Guides to Community Building and Membership Models
We are not the first to think about how you can build your community newsrooms and better involve people in your journalistic work. We can draw on a wealth of best-practice examples, guides, and ideas.
We want to gather the best of these here. Let us know if you have any additions. Who or what has truly helped you take the next step in building a newsroom where the community is at the heart of journalistic work—and perhaps even the business model?
Membership Handbuch von the membership puzzle
If you only have time for one read, we recommend this one. The Membership Puzzle Guide provides a detailed overview of everything involved in shifting to member funding and community engagement. It includes examples for each topic, showing in practical terms how it has worked for others. Most importantly, it gives you a clear introduction to what “membership” actually means, compared to subscription models or donation-based revenue.
Playbook und Toolbox vom Listening Post Collective
The Listening Post Collective provides you with a wealth of ideas on how to start gaining new perspectives, reaching people, and listening more effectively. This includes, for example, a survey template that you can use if you’re just at the beginning of your project and want to find out what the biggest information gaps are in the community where you plan to build a news service.
JMR’S Participatory Journalism Playbook
Of course, we put a lot of thought into digital tools for engaging the community. But when it comes to local journalism, participation should also happen on-site. In her guide, Jessikah Maria Ross offers numerous suggestions for well-tested formats. This guide was also published by the Listening Post Collective, by the way.
Engaged Journalism Resources vom EJC
The European Journalism Center has compiled a wide range of examples showing how organizations across Europe structure their journalism and business models around community engagement. This includes a database of over 180 organizations that work in a community-centered way definitely – worth exploring if you want to get inspired by others.
Engagement Toolkit by the Solutions Journalism Network
In our experience, there is a lot of overlap between those interested in solutions-oriented journalism and those focused on community journalism. After all, both ultimately aim for journalism to help us leave the world – starting with our immediate surroundings – a little better than we found it. Accordingly, the Solutions Journalism Network also offers a toolkit that provides various tactics for community engagement.
Community Canvas Guidebook
The Community Canvas Guidebook isn’t written specifically for journalists, but it provides a fantastic overview of everything involved in community building. The Community Canvas is a great tool to see whether you have clarity about who your target audience is and how you want to engage them.
Community Powered Journalism
The book Community Powered Journalism outlines five mindsets we need to build successful newsrooms in and for our communities. And since it’s not just about bringing great stories to light, but also about funding this work, the authors don’t shy away from a few calculations. The book perfectly reflects where we stand in community journalism today (early 2021). Definitely another must-read.
The list doesn’t have to stop here. Let us know which guides we should add. We’d also love to hear which of the sources mentioned have been most helpful to you, or where you’re struggling and still looking for the right guides and templates.
Write to us at hello@beabee.io or reach out to us directly in our Slack channel.
