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Board of Directors Meeting
Board Meeting — Washington, DC
June 25, 2026
– Research Update: Greg Watson
Roll Call and Welcome
Chair Alan Fisco called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. CDT in Waller Salon F.
In addition to Fisco, officers and directors in attendance were PJ Browning, Bill Masterson, Chris Reen, Brad Waters and Marcus Wilson. Greg Watson, executive director of the America's Newspapers Foundation, also was present.
Guests in attendance were Otis Brumby, John Bussian, Kevin Craig, Pat Dorsey, Jeremy Gulban, Kevin Hall, Brian Jarvis, Ted McGrew, Matt McMillan, Nancy Meyer, Nick Monico, Zachary Richner, Bala Sundaramoothy, Francis Wick and Leonard Woolsey. Dean Ridings of America's Newspapers also was present.
Those attending via Zoom were Director David Woronoff, as well as three guests: Michael Fishman, Brooke Gais and Jana Sayler.
Opening Remarks
Alan Fisco opened by thanking all board members for their support. He welcomed Nancy Meyer (a new member of the association board) to her first Foundation board meeting.
Approval of Minutes
Marcus Wilson made a motion to approve the minutes of the November 3, 2025, meeting. The motion passed unanimously.
Chair's Report
Fisco reported that the Foundation is now fully established as a stand-alone organization and entity. He thanked Dean Ridings and everyone who worked hard to make this happen.
He also noted that the transfer of the Inland Foundation funds to the America's Newspapers Foundation has been completed and expressed his appreciation to Inland.
The Foundation also now has its own staff, with Greg Watson in his new role, being backed up by Sara Willard and Cindy Durham.
The Foundation also now has its own financial infrastructure, including a new chart of accounts and reporting procedures, which positions the Foundation for future grant funding.
On the program front, he noted that the Executive Development Program just graduated its fourth class today. Eighteen emerging leaders were involved in that program over the past year, under the leadership of Sara Willard. Applications will be accepted soon for the next class.
Jacksonville, Florida, was the site of the latest Regional Family Owners Roundtable, with 17 newspapers represented.
This week's Mega-Conference will be the largest to date, with 25 sessions, nine roundtables and 72 different speakers. He asked Ridings to give an update on Mega.
Ridings said Mega 2026 has brought in $547,000 in sponsorships and registrations — a financial record, thanks primarily to the hard work done by Greg Watson, Patty Slusher and Sara Willard. In addition to multiple sessions for attendees to choose between, an after-hours party on Tuesday evening was added, as well as a private reception for Family Owners. And, a Texas Ranch Experience has been added on Wednesday afternoon.
Fisco also highlighted the Roadmap Study (on the research side), with funding provided by the SNPA Foundation. It's focused on aligning newspaper content with readers' needs and is targeted for small- and mid-sized markets, the wheelhouse for America's Newspapers.
Treasurer's Report
Brad Waters presented the treasurer's report, noting first that a joint Finance and Audit Committee for the Association and Foundation met on February 17 and approved the 2024 audit. This was discussed at the Association board meeting, which was held just prior to this Foundation board meeting. PJ Browning made a motion to approve the 2024 audit. The motion was approved.
Waters also reported a 4,550 percent increase in funds, thanks to the Inland Press Foundation giving its endowment to the America's Newspapers Foundation, as well as to continued support from the SNPA Foundation. He noted that this is the final year in the Foundation's agreement with the SNPA Foundation. He said talks are continuing with the SNPA Foundation, in the hopes of extending that agreement.
He reported that, overall, the financials show the Foundation to be under budget, although there is not enough data yet to have good year-to-year comparisons.
He talked about the importance of working on grant proposals to ensure that the Foundation's diverse revenue needs are met.
He said that Brooke Gais of Obermeyer Wealth Partners will do a deeper dive into the endowment and how those funds are doing and being managed. Waters said that meetings are being held with Obermeyer quarterly and reports are being received monthly — allowing the Foundation to keep a good eye on those funds. He said the goal is to avoid risks, while showing growth.
Obermeyer Wealth Partners Report
Brooke Gais reported that she and Ali Phillips, president of Obermeyer, met with the Foundation's Finance Committee earlier this year. They addressed some of the questions and concerns that were voiced and made some adjustments to the portfolio to better align the performance to the Foundation's expectations around the broader market.
