To share our insights beyond the Festival, here are eight common misconceptions about donations, debunked.

Misconception #1: “There’s no framework, nor advantage to a donation model.”

This is, of course, false. While donations have long been seen as a source of revenue that only works in countries with a strong philanthropic culture, this is no longer true today, and the French legal framework has contributed greatly to this change.

Since 2015, the “Charb amendment,” a provision adopted after the attack on Charlie Hebdo, has allowed political and general news media companies to receive tax-exempt donations through associations dedicated to press pluralism. In concrete terms, individuals can deduct 66% of their donation (up to a limit of 20% of taxable income); the organizations Presse & Pluralisme and J’aime l’info are responsible for collecting and tracking donations. This is a strong argument that puts France in an advantageous position compared to its European counterparts.

Misconception #2: “In France, donations are limited.”

This is no longer the case. As documented by La Revue des médias de l’INA, the J’aime l’info platform raised more than €7 million in 2024, compared to €5.1 million in 2023 and €1.8 million in 2020, with a trajectory that could exceed €10 million in 2025 or 2026.

In practice, donations can finance an entire model: for example, Reporterre, a pioneering media outlet in France, claims to be 98% donation-funded in 2024, up 30%. As detailed in their impact report, this represents €3.5 million, the result of donations from 45,821 donors, with 2 million unique visitors to its website and more than 180,000 subscribers to its newsletters. Another example is Vert, a new environmental media outlet launched in 2020, which announced that 90% of its revenue in 2024 would be funded by donations, with more than 12,000 financial supporters, more than 120,000 newsletter subscribers, and 340,000 followers on Instagram.

And they aren’t alone: on the investigative side, StreetPress, a media outlet specializing in the far right, reports 36% of its revenue coming from donations in 2023 and 77% growth in 2024. Disclose is approaching 60%, while Brittany-based Splann! has reached 75%.

Misconception #3: “Only activists are interested in donation models.”

The Guardian has been building its counterexample for the past decade. Without restricting access to its content, the publication is based on a clear vision: “Open to all, funded by many, beholden to no one.” The audience that supports it is not a self-perpetuating circle of activists, but a broad group of readers who defend the common good because they see its value. The nuance is essential: support does not come from a sense of belonging to a particular camp, but from a promise of public interest and a contract of trust.

The motivations put forward are consistent: protecting press freedom, preserving editorial independence, supporting investigation, recognizing the reliability and quality of the work, and holding the powerful to account.

The results speak for themselves: in ten years, revenue from digital readers has grown from around £5 million to £107 million. Now, 72% of the publication’s total revenue comes from digital sources (readers, advertisers, and other sources)—proof that a civic contract can become an economic pillar.

The base of regular supporters has reached approximately 1.3 million people, including more than 182,000 in Europe, with growth of around 20% over one year.

> Read about The Guardian’s reader revenue growth and proposition development

Misconception #4: “Donations cannibalize subscriptions.”

La Croix proves the opposite. The daily newspaper has opened a tax-exempt donation channel via Presse & Pluralisme, alongside its subscription offer.

• Subscriptions sell a service—convenience, apps, frictionless reading.
• Donations fund a mission—pluralism, solidarity formats, tool improvements, investigations.

At La Croix, 90% of donors are also subscribers: donations do not cancel out subscriptions, they add to them. Presented in this way, coexistence becomes natural and editorial balance clearer.

Since 2022, the Catholic daily newspaper has internalized fundraising and reworked its campaigns (targeting, media, messages). The model is gaining momentum and becoming established with a philanthropic approach, leading to the creation of a Philanthropy Manager position in 2024.

As a result, donations now account for 2% of revenue, with around 3,400 donors, most of whom give less than €500.

Misconception #5: “Donations only concern older audiences.”

This is changing thanks to the internet. While the median age of donors in France is 62, a growing number of young people aged 15 to 35 are now contributing financially to the media. Supporting content is part of their habits: online tips, support subscriptions, live fundraising. In other words, the gesture of “I support because it has social value” already exists; the media are getting better and better at activating it.

StreetPress, a free-access investigative media outlet celebrating its fifteenth anniversary, now derives more than a third of its revenue from donations. In its best months, its content reaches around six million people on social media and through newsletters, and nearly three-quarters of this audience is under 35. This requires campaigns to be designed differently: embodying faces and stories, linking donations to a specific format or project, and showing the impact in concrete terms.

The result? After an initial campaign in 2021 that raised €75,000 to launch a newsletter dedicated to the far right, followed by €185,000 in 2023 to develop a collaborative platform on the same subject, StreetPress had gathered more than 6,000 regular donors within a club by 2025.

