Suburban Newspapers of America

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The Cause Is Personal... For All of Us The SNA Foundation has officially kicked off its individual giving campaign. All donations are tax deductible, and will be used for timely research and educational programs to help suburban and community newspapers make the digital transition successfully. Click here to learn more about the SNA Foundation’s Giving Campaign (448 KB PDF) Donate Now

The SNA Foundation is the only organization of its kind that focuses its efforts exclusively on suburban and community newspapers and supports their role as the leading local information providers, now and in the future, by providing information to help them transform in a digital world; thus helping them preserve and enhance the essential role they play in their respective communities — to serve and promote an informed and participatory local citizenship.

The SNA Foundation understands that community newspaper markets are unique and thus face different challenges and opportunities than their large metropolitan daily counterparts. That is why sponsoring specialized research and educational programs is critical in helping our segment of the industry continue to evolve as information needs and access methods change in local communities.

The Suburban Newspapers of America (SNA) Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable trust, is affiliated with Suburban Newspapers of America (SNA), the largest suburban and community newspaper trade association in North America, representing over 2,000 newspapers with more than 22 million in circulation.

Mission

To provide information which guides community and suburban newspaper publishers to better identify and better fulfill future communication needs in changing communities through research and education.

Research and Education

Recent initiatives sponsored by the SNA Foundation include:

Research Project: The Relationship Between Community Journalism and the Public in the Digital Age — Striking a Balance Between Control and Open Access
The SNA Foundation recently received a grant from the McCormick Foundation to fund a research study examining how suburban and community newspaper operations can become more comprehensive and participatory local media by engaging and supporting meaningful public interaction with their online offerings, while still maintaining their journalistic integrity and standards. The goal is to help local publishers learn how they can integrate user submissions in a way that allows them to maintain their reputation and credibility, but also serve their communities in deeper, more relevant and more engaging ways. Results will be available in May 2009.

Specialized Multimedia E-Learning in Partnership with The Poynter Institute’s News University
The SNA Foundation received a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation for a community journalism e-learning initiative to develop e-courses designed specifically to help suburban and community journalists make the transition to a multimedia publishing strategy. These specialized e-courses are designed to help local publishers, editors and journalists learn how to extend their presence from print to multimedia, leverage their influence and serve their communities in even bigger and more relevant ways. Our first two e-courses, Build & Engage Local Audiences Online, and Leading an Online Newsroom: What You Need to Know, are both currently available at NewsU.org. A third course is planned for later in the year. The e-courses are free, interactive, and self-paced.

Insights from Social Networking Best Practices Research Project
This research, released in October 2008, examines how community newspapers can best incorporate social networking into their online offerings to help them increase community engagement and traffic to their Web sites. In-depth analyses of four social networking sites (affiliated with newspapers and from outside the industry) were conducted, including extensive interviews with site executives and nearly 3,000 completed user surveys. Results identify best practices and lessons learned from the sites studied; including content, operational issues, user feedback and revenue models. Based on the combined insights from the executive interviews and the user surveys, we provide guidelines for local newspaper publishers on how they can successfully implement social networking on their Web sites. Request this Report

At the Canadian Newspaper Association/Canadian Community Newspapers Association’s national conference in Montreal, Quebec in May 2009, SNA Foundation Executive Director Susan Karol discusses how community newspapers can benefit from adding social networking to their online offerings. Watch video

Innovation Mission to Norway & Sweden
The SNA Foundation hosted a six-day study mission in September 2008 to meet with executives from innovative Scandinavian media companies to learn about their multimedia and organizational success. The Foundation sponsored an Innovation Mission Multimedia Reporter to accompany our group and contribute articles, blogs, videos and photos about the trip and what we learned. The Foundation is making a comprehensive report, Developing the Local Media House: Lessons Learned from Norway & Sweden, available to the industry at no charge. Request this Report

Community Web Site Research Project
This SNA Foundation/Belden Associates study, with more than 8,500 telephone interviews across 16 states, was conducted to identify what consumers want from a community Web site and also to identify best practice sites among SNA members whose markets were surveyed. This unprecedented research provides valuable benchmarks and guidance to local publishers on developing their own internet strategy. Request this Report

The American Press Institute’s Newspaper Next Innovation Project
The SNA Foundation sponsored SNA member Web site www.WickedLocal.com as one of seven demonstration projects nationwide in the American Press Institute’s transformation report. Disruptive innovation education is used to challenge newspapers to develop innovative, sustainable opportunities and solutions for the future. For a copy of the first Newspaper Next report, Blueprint for Transformation, click here. Newspaper Next’s updated report, Making the Leap Beyond ‘Newspaper Companies’, can be accessed by clicking here.

We Need Your Help

Donations to the SNA Foundation help offset the cost of research projects, analysis of best practices and development of educational materials and seminars. Donations of any amount are greatly appreciated and are tax deductible. Please contact Susan Karol, SNA Foundation Executive Director, at susan.karol@suburban-news.org or 847-251-2401 for information on specific donor programs.

SNA Foundation Board of Directors

Some of the brightest minds from the community newspaper industry make up the SNA Foundation Board of Directors. There is a good mix of companies represented including large publicly-traded and smaller privately-owned. The board also represents a mix of dailies and weeklies but all are the dominant source of local, community news in the markets that they serve. The Foundation Board welcomes your comments, input and ideas for future projects.

Officers
	Chairman of the Board Jack Robb Vice President of Revenue Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. Birmingham, AL
	Vice Chairman of the Board Ben Hall President Digital Press Consortium Director of Online Application Development Cape May County Herald Rio Grande, NJ
	Treasurer Steve Parker Co-Publisher Recorder Community Newspapers Bernardsville, NJ
	Secretary Chris Krug General Manager & Executive Editor Northwest News Group of Greater Chicago Crystal Lake, IL
	Immediate Past Chairman of the Board Kirk Davis President and COO GateHouse Media, Inc. Needham, MA
Directors
	Al Bonner General Manager Lawrence Journal-World Lawrence, KS
	Harrison Cochran Publisher Aurora Publishing Company Aurora, CO
	Betsy Wilson Publisher Montgomery Newspapers Ft Washington, PA
Staff
	SNA FOUNDATION PRESIDENT Nancy Lane President SNA Myrtle Beach, SC
	SNA FOUNDATION EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Susan Karol, PhD Executive Director SNA Foundation Wilmette, IL

More Information

Contact Susan Karol, SNA Foundation Executive Director at 847-251-2401 or susan.karol@suburban-news.org.