As of Friday, she said the portfolio is down about 5 percent year-to-date, whereas the S&P is down a little over 7 percent year-to-date. She said the equity portion of the portfolio is down about 6 percent, which is about a percentage point better than the S&P 500. In the last six weeks, she said equities have had a sharp sell-off, which is being driven by uncertainty around the war between the U.S. and Iran.
She also provided a benchmark performance comparison of where the account sits in relation to a number of different benchmarks. She said the comparison that the majority of investors use is the S&P 500, which is down just shy of 7 percent. The America's Newspapers Foundation account is down 4.89 percent.
While geopolitical turbulence (like wars) cause the market to be shaky, she said that — on average — within one year after the turbulence has settled, the market is typically up an average of 14.2 percent. The main takeaway that she cited: It's not about "timing" the market; it's more about time in the market.
She noted that the Foundation's funds have been invested a bit more conservatively to ensure that, especially during volatile periods, the portfolio is well positioned to weather storms.
Gais also shared some of the portfolio positions that the Foundation owns. She said one of the conversations held with the Finance Committee focused on adding some of what they call ETF positions, which are broad-based positions that give broad exposure and track more closely to the S&P 500. She said they also sold Novo Nordisk, a pharmaceutical position that is unable to renew future patents on its products. The portfolio also includes a number of small positions and is gradually shifting toward some of the more broad-based indexes to allow the portfolio to continue to grow over time.
Finally, she shared details on fixed income and cash positions, which she said allows the Foundation — if it needs to take a distribution when the market is down — to not have to tap into equities; instead, the distribution would come from this more conservative bucket where funds are readily available. Waters said the Foundation's Finance Committee is paying close attention to these allocations and is challenging Obermeyer to keep advising the committee on how safe to play it versus how hard it can be pushed to gain the most growth.
Gais said Watson has a copy of the full report that can be shared with the board.
Research Report
Greg Watson shared an update on the Local Media Roadmap Study with the board. With this study, readers were asked to describe the ideal local content they were interested in. They were being asked how they want to consume local content and what types of local content they are interested in. He said it wasn't until they got 75 percent of the way through the survey that they realized that this was about their local newspaper. It's a forward-looking study that examines what readers want. What it provides is a complete framework for editorial and audience strategy.
It's a national study that was based entirely in suburbs and local markets — the markets that family-owned newspapers service.
From past research studies, Watson said we know that local newspapers are trusted. But, the past two surveys also started showing responses like:
- My local newspaper used to do this …
- I miss this …
- I would be more engaged with my local newspaper if it had this …
Watson said this trend showed what people who were engaged with the paper were missing. He said content alignment is critical — and that's what the Roadmap Study presents.
Watson said a presentation about the Roadmap Study will be the last session on the Mega-Conference program on Wednesday.
The study breaks down content interest among four audiences: Boomers, Gen Xers, Millennials and Women.
Overall, the study showed that the ideal mix of content is 65 percent local news and 35 percent lifestyle. He said the suburban markets are looking for a bit more lifestyle news, whereas the rural markets are a bit heavier on local news — although the difference between the two is minimal.
Within local news, these are the topics that were called non-negotiables — representing almost 70 percent of what Gen X and Millennial readers identify as "must-have" coverage:
- Crime and safety ranks #1 (17 percent)
- Local community news (15 percent)
- Local government (13 percent)
- Investigative reporting (13 percent)
- Policy explained locally (10 percent)
The top 5 lifestyle topics represented almost 80 percent of what the two groups identify as "must-have" coverage:
- Local events/calendar (21 percent)
- Business openings/closings (16 percent)
- Human interest stories (15 percent)
- Local announcements (14 percent)
- Health and wellness (13 percent)
Topics that survey respondents said newspapers could drop:
- National news (Gen Xers and Millennials use other reliable sources. Wire copy builds pages, not loyalty.)
- Standalone state coverage (valued only when directly connected to local impact)
- Traditional opinion pages (fewer than 1 in 3 readers regularly read local editorials)
- Meeting procedural summaries (readers want outcomes and impact)
- Comics, Dear Abby, Horoscope (Millennials and Gen Xers have no interest in comics or these types of syndicated pieces)
Watson said the Foundation will produce playbooks that will help publishers and their editorial teams determine how they will execute the survey findings. The playbooks should be available in the next four to six weeks.
He also has been working with Coda Ventures to develop a news content calculator to help newspapers measure their content. Newspapers that want to use this can either provide Coda Ventures with access to their eEditions or PDFs of their papers; the measurements (by AI) only take a few hours.
In addition, newspapers that want to do their own Roadmap Study in their individual market can work with Coda Ventures at a cost estimated to run between $2,500 and $4,000, depending on the individual market.
