BlueLena welcomed three nonprofit funding leaders to share practical strategies for growing reader revenue, strengthening donor engagement and building sustainable journalism organizations. The discussion explored how publishers are using audience analytics, CRM systems, donor engagement strategies and moves management frameworks to deepen donor relationships and grow funding for journalism.
The May, 2026 BlueLena Community Roundtable welcomed development leaders from Montclair Local, Montana Free Press, and Fort Worth Report to share their journeys and lessons learned on building sustainable major gifts programs.
The conversation explored how organizations of varying sizes and maturity levels are using audience analytics, CRM systems, donor engagement strategies, and moves management frameworks to identify high-capacity supporters and deepen donor relationships.
A recurring theme throughout the session was that successful major gifts fundraising is not solely about wealth screening or fundraising tactics. It is fundamentally about relationships, intentionality, and operational discipline.
Panelists shared candid lessons from their own organizations, including:
How they define and structure major gifts programs
The importance of board participation and leadership involvement
Why highly engaged readers are often the strongest major gift prospects
How CRM systems and automations reduce operational burden
The tension between personalization and automation
The role of authentic community engagement in donor cultivation
Despite differences in market size, staffing, and organizational maturity, all three organizations emphasized the same core principle: strong journalism combined with meaningful human relationships creates philanthropic momentum.
The executive summary focuses on how nonprofit newsrooms can leverage audience analytics, CRM systems, and relationship-centered moves management to diversify revenue and deepen community support.
The session was organized and moderated by CJ Ortuño, Principal Advisor, BlueLena and Megan Wofford, Director of Products, BlueLena.
Executive Overview
Core principle: Strong journalism combined with meaningful human relationships creates philanthropic momentum.
Relationships over transactions: Major gifts grow through trust, listening, and consistent one-to-one engagement—not mass appeals alone.
Intentionality and operational discipline: Clear definitions, repeatable workflows, and follow-through turn goodwill into sustained giving.
Audience analytics integration: Engagement signals (opens, clicks, frequency) help identify high-potential prospects who already value journalism.
Personalized donor cultivation: Tailored outreach, timely appreciation, and invitations into the mission convert supporters into long-term partners.
Strategic Framework: Eight Core Principles
Define Major Gifts Contextually Set a major gift threshold that reflects your market, audience, and revenue model rather than external norms. Use segmentation to clarify who receives high-touch stewardship and what “major” means for your organization’s capacity and goals.
Build on Community Momentum Major gifts programs often accelerate after moments of heightened relevance—launch milestones, investigative impact, or community urgency. Capture that momentum with timely outreach, clear messaging about impact, and a plan to steward early champions into repeat supporters.
Prioritize Relationships Over Mass Marketing High-value giving is driven by human connection: coffees, handwritten notes, personal follow-ups, and visible leadership engagement. Treat major gifts as a long-term relationship practice where trust and shared purpose matter more than volume.
Target Highly Engaged Readers Many future major donors are already your most loyal readers and newsletter subscribers. Use engagement data to identify highly engaged non-donors, then approach them with personalized outreach that acknowledges their loyalty and invites deeper participation.
Invest in CRM Infrastructure A CRM is more than a donor database—it is operational infrastructure for tracking touchpoints, coordinating follow-ups, and aligning teams. Integrate donor history with audience engagement data so cultivation is informed, consistent, and measurable.
Balance Automation with Authenticity Automation can reduce operational burden through reminders, task assignments, and acknowledgments, but it should never replace genuine relationship-building. Establish guardrails to prevent over-messaging and ensure communications feel personal, coordinated, and intentional.
Activate Board Participation Boards can accelerate fundraising when expectations are clear and participation is normalized. Equip board members with specific roles—introductions, thank-you notes, hosting small gatherings—and provide simple systems that make stewardship easy to sustain.
Protect Time for Donor Relationships Capacity constraints are universal, so prioritize high-yield relationship work on the calendar. Build repeatable systems and use automation for administrative tasks so staff time is protected for cultivation, stewardship, and meaningful donor conversations.
