Community Focus Drives Growth: Investing in Trusted Local News

Across The Pivot Fund’s portfolio, grantees have grown their audiences by an average of 218%—evidence that deeply understanding and serving communities can be a powerful growth strategy.

Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service (NNS) offers another compelling example. Although NNS is not currently a Pivot grantee, its publisher credits an early investment from Pivot CEO Tracie Powell with helping spur the newsroom’s growth.

NNS’s community-first approach was also validated through Pivot’s Great Lakes landscape research. In conversations with nearly 5,000 residents across Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan and Minnesota, NNS was repeatedly—and without prompting—named as a trusted, useful source of information. Even residents outside Milwaukee told us they wished their communities had “something like NNS.”

Their responses reinforce a lesson we see throughout Pivot’s portfolio: Sustainable growth begins with understanding what communities need and building journalism around those needs.

NNS covers Milwaukee neighborhoods and central-city issues, prioritizing usefulness over simply being first. Its journalism helps residents understand not only what happened, but also what it means for their families, neighborhoods and daily lives.

That strong community foundation has fueled significant organizational growth. NNS has expanded from a small team of part-time reporters to nine full-time staff members and now reaches more than 8,400 newsletter subscribers and 30,000 social media followers. Its 2024 merger with Wisconsin Watch also gave the newsroom access to shared business infrastructure and resources while preserving its editorial independence and distinct Milwaukee identity.

This story is part of The Pivot Fund’s Impact Series, highlighting how investments in trusted, community-rooted publishers build stronger organizations, healthier local information ecosystems and more resilient communities.