News Revenue Hub
Model & Strategy
The News Revenue Hub builds the financial sustainability of small and medium-sized news organizations so that they can focus on producing high-quality journalism accessible to everyone. The News Revenue Hub has developed an innovative product and service solution that helps news organizations build, manage, and grow membership programs in which readers provide sustained financial support to the organization. For a fee, the Hub works with participating news outlets to set up the technical infrastructure, strategy, and tools needed to build a robust recurring revenue stream through memberships.
Mary Walter-Brown is the founder and CEO of the News Revenue Hub, a mission-driven nonprofit organization that helps digital news outlets develop reader revenue programs. Formerly the publisher at Voice of San Diego, Mary helped craft the gold standard for nonprofit news membership programs. She quickly became a trailblazer in the digital news sector leading the charge for news organizations to be more open and honest with their readers about the changing business model for journalism and their role in supporting it.
Mary graduated from Northern Kentucky University with a degree in broadcasting and spent the early part of her career as a TV news reporter and producer. Craving an opportunity to develop strategies and have a deeper impact, she transitioned to nonprofit business development, spending seven years developing a successful loyalty program for blood donors at the San Diego Blood Bank.
Impact
Working with more than 60 news organizations with local, regional, national and global audiences, the News Revenue Hub provides technology solutions, proven best practices, hands-on support and a collaborative environment where news outlets can experiment, solve problems and trade ideas.
In just four years, the News Revenue Hub has helped its member newsrooms raise $25 million in volunteer donations from their readers.