Polling the Attendees
During the Roundtable, attendees were polled on three questions to better understand the utilization of a donor CRM and moves management system to support major gift development, the biggest impediment to major gift development and where they rank their organization in its major gifts journey:
Where is your organization in its major gifts journey?
Only one-third (33%) of respondents characterize their major gifts program as established and maturing, while 50% of respondents indicated their major gifts program is just getting off the ground and 18% shared that they currently have no formal program in place.
How are you leveraging your CRM to fuel major gift development?
11% of respondents said they are fully leveraging the power of their CRM. 56% responded that they are partially using their CRM while 33% either do not have a CRM or are not using their CRM at all.
What are your biggest current barriers to major gifts?
54% of respondents cited time or capacity constraints as the biggest current barrier to major gift development, while 37% indicated no formal plan or strategy, and 31% indicating a lack of prospective donors to cultivate.
#1 challenge: Time and capacity constraints This was the most common barrier raised by participants. The solution is not more tactics—it’s intentional prioritization and systems that protect relationship work.
Prioritize “relationship work”
Create repeatable systems
Automate operational tasks
Focus on high-yield activities
Put donor meetings on the calendar
Defining Major Gifts: Organizational Examples
Organization
Major Gift Threshold
Notes
Montclair Local
$1,000+
Defines major gifts relative to its community and focuses on high-touch stewardship.
Montana Free Press
$1,000+
Early momentum helped establish donor relationships before formal systems were in place.
Fort Worth Report
$5,000+
Built fundraising into its founding structure with significant early philanthropic backing.
Note on the “movable middle”: Many newsrooms actively cultivate donors giving roughly $500–$2,500, because these supporters often become future major contributors when engaged with consistent, personalized stewardship.
Case Study: The Michael Kemp Story Fort Worth Report received a seemingly random $1,000 online donation and responded with personal outreach. By inviting the donor into the newsroom and investing in relationship-building, the organization converted a one-time gift into deeper, long-term partnership—leading to additional support and broader collaboration over time.
Proven Donor Cultivation Strategies
Community-Based Engagement
In-person coffee meetings
Handwritten thank-you notes
Newsroom pop-ups at local venues
Personalized email responses
Inviting donors into the newsroom
Identifying High-Value Prospects
Use audience engagement data (e.g., newsletter opens, clicks, and reading frequency) to identify highly engaged readers who have not donated. Prioritize personalized outreach that acknowledges their loyalty, connects their engagement to mission impact, and invites a deeper relationship.
“We know you love us. We know you read us. We know you find us valuable.” — Georgette Gilmore, Montclair Local
Leveraging Audience Intelligence
Use audience intelligence tools (e.g., BlueDepth scoring) to identify high-capacity, high-engagement prospects who may be previously untapped.
Append demographic and enrichment data to subscriber records to improve segmentation and prospect prioritization.
Develop targeted campaigns and outreach plans specifically for these high-potential segments, aligned to clear next steps in cultivation.
Essential Technology Infrastructure
CRM System Benefits
Tracking donor touchpoints
Managing follow-up tasks
Identifying renewal opportunities
Coordinating team communications
Triggering automations
Segmenting audiences
Reducing operational friction
Smart Automation Practices
Use automation to reduce operational burden while preserving a relationship-first approach. Effective examples include renewal reminder sequences, donation-triggered task assignments, Slack notifications for new gifts, and internal workflow triggers that ensure timely acknowledgment and follow-up.
Caution: The Limits of Automation Automation should support relationships—not replace them. Establish guardrails to prevent donors from receiving too many messages, conflicting communications, or interactions that feel impersonal. Be explicit about who is communicating, how often, and through which channels so outreach remains coordinated and intentional.
