daily (Tulsa Flyer) and weekly (Oklahoma Eagle) email newsletters, an SMS news alert service via Heymarket (918-818-7107), a curated community events calendar, the monthly Flyer Book Club, resource guides, and the Tulsa Documenters program that trains and pays residents ($51 per in-person, $45 per virtual assignment) to document local government meetings. The platform is built on Newspack, a WordPress-based CMS used by nonprofit newsrooms; civic-meeting documentation leverages City Bureau's Documenters Network infrastructure; SMS engagement runs through Heymarket; event ticketing runs through Ticketleap; and authentication uses Google Sign-In. Visual production is led by an in-house art director and visual journalist. Distribution is exclusively digital across website, email, SMS, and six social channels (Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube), with collaborative reporting partnerships including The Frontier, KOSU, La Semana, and Focus Black Oklahoma.

The business model is donor- and grant-funded nonprofit journalism: all editorial content is free with no paywall, supported by reader donations (membership tier starting at $15/month), foundation grants, corporate sponsorships, and limited advertising ([email protected], [email protected]). Revenue is channeled through dedicated partnerships and development functions led by CDO Daphne Dowdy. Leadership comprises CEO Ziva Branstetter (overseeing both newsrooms), COO Amanda Yuen, and CDO Dowdy, with an editorial team under Executive Editor Gary Lee and a roster of roughly 20 journalists, editors, designers, and operations staff.

Name

Visit Tulsa Flyer

Legal name

Tulsa Flyer

Website

https://tulsaflyer.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Visit Tulsa Flyer is a Tulsa-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit news organization operating two newsrooms—the Tulsa Flyer and The Oklahoma Eagle (since 1922)—that delivers free local journalism, bilingual coverage, and a community-paid civic Documenters program to the Tulsa metropolitan area.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Tulsa

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Visit Tulsa Flyer is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit local news organization that publishes free, independent journalism covering Tulsa civic, cultural, and community affairs across two newsrooms (Tulsa Flyer and The Oklahoma Eagle). Its offerings include a digital news website, bilingual (English/Spanish) coverage, daily/weekly email newsletters, and a paid Tulsa Documenters program that trains and compensates residents to document local government public meetings.

Product overview

Tulsa Flyer operates as a nonprofit community-focused newsroom providing free, independent local journalism through its primary digital news website. The organization publishes two news products: the Tulsa Flyer (delivering daily coverage of news, government, schools, culture, and community events) and The Oklahoma Eagle (a legacy publication since 1922 covering Tulsa's Black community). The news platform is complemented by La Semana for Spanish-language coverage, a newsletter subscription service, and the Tulsa Documenters program which pays residents to document public government meetings. Additional offerings include the Flyer Book Club, a community events calendar, resource guides on topics like mental health and local services, and the Heart of East Tulsa series highlighting community heroes. The entire operation is built on the Newspack publishing platform and maintains editorial independence as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Tulsa Flyer News Website
• The Oklahoma Eagle
• La Semana
• Tulsa Flyer and Oklahoma Eagle Email Newsletters
• Tulsa Documenters Program

Segments3 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

Feature2 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• The Oklahoman: Major Oklahoma City-based legacy daily newspaper covering statewide news including Tulsa – a broader statewide incumbent that overlaps with Tulsa Flyer's government and schools beats while operating as a much larger for-profit newsbrand.
• ProPublica: National, large-scale nonprofit investigative newsroom funded by foundations and reader donations – a broader incumbent that competes for the same national foundation grants and donor dollars while operating at significantly greater scale than Tulsa Flyer.

Direct peers

• Tulsa World: The dominant for-profit daily newspaper in the Tulsa metropolitan market – the primary commercial competitor for Tulsa local news audience attention and advertising dollars, with overlapping government, schools, and culture coverage beats.
• Block Club Chicago: Member-supported, nonprofit digital-first local newsroom covering Chicago neighborhoods – the closest U.S. analogue to Tulsa Flyer's neighborhood-by-neighborhood free news model, also reliant on reader donations starting under $20/month and email newsletter distribution.
• The Colorado Sun: Reader-funded, nonprofit digital newsroom covering Colorado statewide news from Denver – a comparable digital-first nonprofit news model operating in a similar mid-sized U.S. state, sharing donor-supported revenue mechanics and email-driven distribution with Tulsa Flyer.
• City Bureau: Chicago-based civic journalism nonprofit that operates the national Documenters Network platform which Tulsa Flyer leverages for its Tulsa Documenters program – same civic-empowered reporting mission, and a key infrastructure peer for any comparative analysis of Tulsa Flyer's community journalism model.
• Oklahoma Watch: Nonprofit, foundation-supported investigative newsroom covering Oklahoma state policy and accountability – directly comparable to Tulsa Flyer as a same-state nonprofit news outlet targeting overlapping grant funders and partnership opportunities like Snapshot: Mental Health.
• The Frontier: Oklahoma-based nonprofit digital investigative newsroom covering state government, public policy, and health – directly comparable to Tulsa Flyer as a fellow Oklahoma nonprofit news outlet sharing the same donor pool, foundation funders, and collaborative reporting initiatives (e.g., Snapshot: Mental Health).
• The Mendocino Voice: Small-market nonprofit digital newsroom serving Mendocino County, California, on a free, donation- and grant-supported model – a comparable hyperlocal nonprofit news operation showing the same single-market concentration pattern as Tulsa Flyer.
• VTDigger: Vermont's leading nonprofit digital newsroom covering state government, health, and education – comparable to Tulsa Flyer as a single-state, donor-and-grant-funded nonprofit digital news publisher with strong government accountability focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/TulsaFlyer
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@TulsaFlyer
• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php?id=61569890379190
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tulsa-flyer
• Instagraminstagram.com/thetulsaflyer
• TikToktiktok.com/@tulsaflyer

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Subsidiaries1 record

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 Visit Tulsa Flyer