The Gates Family Foundation helped the National Trust finance a new local printing press.

Case Study: Colorado News Ecosystem

Place-based, mission-driven lending to enable a more robust local news ecosystem. 

Lead Organization: Gates Family Foundation

Context / Starting Conditions

At the start, Gates Family Foundation in Denver, Colorado had more than a decade of experience in public media, impact investing, and community development. Prior to engaging in Colorado’s local news landscape, the foundation had built and managed investment portfolios in a variety of sectors such as affordable housing, small business lending, and land conservation.

As the foundation turned its attention to Colorado’s media landscape, it encountered a familiar pattern: long-standing civic institutions under strain, market failure driven by rising costs and consolidation, and a lack of patient, mission-aligned capital. With legacy outlets in decline and the state’s information gaps widening, the foundation applied its financial expertise to a sector it viewed as a disrupted, undercapitalized civic asset essential to healthy, informed communities.

Core Challenge

Colorado’s news ecosystem faced simultaneous pressures on multiple fronts. Legacy newspapers were confronting steep cost increases – printing and distribution costs alone had risen by as much as 40 percent – while advertising revenues continued to erode. For smaller and locally-owned papers, there were few viable exit options. Many owners faced the prospect of selling to hedge funds, often resulting in deep newsroom cuts and long-term hollowing out.

At the same time, new digital startups like The Colorado Sun launched to fill community information needs – but did so without formal business models, capitalization, or clear pathways to sustainability. The ecosystem needed both preservation and innovation, yet had access to neither appropriate financing nor coordinated support.

Catalytic Intervention

Rather than funding individual outlets in isolation, Gates Family Foundation positioned itself as a mission-driven lender and ecosystem anchor. The foundation deployed capital strategically – providing bridge financing, structuring loans with clear milestones, and using its resources to recruit other funders into shared diligence processes.

This approach allowed the foundation to share risk while ensuring that capital flowed in ways aligned with long-term civic outcomes. Lending, rather than grants alone, created scale and durability while signaling confidence in local news as an investable public good under the right circumstances.

Capital Types

The foundation used a diverse catalytic capital toolkit tailored to the needs of different outlets and stages of transition, including:

• Direct concessionary loans with below-market interest rates and longer time horizons
• 100% debt guarantees to unlock additional financing
• Bridge loans during ownership or structural transitions
• Lines of credit to even out cash flow variability
• Technical assistance grants to strengthen operations and business side capacity

These instruments were tailored to specific moments of risk and opportunity across the ecosystem.

Support Structures

Capital was paired with deep, hands-on support. The foundation funded technical assistance to help outlets build revenue models and improve financial planning. Through the Colorado Media Project, it commissioned and shared statewide research on the information habits and needs of Coloradans, providing outlets with actionable audience insights.

Equally important, the foundation served as a navigator, helping Colorado outlets access larger national funders, interpret requirements, and sequence capital in ways that reduced fragmentation and burnout among newsroom leaders.

What This Enabled

This ecosystem-level strategy produced tangible, field-shaping outcomes. In the years following the support of the foundation, the Colorado Sun was able to transition to a nonprofit structure, aligning its mission with sustainable financing. Another partner, the National Trust for Local News, acquired more than two dozen community newspapers in the state, preserving local ownership and reporting capacity.

When commercial printing facilities shut down, the foundation helped the National Trust finance a new local printing press, critical infrastructure that now serves multiple outlets across Colorado and prevents further erosion of the news supply chain.

Early Signals & Learnings

Early indicators suggest the model is working. Loan payments have been made on schedule, reinforcing the viability of concessionary lending in local news. One key learning emerged clearly: growth is not always the goal. In many cases, a smaller, well-capitalized newsroom with manageable costs is better positioned to fulfill its civic mission than a larger organization burdened by unsustainable debt.

Why This Matters for the Field

The Colorado news ecosystem demonstrates how foundations can incorporate catalytic capital tools alongside grantmaking to play a stabilizing, market-shaping role. By prioritizing preservation of capital and expecting repayment while accepting concessionary terms, Gates Family Foundation helped attract other civic-minded investors and normalized lending as a tool to ensure Colorado residents have access to trustworthy, locally relevant news.

For the broader field, this case underscores that with the right capital structures and ecosystem collaboration, local journalism has the capacity to grow, adapt, and endure as a vital civic institution.