Activating Board Members in Fundraising
Hosting events in homes
Writing thank-you notes
Acting as ambassadors
Participating in campaigns
Making introductions
Contributing financially
Boards are most effective when expectations are clear, fundraising participation is normalized, and staff provide simple systems (templates, lists, reminders, and defined roles) that make stewardship easy to sustain. Treat board engagement as a repeatable workflow—so participation becomes consistent rather than episodic.
Tactical Implementation Roadmap
Audience & Donor Strategy
☐ Identify highly engaged non-donors
☐ Build mid-level donor pipelines
☐ Use engagement signals to guide outreach
☐ Segment audiences intentionally
Donor Cultivation
☐ Ask for advice, not just money
☐ Prioritize coffees and personal meetings
☐ Invite donors into the newsroom
☐ Respond personally and quickly
CRM & Workflow Management
☐ Track all donor interactions centrally
☐ Use tasks and reminders consistently
☐ Create renewal workflows
☐ Integrate fundraising notifications into team tools
Organizational Alignment
☐ Coordinate communication across departments
☐ Clarify donor ownership internally
☐ Define moves management processes early
☐ Involve newsroom leadership visibly
How Major Gifts Programs Begin
Montana Free Press Major donor momentum emerged after the documentary Dark Money elevated awareness of accountability reporting in Montana, generating national attention and philanthropic interest that helped establish early donor relationships.
Fort Worth Report Major gifts were embedded into the organization’s founding structure, launching with substantial philanthropic backing including a $1.25M founding gift and foundation support—building fundraising into its DNA from the beginning.
Montclair Local Major gifts cultivation evolved from organizational reinvention after transitioning away from a print-first model, moving from early tracking methods into a more intentional, relationship-centered fundraising system.
Conclusion: Development as a Team Sport
Successful major gifts fundraising in nonprofit journalism is increasingly built at the intersection of audience analytics, community engagement, CRM infrastructure, and personalized donor cultivation. Technology can improve efficiency and coordination, but it works best when it supports a relationship-first approach.
The strongest programs treat major gifts as a long-term practice: listening, showing appreciation, inviting participation, and building trust over time. This requires operational discipline—clear ownership, consistent follow-up, and shared visibility across teams.
“Development is a team sport.” — CJ Ortuño, BlueLena
Ultimately, the most resilient fundraising programs are built by organizations that treat community relationships as central to their mission—not as a separate function of development alone.
Featured organizations and contributors
Montclair Local
Montclair Local is an award-winning, independent, nonprofit newsroom dedicated to delivering trusted, high-quality reporting that serves and strengthens our community. Founded in 2017, our mission is simple but powerful: to spark dialogue, inform objectively and build community in Montclair.
In 2021, Montclair Local became a nonprofit news organization, ensuring our reporting remains free and accessible to all, without paywalls or special interests. In spring 2023, Montclair Local merged with Baristanet, a pioneering digital news outlet that covered the area since 2004. Together, we’ve created a stronger, more comprehensive nonprofit newsroom that delivers deeper reporting, broader coverage and greater value to our readers.
Georgette Gilmore is the Engagement Editor at Montclair Local where she develops strategies to grow and retain the publication’s audience base; cultivates relationships with local organizations, influencers and community leaders; and implements strategies to increase reader engagement across social media, the website, email newsletters and other platforms.
Montana Free Press
Montana Free Press is an independent, nonprofit newsroom founded in 2016 and dedicated to producing in-depth public-service journalism that holds power accountable, illuminates critical issues, and empowers Montanans with information that drives positive change.
The Free Press works independently and in collaboration with other news outlets to produce meaningful news stories that have an impact on the lives and livelihoods of local communities.
Kristin Cordingley leads the fundraising team at Montana Free Press to support the organization’s mission through donor engagement at all levels, grant writing, and forging partnerships with foundations and corporations.
Fort Worth Report
Fort Worth Report is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization serving Fort Worth, Arlington and Tarrant County. It provides independent, factual news coverage that holds government officials accountable, finds solutions for community issues and strengthens a diverse and rapidly growing city and home county.
