News-Record.com

Key words are:

Charities, educational organizations and civic groups may apply.

Problem with this is that 1) nonprofits have to meet mission goals, which may or may not include community news. and 2) not many are broadlined.

I know that my nonprofit certainly won't have a shot at this.

Perhaps this is something that ActionGreensboro should take on. Maybe a cooperative venture between N&R and ActionGSO? hmm.

Ben, as I read the guidelines, the N&R isn't eligible. Action Greensboro, OTOH ....

Sorry.. wasn't clear on my thought. What I was thinking was...
ActionGSO starts the community news part of it. N&R sponsors part of it, and eventually, the model could be that ActionGSO takes the news part and integrates with N&R in a co-op effort.

In essence, N&R is doing the same thing except with a for-profit model. I don't see why it couldn't merge together as a community news effort, but I'll have to think about it and talk with Tony on the modeling for ads.

What is OTOH?, never seen that one.

Also, the link to J-Labs is not working here on Cypress Street.

OTOH - On the other hand.

I saw that Ed posted with Roch in mind. I'm not sure he can apply for those grants either unless he falls under civic ventures. The whole fact that there's a for-profit model at some point throws out grant money usually (correct me if I'm wrong about that, Roch!). Just pointing it out since we'd all like to apply for it, but there needs to be the right criteria, and only ActionGSO comes to mind at this point.

David: Link seems to be working now. Try again.

Ben,

One possibility is that Greensboro101 could become a non-profit (um, er ... officially).

Action Greensboro and the N&R already have money, access, and power. To me, the granters are seeking to support a different model - note the language "start-up community-news ventures." They cite ohmynews as an example, and the director poses this question:

"Can you create opportunities for citizens to get informed and inform others about micro-news that falls under the radar of traditional news organizations? Can you seed participation in community issues? Can you create a sense of news entrepreneurship? Can you train a new, more diverse generation of journalists in new ways of doing news?"

That's not to say Action GSO and the N&R have to be excluded, just that the model of a collective, a union, or a neighborhood association is more what comes to mind. I posted more on Ed's site that I won't repeat, except this line:

I hope this gets discussed at the Meet-Up.

Greensboro101 wouldn't need to become its own non-profit if it can find an existing one to ask as what's called a "fiscal agent" for the purposes of applying for and handling the grant on its behalf.

BTW, the New Voices project has a blog at
http://www.j-newvoices.org/index.php/site/blog/

I think it's better to have GSO101 file for nonprofit status. To have a nonprofit umbrella protect you (a for-profit venture) is actually a huge no-no in the eyes of the IRS. That was one of the first things my lawyer asked if my nonprofit was involved with.

My suggestions is that either the community files for 501c3, or GSO101 does, or heck, GSO101 becomes community project would work too (if you're willing, Roch). But in all cases, I would never walk down the path that B1X says unless you're looking for trouble in the future. Especially with a couple of the NC laws that have been passed regulating nonprofits.

What Ben said. I've spent years covering nonprofits, including, unfortunately, PTL and Project Homestead. And while it's not impossible to construct a perfectly legal relationship between tax-exempt and non-exempt organizations, you don't want to try it without a very good tax lawyer organizing it for you and monitoring what happens.