Overview:
On January 29, BlueLena held its first Community Roundtable of 2026 and shared growth performance metrics, an outlook for 2026, and then moderated a discussion with the organizers of Local News Day: a national day of action for community journalism set for April 9, 2026. BlueLena is a founding partner in the event.
On January 29, BlueLena welcomed an audience of 50+ publishing clients, guests and partners from across the country for a Community Roundtable that shared 2025 performance metrics, reviewed our 2026 solutions roadmap, and then welcomed the organizers of Local News Day, a national day of action for community journalism planned for April 9, 2026. Below is a recap as well as a link to the video recording:
2025: A Year of Strong Community Growth
The Roundtable opened with a look back at year-end fundraising and overall community performance for the period covering November 1 through December 31.
In 2025, publishers working BlueLena collectively raised more than $1.14M in end-of-year campaigns specifically, driven by nearly 10,000 individual contributions, a 20% increase over prior year. Forty-five publishers leveraged BlueLena’s end-of-year services, launching more than 800 unique, customized, segmented and intelligently-targeted email campaigns.
For all of 2025, across the broader BlueLena community reader revenue continued to grow year over year, with $33M in total reader revenue across 259 sites, representing a 16.3% increase over 2024. Growth was especially strong among nonprofit and independent digital publishers including members of LION Publishers and the Institute for Nonprofit News, as well as those in the Rural News Network – reinforcing the impact of thoughtful, diversified and community-focused reader revenue strategies.
But most impressively were the performances of the 20 member sites that are Press Forward Pooled Fund grantees. In 2025, these publishers saw a 69% increase in gross reader revenues versus the prior year, as well as a 78% increase in the sizes of their newsletter audiences.
2025 Growth by Industry Association
| Association | Domained Sites | 2025 Reader Revenue | 2024 Reader Revenue | Net Increase | Revenue/Site | Publisher ROI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LION | 65 | $15,319,999 | $12,819,298 | +19.5% | $235,692 | +19.6x |
| INN | 59 | $17,951,534 | $14,618,869 | +22.8% | $304,263 | +19.4x |
| LMA | 53 | $8,994,702 | $8,463,128 | +6.3% | $169,711 | +21.4x |
| AAN | 65 | $2,177,394 | $1,971,602 | +10.4% | $33,498 | +5.1x |
| Press Forward | 20 | $2,631,191 | $1,556,862 | +69.0% | $131.560 | +5.6x |
| Rural News | 17 | $6,965,887 | $5,521,620 | +26.2% | $409,758 | +23.7x |
| Total All | 259 | $33,063,982 | $28,439,766 | +16.3% | $127,660 | +16.1x |
2025 Growth by Site Access Model
| Access Model | Domained Sites | 2025 Reader Revenue | 2024 Reader Revenue | Net Increase | Reader/Site | Publisher ROI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open | 193 | $20,131,554 | $16,503,999 | +22.0% | $104,309 | +12.8x |
| Metered | 66 | $12,932,428 | $11,935,767 | +8.4% | $195,946 | +26.5x |
| Total All | 259 | $33,063,982 | $28,439,766 | +16.3% | $127,660 | +16.1x |
2025 Growth by Publication Tax Status
| Tax Status | Domained Sites | 2025 Reader Revenue | 2024 Reader Revenue | Net Increase | Revenue/Site | Publisher ROI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonprofit | 73 | $20,867,013 | $17,011,374 | +22.7% | $285,849 | +19.5x |
| For Profit | 186 | $12,196,969 | $11,428,392 | +6.7% | $65,575 | +12.5x |
| Total All | 259 | $33,063,982 | $28,439,766 | +16.3% | $127,660 | +16.1x |
BlueLena will be publishing a comprehensive 2025 annual performance benchmarking report with in mid-February.
2026 Product & Solutions Roadmap
Chief Strategy Officer Ned Berke shared a forward-looking roadmap centered on helping publishers build more resilient, diversified revenue programs. Key priorities include:
- Expanding BlueLena as the industry leading omni-channel lifecycle management hub, integrating email, SMS, WhatsApp, and direct mail – along with paid acquisition services supporting platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Reddit and Linkedin.
- Strengthening customer intelligence by leveraging zero and first-party audience data through a unified database and sophisticated segmentation
- Enhancing analytics, reporting, and documentation to support smarter decision-making through a new on-demand querying and reporting platform
- Continuing to evolve the BlueDepth propensity and donor scoring model to better support reader journeys; small, mid-level and major gifs, including donor-advised funds, and supporting long-term revenue development for news organizations.
The team also introduced our five-stage publisher maturity model, a practical framework to help newsrooms assess where they are today, and then identify the most important priorities to focus goal-setting in 6-to-12 month timescales.
Featured session: Local News Day 2026
The Roundtable coincided with the official public launch of Local News Day, a national day of action taking place on Thursday, April 9, 2026. Inspired by movements like GivingTuesday and Earth Day, Local News Day aims to connect communities with trusted local news and drive top-of-funnel growth for newsrooms nationwide.
Vice President of Programs and Operations Sam Bennet and Bronwen Crowe of Impactual joined Ashley Woods Branch (BlueLena alum and current chief partnerships officer at Planet Detroit) to share the vision for Local News Day, how newsrooms can get involved, and then answer questions from the audience. The initiative features a centralized website and “Find Your Local Newsroom” tool, local activation toolkits, and coordinated national marketing.
How BlueLena Is Supporting the Effort
BlueLena will support participating publishers with Local News Day–specific campaign templates, updated pop-ups and signup forms, temporary welcome-series enhancements, and a series of educational webinars focused on list growth, campaign writing, donation asks, and post-campaign momentum.
To learn more about Local News Day, visit the site or contact support@bluelena.io.
About Impactual
Impactual is a social impact and creative agency operating at the intersection of pop culture, philanthropy, media, and politics. We are woman-owned and powered by a dynamic team of strategists, organizers, and creatives with a passion for creating meaningful change. Through innovative strategies, bold creative, and our all-hands-on-deck approach, we help individuals, organizations, and brands make an actual impact to address some of the most pressing challenges facing society today.
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
BlueLena is majority employee-owned, and backed by investors including Automattic (the parent company of WordPress), the Local Media Association, and Old Town Media.
Mentions: LION Publishing, Institute for Nonprofit News, Rural News Network