Fort Worth Report launched in 2021 to fill the community’s need for more news about local government, schools, business, the environment, health care and other important topics.
Ella Scott-Dean is the Audience & Membership Manager at Fort Worth Report and began as an audience engagement fellow. She previously worked for the Downtown Arlington Management Corp. and was the engagement editor at The Shorthorn, the University of Texas at Arlington’s student publication.
About BlueLena
BlueLena is a strategy consulting and audience management platform founded in 2020 to support the sustainability of independent local media. By combining cutting-edge technology with expert-driven services, BlueLena helps over 250 news organizations across North America develop and manage subscription, membership, and donation models. Its unique shared-resource management approach provides publishers, regardless of size, with access to enterprise-level tools and personalized support, enabling them to focus on high-quality journalism while building loyal, revenue-generating audiences.
Major Gifts Fundraising Strategy for Nonprofit Journalism
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Overview:
BlueLena welcomed three nonprofit funding leaders to share practical strategies for growing reader revenue, strengthening donor engagement and building sustainable journalism organizations. The discussion explored how publishers are using audience analytics, CRM systems, donor engagement strategies and moves management frameworks to deepen donor relationships and grow funding for journalism.
The May, 2026 BlueLena Community Roundtable welcomed development leaders from Montclair Local, Montana Free Press, and Fort Worth Report to share their journeys and lessons learned on building sustainable major gifts programs.
The conversation explored how organizations of varying sizes and maturity levels are using audience analytics, CRM systems, donor engagement strategies, and moves management frameworks to identify high-capacity supporters and deepen donor relationships.
A recurring theme throughout the session was that successful major gifts fundraising is not solely about wealth screening or fundraising tactics. It is fundamentally about relationships, intentionality, and operational discipline.
Panelists shared candid lessons from their own organizations, including:
Despite differences in market size, staffing, and organizational maturity, all three organizations emphasized the same core principle: strong journalism combined with meaningful human relationships creates philanthropic momentum.
The executive summary focuses on how nonprofit newsrooms can leverage audience analytics, CRM systems, and relationship-centered moves management to diversify revenue and deepen community support.
The session was organized and moderated by CJ Ortuño, Principal Advisor, BlueLena and Megan Wofford, Director of Products, BlueLena.
Executive Overview
Strategic Framework: Eight Core Principles
Define Major Gifts Contextually
Set a major gift threshold that reflects your market, audience, and revenue model rather than external norms. Use segmentation to clarify who receives high-touch stewardship and what “major” means for your organization’s capacity and goals.
Build on Community Momentum
Major gifts programs often accelerate after moments of heightened relevance—launch milestones, investigative impact, or community urgency. Capture that momentum with timely outreach, clear messaging about impact, and a plan to steward early champions into repeat supporters.
Prioritize Relationships Over Mass Marketing
High-value giving is driven by human connection: coffees, handwritten notes, personal follow-ups, and visible leadership engagement. Treat major gifts as a long-term relationship practice where trust and shared purpose matter more than volume.
Target Highly Engaged Readers
Many future major donors are already your most loyal readers and newsletter subscribers. Use engagement data to identify highly engaged non-donors, then approach them with personalized outreach that acknowledges their loyalty and invites deeper participation.
Invest in CRM Infrastructure
A CRM is more than a donor database—it is operational infrastructure for tracking touchpoints, coordinating follow-ups, and aligning teams. Integrate donor history with audience engagement data so cultivation is informed, consistent, and measurable.
Balance Automation with Authenticity
Automation can reduce operational burden through reminders, task assignments, and acknowledgments, but it should never replace genuine relationship-building. Establish guardrails to prevent over-messaging and ensure communications feel personal, coordinated, and intentional.
Activate Board Participation
Boards can accelerate fundraising when expectations are clear and participation is normalized. Equip board members with specific roles—introductions, thank-you notes, hosting small gatherings—and provide simple systems that make stewardship easy to sustain.