While this study will prove very helpful to members of America's Newspapers, Watson said he also believes that this study is something that the Foundation can get additional grant funding around — to help put it into play.
New Business
Approach to fundraising: Fisco said that the Foundation's Executive Committee has been having discussions about the best way to approach fundraising. In addition to identifying funding sources, this involves identifying the types of programs that will be compelling to particular funders.
For example: He cited the Executive Development Program as a good start, but asked: How do we put that on steroids? Does that involve offering similar programs along different tracks?
He also said that there have been conversations with David Grant of Blue Engine Collaborative about assisting with grant writing. Conversations with the Lenfest Institute about Beyond Print also have taken place. Other possibilities include Press Forward for succession planning for family-owned newspapers.
Ridings added that one of the challenges is that there is a misconception that print and legacy newspapers are dead. Funders, he said, are more interested in supporting nonprofits than legacy newspaper organizations.
Fisco asked any board members to share their ideas with him or Watson.
Resignations and appointments: Fisco said Judi Terzotis and Tom Yunt have resigned from the Foundation board. Terzotis was vice chair of the Foundation. PJ Browning has agreed to serve in this role. Chris Reen made a motion to approve Browning as vice chair; the motion was approved.
Formation of Nominations and Governance Committee: Fisco announced that a Nominations and Governance Committee is needed, to be comprised of the Foundation Executive Committee, plus one additional board member — Tim Prince.
Connecting with Solutions Partners
Watson reminded board members of the importance of connecting with the Solutions Partners who are here supporting the Mega-Conference. He encouraged them to make a point to spend time with sponsors and exhibitors, and to take part in the Roundtable discussions on Tuesday.
With there being no other new business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:03 p.m.
The complete financial documents are the Foundation's system of record. Download each below.
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An educational program designed to develop leadership skills and a broader understanding of sustainable business models for local newspaper organizations.
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Family & Independent Owners Meeting, Senior Leadership Conference and Fly-In
- Family Owners meeting: 1–5 pm Sunday, with dinner Sunday night, and 8 am–1 pm Monday, September 27
- Board meetings, followed by a reception and dinner for directors and guests: 3 pm Monday, September 28
- Senior Leadership Conference / NMA Fly-In: 8 am–5 pm Tuesday, September 29 and 8 am–noon Wednesday, September 30
Mega-Conference
- Board meetings: 3 pm Monday, April 19
- Opening reception: 5:30–6:30 pm Monday, April 19
- Mega-Conference sessions: Tuesday and Wednesday, April 20 and 21
Purpose
The America's Newspapers Foundation commissioned the Roadmap Study to answer a single question: what do readers in rural and suburban communities want from their local newspaper now — and how can publishers deliver it. The study is deliberately forward-looking. Rather than grading current performance, it asked 3,000 adults across all nine census regions to describe their ideal newspaper. The result is not a report card. It is a set of reader-defined targets publishers can build toward.
The strategic shift to note is this: we are not deploying the Roadmap as research. We are deploying it as a diagnostic system. The national findings supply the framework; the tools built around them let any local publisher measure their own content, audience, and market against that framework and act on the gap. This converts a one-time study into recurring, practical value for members.
What the Study Found
Local newspapers operate from a position of strength — reach, credibility, and community standing that no social platform can replicate. The challenge is alignment, not reinvention. And it is a content challenge, not a platform one: readers told us what they want covered, not where to publish it.
- Reach and trust remain intact. Local newspapers hold 84% monthly reach — roughly 218 million adults, tied with TV and ahead of social media. 80% of readers call a local newspaper very important to their community, and 85% agree the local press helps sustain democracy.
- Readers defined an ideal content mix. Gen X and Millennial readers want roughly 65% local news and 35% lifestyle — community-sourced reporting, not wire copy. Crime and safety, community news, local government, investigative work, and locally explained policy account for nearly 70% of the news they call non-negotiable.
- Most papers run the inverse of that ideal. The typical paper today is 80–85% news and only about half truly local; the rest is wire services and press releases. Readers also signaled what to reduce — national news, standalone state coverage, opinion pages, and syndicated filler.
- The gap is the opportunity. The distance between content delivered and content wanted is an alignment problem, not a structural or trust problem — and alignment is solvable with the right tools.
The Three Audiences
The study identifies where the future of the franchise sits, and it is not with the print-loyal Boomer reader. Three segments carry the next decade, and each wants different content emphasis through different formats.
