Which donations are eligible to be matched by NewsMatch?

NewsMatch will concentrate the distribution of dollar-for-dollar matches from the main seed fund amongst newsrooms that have operating expenses below $1 million in the prior calendar year (January 1 to December 31, 2022).

All active INN members (regardless of size) are eligible to participate in NewsMatch 2023 and receive dollar-for-dollar matches from selected partner funds.

The following donations are eligible to be matched by NewsMatch's national seed funds or partner funds:

• Donations received during the campaign period from November 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023 are eligible to be matched. 
• NewsMatch will match up to $1,000 in donations made by a single donor within the campaign period.
• For merchandise sales, subscriptions, or ticket sales, the portion of the transaction that is considered tax-deductible is eligible for the match. This is typically calculated by the amount contributed minus the fair market value of the sale item.
• Donations that are made by individuals, not businesses or other organizations. Those made through donor-advised funds, family foundations, or other vehicles are eligible to be matched if they can reasonably be seen as coming from a single individual supporting your work. In general, donations made by businesses or institutions where an individual cannot be named are not eligible for the match.
• When reporting donations, gifts may either be counted towards your NewsMatch dollar-for-dollar match or as additional (or “local”) match funds, but not both. For example, if a donor contributes $500 to match donations you receive, their gift would be considered a “local match” and could not be reported as a gift to be matched by NewsMatch.
• We will match anonymous donations of $5,000 and under up to the $1,000 individual donor match cap. INN’s member standards require that members list all donors of $5,000 and above on their websites and that anonymous donations should not make up more than 15% of an organization’s annual revenue. Anonymous donations of more than $5,000 could place an organization in violation of these standards. Newsrooms will have to certify that all submitted donations meet the required eligibility standards for this campaign.
• New recurring donor boost: Any new recurring monthly donation that begins during the campaign period (November 1 to December 31) will be matched at the 12-month value of that donation up to $1,000. For example, a new member that starts a donation of $10/month in December will be matched at $120 ($10 x 12). If a new person makes a donation of $500 a month, we'd only match up to $1,000.
• NewsMatch will also only match up to a certain amount of qualifying donations per newsroom. This is called the match cap. The initial match caps will be announced in September and are calculated based on the size of the NewsMatch fund and the number of participating organizations.