Protect Time for Donor Relationships
Capacity constraints are universal, so prioritize high-yield relationship work on the calendar. Build repeatable systems and use automation for administrative tasks so staff time is protected for cultivation, stewardship, and meaningful donor conversations.
Polling the Attendees
During the Roundtable, attendees were polled on three questions to better understand the utilization of a donor CRM and moves management system to support major gift development, the biggest impediment to major gift development and where they rank their organization in its major gifts journey:
Where is your organization in its major gifts journey?
Only one-third (33%) of respondents characterize their major gifts program as established and maturing, while 50% of respondents indicated their major gifts program is just getting off the ground and 18% shared that they currently have no formal program in place.
How are you leveraging your CRM to fuel major gift development?
11% of respondents said they are fully leveraging the power of their CRM. 56% responded that they are partially using their CRM while 33% either do not have a CRM or are not using their CRM at all.
What are your biggest current barriers to major gifts?
54% of respondents cited time or capacity constraints as the biggest current barrier to major gift development, while 37% indicated no formal plan or strategy, and 31% indicating a lack of prospective donors to cultivate.
This was the most common barrier raised by participants. The solution is not more tactics—it’s intentional prioritization and systems that protect relationship work.
Defining Major Gifts: Organizational Examples
Note on the “movable middle”: Many newsrooms actively cultivate donors giving roughly $500–$2,500, because these supporters often become future major contributors when engaged with consistent, personalized stewardship.
Fort Worth Report received a seemingly random $1,000 online donation and responded with personal outreach. By inviting the donor into the newsroom and investing in relationship-building, the organization converted a one-time gift into deeper, long-term partnership—leading to additional support and broader collaboration over time.
Proven Donor Cultivation Strategies
Community-Based Engagement
Identifying High-Value Prospects
Use audience engagement data (e.g., newsletter opens, clicks, and reading frequency) to identify highly engaged readers who have not donated. Prioritize personalized outreach that acknowledges their loyalty, connects their engagement to mission impact, and invites a deeper relationship.
— Georgette Gilmore, Montclair Local
Leveraging Audience Intelligence
Essential Technology Infrastructure
CRM System Benefits
Smart Automation Practices
Use automation to reduce operational burden while preserving a relationship-first approach. Effective examples include renewal reminder sequences, donation-triggered task assignments, Slack notifications for new gifts, and internal workflow triggers that ensure timely acknowledgment and follow-up.
Automation should support relationships—not replace them. Establish guardrails to prevent donors from receiving too many messages, conflicting communications, or interactions that feel impersonal. Be explicit about who is communicating, how often, and through which channels so outreach remains coordinated and intentional.
Activating Board Members in Fundraising
Boards are most effective when expectations are clear, fundraising participation is normalized, and staff provide simple systems (templates, lists, reminders, and defined roles) that make stewardship easy to sustain. Treat board engagement as a repeatable workflow—so participation becomes consistent rather than episodic.
Tactical Implementation Roadmap
Audience & Donor Strategy
☐ Identify highly engaged non-donors
☐ Build mid-level donor pipelines
☐ Use engagement signals to guide outreach
☐ Segment audiences intentionally
Donor Cultivation
☐ Ask for advice, not just money
☐ Prioritize coffees and personal meetings
☐ Invite donors into the newsroom
☐ Respond personally and quickly
CRM & Workflow Management
☐ Track all donor interactions centrally
☐ Use tasks and reminders consistently
☐ Create renewal workflows
☐ Integrate fundraising notifications into team tools
Organizational Alignment
☐ Coordinate communication across departments
☐ Clarify donor ownership internally
☐ Define moves management processes early
☐ Involve newsroom leadership visibly
How Major Gifts Programs Begin
Montana Free Press
Major donor momentum emerged after the documentary Dark Money elevated awareness of accountability reporting in Montana, generating national attention and philanthropic interest that helped establish early donor relationships.
