Overview:
Through a new pilot program waiving initial append fees for qualifying publishers and complimentary monthly scoring for BlueLena Premium customers, nonprofit newsrooms can now more easily identify high-potential donor prospects, enrich audience records with demographic insights, and develop more effective fundraising strategies. The initiatives further BlueLena's mission of helping independent journalism organizations build sustainable revenue streams through data-driven audience and donor development.
Cary, NC – June 11, 2026 – BlueLena, the journalism industry’s leading strategy consulting, audience and revenue development solution provider powering the growth of over 250 independent journalism organizations, is pleased to announce two new initiatives designed to help nonprofit newsrooms identify, cultivate, and grow their donor communities more effectively.
New pilot program for nonprofit publishers
For up to 20 nonprofit newsrooms that join BlueLena Premium services between now and December 31, 2026, BlueLena will waive the initial BlueDepth™ append fee for up to 5,000 contacts. This pilot program, further described below, allows participating organizations to immediately leverage BlueLena’s proprietary donor intelligence model without the typical upfront append and scoring cost.
Complimentary monthly appends for BlueLena Premium publishers
In addition, all new and existing BlueLena Premium publishers now receive BlueDepth™ scoring for up to 1,000 contacts per month at no additional charge, with data appended and scored in real time as contacts enter the system. This benefit, ongoing for publishers under an active services agreement, enables publishers to continuously score newsletter subscribers, members, donors and event attendees as their databases grow.
“When it comes to audience development, membership, and fundraising, most publishers are not short on ambition — they’re lacking critical insight. They don’t always know who is in their audience, who is missing, where the greatest opportunities for growth exist, or how to engage different audience segments in ways that actually resonate,” said Ned Berke, co-founder and chief strategy officer of BlueLena.
“BlueDepth changes that. By turning audience and demographic data into clear, actionable intelligence, we’re helping more than 100 nonprofit newsrooms move from guesswork to strategy — identifying the people most likely to deepen their relationship with the organization and giving publishers a roadmap for long-term sustainability.
About BlueDepth™
BlueDepth™ is BlueLena’s proprietary donor wealth and propensity scoring model, developed specifically for nonprofit journalism organizations. Unlike off-the-shelf, generalized wealth screening tools, BlueDepth™ works with simply an email contact and evaluates a combination of:
- Audience engagement behaviors
- Donor and supporter characteristics
- Content interests and consumption patterns
- Giving indicators and philanthropic capacity
- Signals associated with support for independent journalism
When BlueDepth™ audience demographic data is successful in matching an email to a customer record, the following attributes are automatically added to the customer contact, updated and stored inside of the publisher’s BlueLena platform:
- First and Last Name, plus USPS Address
- Age, Education Level, Household Income, Net Worth, Homeowner Status
- Lifestage Segment, Interest in News & Current Events and Charitable Giving
BlueDepth™ goes a step further by analyzing, modeling, scoring and segmenting customers based not only on their demographics, lifestyles and interests, but on an individual reader’s actual engagement with the publisher’s newsletters, journalism and reporting.
Since 2020, BlueLena has helped fuel the growth of small, mid-level, and major gift fundraising programs for more than 100 nonprofit newsrooms and in total over 300 journalism organizations across North America.
By helping organizations identify their most promising donor prospects, BlueDepth™ enables fundraising teams to prioritize outreach, personalize engagement strategies, and uncover previously hidden major gift opportunities within their existing audiences.
Learn More
Organizations interested in taking advantage of this limited-time offer or learning more about BlueDepth™ and BlueLena Premium services are encouraged to contact the BlueLena team at solutions@bluelena.io for a demonstration and eligibility review.
As an “Expert” level sponsor at this year’s INN Days (June 16-18, Pittsburgh, PA), we will also have three members of our leadership team attending, hosting 1:1 office hours and administering two repeat learning workshops dedicated to Mid-Level Gift Development.
To schedule a meeting in Pittsburgh during INN Days contact Sam Bennet, Vice President of Operations & Programs at sam@bluelena.io.
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 300 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.
BlueLena is majority employee-owned, and backed by investors including Automattic (the parent company of WordPress), the Local Media Association, and Old Town Media.