Misconception #6: “It’s just another source of funding.”

That would be a lot, but if donations work, it’s not just about money. It requires a clear editorial model, a coherent marketing strategy, and rigorous governance.

Vert is proof of this. The media outlet has turned donations into a clear editorial contract, funding open-access environmental journalism, and has translated this into a controlled conversion and loyalty process. The inserts are easy to understand, recurring donations are offered by default, and tax exemptions are explained without jargon. Conversion and follow-up messages are tailored to profiles and synchronized with current events. The relationship is maintained over time through concrete expressions of gratitude, behind-the-scenes insights, and impact reports.

This rigor pays off. In 2024, Vert finances 90% of its budget through donations, with more than 12,000 supporters. On the governance side, transparency is not just for show: reports are public and objectives are clearly stated. In other words, at Vert, donations do not simply add to the revenue stream: they guide the way we produce, explain, and report.

Misconception #7: “Donations are only small amounts.”

Editorial philanthropy exists, and it mainly finances time, which is the lifeblood of production.

Kometa, a media outlet dedicated to literary journalism, photo essays, and debates, is a prime example of this: beyond the fundraising that enabled the media outlet to launch in 2023, raising €760,000 from six investors, grants of €12,000 finance a year of work by authors in difficult fields, with a net cost to the patron of around €4,000 after tax relief. The mechanism is straightforward: a clear offer, symbolic rewards, follow-up, and often a round-table approach where one donor leads to others. It is therefore not just a matter of scattered micro-contributions, but also of major donations that can structure ambitious projects.

Result: in less than two years, the company collected €300,000 in donations, including individual donations, support from foundations, and a crowdfunding campaign.

Transparency note: Médianes, the studio, supported Kometa in its fundraising campaign in 2023.

Misconception #8: “Donations are a one-time thing.”

Recurring donations are becoming commonplace on both sides of the Channel, and even across the Atlantic. At Vert, the club requires a monthly donation for membership; most of its budget now comes from these recurring donations, which give the editorial team visibility.

At The Guardian, transforming one-off donators into regular supporters has become a discipline – “We thank donors, we explain, we give them a behind-the-scenes look, we follow up with substantive reasons, and we build a relationship.” This shift changes everything: cash flow is smoothed out, editorial planning becomes possible, and independence is better protected than it would be with sporadic donations.

Now what?

These cases prove it: donations work when you honestly say what they fund, when you show what they change, and when you agree to be accountable for them. They don’t replace subscriptions, they don’t conflict with advertising: they balance the whole by making it more readable. Guardian, La Croix, Vert, StreetPress, Kometa: they all tell the same story—a contract of trust forged with an audience that chooses to support a common good.

One requirement remains: consistency over time. A clear mission, genuine transparency, regular recurrence, and regular proof of public utility. This is the price that must be paid for donations to definitively move from prejudice to model.

Would you like to learn more about Médianes’ expertise in fundraising campaigns? Visit our website.

Au World News Media Congress WAN-IFRA à Cracovie, trois médias — OKO.press (Pologne), La Marea (Espagne) et la newsletter « What Happened Last Week » (Allemagne) — ont partagé leur stratégie et leurs doutes autour des dons ponctuels et de l’abonnement comme modèles économiques viables et éthiques.

Leur stratégie repose sur un mix solide de marketing, technique (choix de l’outil européen TakTak pour le recueil des dons) et d’éditorial : pas de manipulation émotionnelle, mais un message clair sur la mission du média. La campagne la plus stratégique de l’année repose sur le mécanisme fiscal polonais du « 1,5 % » : les citoyens peuvent allouer cette part de leur impôt à l’organisation de leur choix. Cela représente plus de 20 % des revenus d’OKO.press.

Le montant moyen des dons tourne autour de 35-40 Zloty (environ 8,5 euros), mais l’équipe craint avoir atteint un plafond sur l’audience “convertissable” et se demande s’il ne serait pas temps de lancer un paywall.

Pour s’inspirer : leur excellente landing page de demande de dons.

2. La Marea : la coopération avant tout

Lancée il y a 12 ans comme coopérative suite à l’échec du journal Público, La Marea reste l’un des rares médias espagnols à fonctionner grâce au crowdfunding. Environ tous les deux ans, l’équipe relance une campagne collective, souvent difficile (objectif atteint seulement deux heures avant la fin lors de la dernière levée), mais fédératrice. Les dons ponctuels annuels restent faibles (3 000 €), perçus culturellement comme de la charité.