- Gen X — the actionable core. More engaged than commonly assumed at 54%, Gen X is the most reachable near-term audience. They want a clear local-news spine — government, schools, public safety, local business — paired with practical lifestyle coverage they can act on.
- Millennials — the highest engagement. At 57%, Millennials are the most engaged group of all, now entering peak years for homeownership, parenting, and community involvement. They want the same substance as Gen X but delivered mobile-first and scannable.
- Women — the re-engagement opportunity. Primarily Gen X and Millennial women, the household decision-makers for both subscriptions and the purchases that follow local advertising. They over-index on community, health, education, and lifestyle coverage.
From Findings to Tools: A Three-Step Diagnostic
Each tool maps to one step of a sequence a publisher can follow from insight to action — understand the model, audit the content, measure the market.
- Audience Playbooks — Understand the Reader. Segment-specific strategy guides for Gen X, Millennial, and Women readers, with a Boomer playbook nearing completion.
- News Content Calculator — Audit the Content. A self-service tool that benchmarks a paper's published content against the 65/35 framework.
- Your Local Roadmap Study — Measure the Market. An affordable, newspaper-specific version of the national study that compares a publisher's own readers against the national benchmark.
The Bottom Line
The Roadmap Study gives the America's Newspapers Foundation a durable, member-facing program rather than a single publication. The findings confirm the franchise is sound; the toolkit gives members a practical way to close the gap between what they publish and what their readers have told us they want.
| Board Position | Name, Title & Email | Affiliation & Location | Term |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chair | Alan Fisco President & CFO | The Seattle Times Company Seattle, WA | 2025–2026 |
| Vice Chair | PJ Browning President & Publisher | The Post & Courier Charleston, SC | 2025–2026 |
| Treasurer | Brad Waters President / Publisher | Sentinel Media Co. Rome, NY | 2025–2026 |
| Immediate Past Chair | Chris Reen President | Clarity Media Group Denver, CO | 2025–2025 |
| Director | Joyce McCullough Former President | Miller Group Media Peru, IL | 2023–2026 |
| Director | Tim Prince Senior Vice President | Boone Newspapers Mountain Brook, AL | 2023–2026 |
| Director | David Holgate Group President | PMG Community Newsgroup, LLC St. Joseph, MI | 2025–2028 |
| Director | Marcus Wilson Chairman Emeritus | BloxDigital Loveland, CO | 2025–2028 |
| Director | Bill Masterson Operating VP, Audience Division | Lee Newspapers Grove, OK | 2025–2028 |
| Director | Cameron Nutting-Williams CRO | Ogden Newspapers Frederick, MD | 2024–2027 |
| Executive Director | Greg Watson Executive Director | America's Newspapers Foundation Tallahassee, FL | Ex-officio |
Overview
Excitement is building for July 4, 2026 — the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. America250 is the formal national initiative organizing public observances of the anniversary across every state and in many cities and communities.
The National League of Cities is launching "Sign ON 250," a country-wide civic initiative to empower millions of Americans of all ages to add their own signatures and endorsement to the founding principles of the Declaration of Independence. The Bob Graham Center and The James Madison Institute are key organizing partners.
The Opportunity for America's Newspapers
America's Newspapers has an opportunity to take a national leadership position in the initiative. Member newspapers could opt in, if they choose, to offer readers in their communities access to Sign ON 250 through their websites. America's Newspapers would be granted a partnership fee, expected to be in the minimum range of $100,000 for its role, and would serve as the exclusive media sponsor.
Participation Options for Newspapers
Newspapers can choose from multiple options depending on their technical capabilities and resources.
1. Embeddable Live Widget
News organizations can add a Sign ON 250 module to their websites by inserting a single line of HTML into their CMS. Features include:
- Real-time signature counts at the national, state, or local level.
- Co-branded landing pages that preserve the newspaper's local identity.
- Inline article modules, sidebar units, and leaderboard placements.
- Mobile-responsive design and asynchronous loading.
- Hosting and delivery through a centralized content delivery network.
2. Static Banner Advertising Option
For organizations that prefer a simpler implementation, Sign ON 250 offers professionally designed banner advertisements in standard digital sizes (728×90, 300×250, 300×600, 970×250) that link to the publication's co-branded landing page. This option requires virtually no technical integration.
3. Flexible Local Promotion
Participating organizations may also use their customized Sign ON 250 link with any creative assets they develop themselves — widget only, banner only, both, or combined with editorial coverage and community outreach.
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