Fort Worth Report
Major gifts were embedded into the organization’s founding structure, launching with substantial philanthropic backing including a $1.25M founding gift and foundation support—building fundraising into its DNA from the beginning.
Montclair Local
Major gifts cultivation evolved from organizational reinvention after transitioning away from a print-first model, moving from early tracking methods into a more intentional, relationship-centered fundraising system.
Conclusion: Development as a Team Sport
Successful major gifts fundraising in nonprofit journalism is increasingly built at the intersection of audience analytics, community engagement, CRM infrastructure, and personalized donor cultivation. Technology can improve efficiency and coordination, but it works best when it supports a relationship-first approach.
The strongest programs treat major gifts as a long-term practice: listening, showing appreciation, inviting participation, and building trust over time. This requires operational discipline—clear ownership, consistent follow-up, and shared visibility across teams.
— CJ Ortuño, BlueLena
Ultimately, the most resilient fundraising programs are built by organizations that treat community relationships as central to their mission—not as a separate function of development alone.
Featured organizations and contributors
Montclair Local
Montclair Local is an award-winning, independent, nonprofit newsroom dedicated to delivering trusted, high-quality reporting that serves and strengthens our community. Founded in 2017, our mission is simple but powerful: to spark dialogue, inform objectively and build community in Montclair.
In 2021, Montclair Local became a nonprofit news organization, ensuring our reporting remains free and accessible to all, without paywalls or special interests. In spring 2023, Montclair Local merged with Baristanet, a pioneering digital news outlet that covered the area since 2004. Together, we’ve created a stronger, more comprehensive nonprofit newsroom that delivers deeper reporting, broader coverage and greater value to our readers.
Georgette Gilmore is the Engagement Editor at Montclair Local where she develops strategies to grow and retain the publication’s audience base; cultivates relationships with local organizations, influencers and community leaders; and implements strategies to increase reader engagement across social media, the website, email newsletters and other platforms.
Montana Free Press
Montana Free Press is an independent, nonprofit newsroom founded in 2016 and dedicated to producing in-depth public-service journalism that holds power accountable, illuminates critical issues, and empowers Montanans with information that drives positive change.
The Free Press works independently and in collaboration with other news outlets to produce meaningful news stories that have an impact on the lives and livelihoods of local communities.
Kristin Cordingley leads the fundraising team at Montana Free Press to support the organization’s mission through donor engagement at all levels, grant writing, and forging partnerships with foundations and corporations.
Fort Worth Report
Fort Worth Report is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization serving Fort Worth, Arlington and Tarrant County. It provides independent, factual news coverage that holds government officials accountable, finds solutions for community issues and strengthens a diverse and rapidly growing city and home county.
Fort Worth Report launched in 2021 to fill the community’s need for more news about local government, schools, business, the environment, health care and other important topics.
Ella Scott-Dean is the Audience & Membership Manager at Fort Worth Report and began as an audience engagement fellow. She previously worked for the Downtown Arlington Management Corp. and was the engagement editor at The Shorthorn, the University of Texas at Arlington’s student publication.
About BlueLena
BlueLena is a strategy consulting and audience management platform founded in 2020 to support the sustainability of independent local media. By combining cutting-edge technology with expert-driven services, BlueLena helps over 250 news organizations across North America develop and manage subscription, membership, and donation models. Its unique shared-resource management approach provides publishers, regardless of size, with access to enterprise-level tools and personalized support, enabling them to focus on high-quality journalism while building loyal, revenue-generating audiences.
Our member publishing consortium represents a diverse mix of non-profit and for profit newsrooms, digital and native print publications, as well as established and new media brands. Our clients represent membership with LION Publishers (LION), the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN), Local Media Association (LMA), the Black Press Association (NNPA), the National Association of Hispanic Press (NAHP) and the Association of Alternative Newsmedia (AAN). BlueLena is majority employee-owned, and backed by investors including Automattic (the parent company of WordPress), the Local Media Association, and Old Town Media.
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