En chiffres :

• 86,5% des donateurs font des dons réguliers vs 13,5% qui sont des donateurs ponctuels
• 83,6% des donateurs ne sont pas des abonnés
• 94,2% des donateurs ne donnent que lors des campagnes de crowdfunding (organisées tous les 2 ans)

Le média mise plutôt sur la transparence totale (comptes ouverts, refus de contenu sponsorisé) et la confiance de sa communauté. Un exemple récent : une campagne intitulée « Nous cherchons des humains » a généré de nombreuses réactions positives et même un don unique de 500 €. 

En parallèle, La Marea développe des abonnements numériques à faible coût (semestre, annuel) pour encourager l’engagement durable de son lectorat

3. « What Happened Last Week » : du solo à la communauté

La journaliste d’origine Kurde Sham Jaff a lancé sa newsletter “What happened last week” il y a 11 ans pour couvrir les régions du monde ignorées par les médias occidentaux. Au printemps 2025, sa newsletter réunissait 29 000 abonnés.

Si elle a longtemps compté sur les dons ponctuels, elle les juge instables.

« J’écrivais avec un taux d’ouverture très élevé (70 %) mais sans savoir ce qui motivait les dons : le sujet ? le moment du mois ? la compassion ? »

Elle a donc lancé un modèle d’adhésion (« Very Important Potatoes ») à 79 € par an, ou 9€ par mois, plus durable, permettant de mieux planifier ses revenus. 

Elle propose aussi des abonnements cadeau ou groupés. Son approche repose sur la co-construction éditoriale avec sa communauté (retours, enquêtes, suggestions de sources) pour bâtir une relation de confiance.

Dons ponctuels : quel rôle ?

Tous s’accordent à dire que les dons ponctuels ne sont ni suffisants ni insignifiants : ils peuvent initier une relation, mais restent difficilement interprétables en termes d’engagement réel. La clé : ne pas quémander, mais expliquer clairement la mission du média et les conséquences concrètes du soutien. Dominika Michalak (OKO.press) résume : « Il y a une différence cruciale entre demander et mendier ».

Enjeux communs : durabilité, technique et transparence

Si chacun a sa stratégie, tous partagent des principes fondamentaux :

• Technologie robuste : permettant les A/B tests, une excellente UX et un back-office de suivi des dons complet et facilement utilisable
  
• Narration honnête, sans pression émotionnelle artificielle
  
• Coopération entre médias : mutualisation, entraide, plateformes collectives
  
• Éducation douce du public sur les réalités économiques du journalisme

Keeping membership acquisition high

“We’ve come to the conclusion that, at least in our case, the engine slows every 6 months, and something new or different is needed to reignite conversion rates.

Support pushes are placed around the website using Poool Engage, often targeted to different audiences, such as the banner for US readers above. Visibility of their membership product is high thanks to the large homepage banners, smaller banners on articles, mid- and end-of-article modules and button in the top menu.

“In spring 2022, we were at around 6,000 members. We ran a number of big  campaigns and grew in less than a year to 10,000 members. That was when we built our own system to move away from Patreon, allowing us to bring membership to our own website and reintroduce one-time donations . 

We also stopped relying on GoFundMe as a main source of donations – it was perfect for getting off the ground but we knew that we needed to build a centralized solution that would combine both membership and donations. We needed access to first-party data and more control over the infrastructure.

After growth plateaued again, we started doing bigger campaigns around our anniversary with a public counter on new members and a shared target. The banners for this campaign last year had significantly higher click-through rate and we went beyond the target, gaining over 1600 new members in a month.

Today, in January 2025, we’re at 14,500 members. 

We also have great retention rates – our LTV is much longer than a year and our average churn rate in 2024 is at 1.8%.“

The key to all of the above, and foundation of their strategy: a strong mission, trust and emotional connection

“We have a unique, niche proposition – for English speakers to understand what’s happening in Ukraine, from people on-the-ground – and a mission that has an emotional appeal, making readers value our journalism. 

Of course, member benefits are useful and help with retention, but they’re not the primary reason why someone supports us. It’s the overall brand trust, emotional connection, belief in independent journalism. I think this is maybe why we have such interest from American readers, where trust in the media is very low.”

Putting this mission into membership

“We don’t shy away from telling people that we need support, and that membership allows us to exist and grow. We don’t go into desperate mode, this is probably a one-time thing so we’ll save it for a rainy day! 

When we work on new banners or new messaging we try to find a balance between showing readers the unique context of running a newsroom during the war and not sounding too desperate or undermining. For example, we would share with our readers behind the scenes of living in Kyiv during war or how it feels when Russia launches ICBM at your country but we would never shame our readers into asking for support or say that we would close shop if they won’t support us. We want to convey real emotions but don’t want to be tone deaf or “go nuclear” (pun intended) in our messaging. 

This translates into our email marketing too, which is more of a letter, an editorial piece in itself – it has a lot of value whilst also asking for support. 

For instance, we might explain what an air siren is, or how people from the office are told to react if we hear one. We explain, but also share how it impacts people’s lives.”

Breaking through the trust wall

“Getting a certain Joe from let’s say Texas to read a young publication in Ukraine rather than simply get information from Fox News isn’t easy – we need a lot of validation to build trust and go beyond that to convince a reader that we are a high-quality source of objective news . It’s this mission-led, impactful, human journalism that does this. 

We don’t shy away from going to conferences, accepting interviews, and sharing our story – our editor-in-chief was even the first female Ukrainian to appear on the cover of Time!… all this, alongside all the classic distribution, builds up trust.”

Building a community that’s dispersed around the world

“It’s tough mixing an online and offline community, with members in so many different countries. So we just launched this new community map. 

As a member, you can place yourself on the map! It means members actually see themselves as part of the community. 

We also get our journalists involved in the community, regularly being updated on what’s happening by the community manager, we talk to people on discord, plus user research and non-Ukrainians being represented within the company. We actually have 35 foreigners in the team, including Brits, Americans, Japanese, an Australian…

We run community events, in-person and online, we went on a road show with our war crime investigation documentaries, including in the US to meet members along the way. So we make sure to connect in real life whenever possible. Our goal for this year is to help fellow members connect, especially those within the same city. 

Some even come and visit us in the office in Ukraine! We have a top-tier member called Brad who has visited a few times and always brings food to the office! He’s met the team and built that all-important relationship that’s essential for membership.”

Thanks so much Zakhar for the interview, and congratulations to the team at The Kyiv Independent for this important, and very impressive, work.

The Guardian report card: 
1990s = 8th biggest UK paper
2024 = 350m site visits, #7 global news site
Free & open model = no paywall
£88m in digital reader revenues in 23/24
57% digital reader revenues = outside of UK
Guardian Support = voluntary payment 
(includes legacy products: membership, subscriptions and contributions)

Introducing a key acquisitions channel

Traditionally reserved for advertising, the end of an article is perhaps the most lucrative real estate, and a place that The Guardian has really made their own, making it deeply complementary to the journalism.

Today, the famous Guardian ‘Epic’ is their primary acquisition channel.

Running over 1500 A/B test variants in the last few years, the team have made the most of their high traffic, and free, open model to experiment.

Optimizing message copy

‘Supporter motivations’ are a critical building block for driving acquisition and creating a two-way dialogue with readers and supporters. These are largely global, product agnostic, and stable over time.  

1. Editorial independence  
2. Protect the free press  
3. Investigative journalism  
4. Trustworthy, factual, high quality  
5. Holds power to account  
6. Open for all, no paywall  
7. International perspective 
8. Financial challenges in media  
9. Better understand world events  
10. It’s only fair to pay

And translate these motivations into impactful copy:

Whilst A/B testing small aspects of the copy takes time, it really isolates the learning and helps the team better understand where readers see value.

Leaning into news cycles, and speaking to events:

Testing different ways to speak to the news:

Having fun along the way with some tongue and cheek:

Being sure to carry wins across:

And learning from failures:

Optimizing everything else

The famous Guardian article count: a fitbit for news

And testing integrating the payment flow directly into the ask:

• Optimize for recurring revenues via choice
• Push people where you want them to go
• Suggested price points anchor people in but give options for every price point

Whilst continuing to listen to readers: over half of one-time contributors said they were willing to be reminded to give again in the future, under certain conditions. 

Piecing it all together

It’s of course note been a straight trajectory, and there’s always room for development, but this work has paid off in building a world renowned support model.

It’s also been fundamental in allowing them to scale growth alongside their global reach, as well as reshape the existing choice architecture with 3 clearly defined levels of support:

£4 /month – Support

“Our most popular route to support – providing a low barrier to entry and creating a large base of paying readers. They get little in return (Supporter Newsletter) but offer a commercial opportunity to upsell.”

Supporter+ – Subscribe

“Our hero product, which will be maintained at a fixed price point. This will be the best way for readers to support us, it gives Supporters full access to our suite of digital products.”

Supporter Premium – Subscribe

“The premium experience of the Guardian, if Supporter+ gains full digital access, the premium experience offers the same but with as little friction as possible and with the option of bundling with print products.”

So, they shifted from a fundraising mindset to a more traditional subscription….but maintaining the option to give as and when a reader wishes to.

Leaning into the feedback, they’ve clarified the choice and highlighted the value that you’ll get back in exchange for this payment whilst still maintaining the ‘support’ option. It’s about balancing support language, getting people to the point of acquisition, but also getting the most value out of them with flexible options.

And establishing premium experiences as something to pay for.

Knowing that app readers are highly engaged, The Guardian team recently developed the premium Feast app, a cooking companion, and the news app where they introduced the first paywall style format last year. App users can access 20 articles for free before being asked to subscribe.

Thank you so much to Jim and Julia for sharing their insights!

Q: Hi Florence! La Presse is a free media, but also asks its readers to “subscribe” to read online. Can you explain what La Presse’s revenue model is?   

A: La Presse is a 100% free model. However, we have what we call an “authentication readerwall”. We ask desktop users to create an account to read more than 3 stories online a month. 80% of articles read on line are read in an authenticated manner. We had a very rapid conversion rate when we implemented this wall. We do not plan, at this point, to be more aggressive on our platforms. 

Q: What’s the mindset behind this “authentication readerwall”? 

A: Creating reader accounts helps us recognize readers, personalize advertising, and personalize our relationship with our donors. The readerwall allows us to obtain data: it also allows us to better know our audience if we want to personalize our content or identify potential donors. We can also personalize our solicitation. The majority of our philanthropy is based on data segmentation: we do a personalized campaign, based on the donation, and what type of readers our donors are. 

Q: I looked into your annual report. Philanthropy generates revenue, but most of your revenue still comes from advertising.

A: Indeed, but we don’t want to be dependent on a single source of income – advertising or donation. Diversifying revenue ensures that we don’t have only one source of income. The vast majority of our advertising revenues come from our iPad app. The reason is simple: the ads are much more engaging, interactive, and playful. Our readers also have exceptional time spent in the iPad app, so it is attractive for advertisers. 

> The Audiencers is coming to Canada in on March 22nd! Find the agenda for our full-day Festival and reserve your spot

Q: Let’s talk about time spent. I’ll throw in some numbers: every day, 240,000 readers open the tablet app and spend an average of 40 minutes reading it. This is very high, especially if we compare it with the time spent on a mobile app. 

A: Absolutely. Engagement makes all the difference even for our business model. The vast majority of our advertising revenues come from our iPad app. The reason is simple: the ads are much more engaging, interactive, and playful. Our iPad app is still our most important platform because the level of engagement is exceptional. 

Q: Who is your audience on La Presse+, the tablet app?

A: It’s a mix of former print subscribers who migrated to the tablet: those readers will read every section in the app. They are highly engaged and they also are mainly our donors. Those readers are very valuable. In the iPad app, we put a lot of effort into graphics and visuals. There is a playful aspect, in the content and in the ads. It is not just text. 

Q: Do you plan on replicating this very high time spent on your other platforms? 

A: Absolutely. We want to work on engagement in 2024 to see if we can bring La Presse+’s success to our other platforms, desktop and mobile. We know these are short sessions. That raises many questions, including: is there a loyalty issue for the brand?

Q: La Presse launched several newsletters and now notifies its users of all kinds of news. Can you tell me more about the rationale behind those changes?

A: We realized that people used to go to news media to get informed in the past. But now, they expect us to come to them. It forced us to ask ourselves, how are we going to reach them? For us, it has been notifications and newsletters, which are expanding. We have over 950,000 subscribers to our newsletters, and it works well. It’s a way to reach out to readers to bring them back to us.

Q: Finally, the question of advertising revenue earned by Meta, Google, is also at the heart of many discussions in Canada about the future of local media. How do you stand out, what revenue growth (or decline) do you anticipate? 

A: Our goal has always been for people to come directly to our platforms. When Meta banned news links from its platforms in Canada, we saw a decrease on our site, but it wasn’t drastic – and we found our users back on our platforms after a few months. In terms of revenue, we also ensured that we developed data tools to “compete” with US tech giants. But we can offer advertisers products based on ethically collected data, and that’s why our advertising revenue has increased. We recently launched a new platform; the goal was not to compete with web giants but to offer small businesses the possibility to buy advertising in La Presse. 

Q: So what’s next for La Presse? 

A: Since we are in good health, we want to develop and invest in journalism in Quebec. We want to expand our coverage in health. We also plan to have an office in Washington DC for the upcoming elections. The other thing we talk a lot about is getting closer to our readers. We talked about engagement, and how we at La Presse can make sure to get closer and respond in content to their needs.

This interview has been translated from French to English and edited for clarity. Author used AI tools for copyediting (Grammarly).