By Eileen Moon, Part 2 in a Series
RED BANK – As it transitioned to nonprofit status, The Two River Times commissioned a 2025 audience survey from News Revenue Hub to explore what the community values most about the weekly paper and what role the newspaper plays in the lives of Two River residents.
The results reflected just how deeply the community values the work The Two River Times has done over the past 35 years.
To the small team of journalists, photographers, advertising sales and production people who labor each week to provide readers with the news they need, the positive response from readers was very good news indeed.
From readers who have made The Two River Times their newspaper of choice since its first issue, to newly arrived residents just getting to know the area, readers praised the paper’s coverage of news and local events, celebrating its decades of service to the diverse communities that embrace the Navesink and Shrewsbury rivers.
“I love The Two River Times, and I have purchased countless issues for many years,” wrote one survey respondent.
“Local journalism is essential to our community well-being,” wrote another. “It is a rare pleasure to read well-written, intelligent articles,” a third reader responded.
“I love getting your paper,” noted another. “That is how I find out what is going on.”
At a time when information flies across the globe almost instantaneously, often circulating without confirmation or validity, finding out what’s going on in our own neck of the woods has grown increasingly difficult.
Once, newspapers were the single source of in-depth information. With the expansion of the digital age, there is an avalanche of information choices, but few of those widely available resources deal with the very local business of life in a small community.
With the advent of the internet, large media outlets faced competition for advertising and subscription revenues, cutting back on local coverage or going out of business entirely. As local media disappeared, information deserts sprang up even in heavily populated states like New Jersey.
But the role of newspapers as a journalistic village green where facts are reported, opinions considered, and achievements are celebrated has never been more critical.
To thrive in the digital age, media outlets have sought new ways to fund and support the important work of journalism. Recognizing journalism as a public service, many news organizations have adopted a nonprofit model. Among the papers operating as nonprofits today are large media outlets like the Philadelphia Inquirer and smaller news outlets in New Jersey, such as the Bernardsville News and the Jersey Bee.
According to the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN), which has been tracking growth in nonprofit media since 2017, its organization now has 500 nonprofit member newsrooms across the nation.
In the current economic environment, “News and information is not a product that a lot of profit can be made from,” said Stefanie Murray, director of the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair University.
The Center, an initiative of Montclair’s School of Communication and Media, is the largest journalism support and research organization in the United States.
“We work with more than 300 information providers to assist them with training, coaching, research support – anything they need,” Murray said. “If they come to us, we figure out how to help them… We have lots of different ways that we can support the journalism news ecosystem.”
At a time when the state’s largest newspaper, the Star Ledger, has ceased publishing a print edition and other traditional media outlets have been hit with cutbacks and layoffs, Murray and the center’s staff are seeing encouraging news at the local level.
“We really look at it from a good, local lens,” Murray said, noting that there have been many very local media startups even as the state’s media giants shrink.
These small media outlets “are very resilient,” Murray said. “There’s a lot happening at the local level. The Two River Times is a great example of this.”
The Two River Times’ change in tax status to a nonprofit provides the community with an opportunity to support the paper through memberships and donations. Unlike many for-profit businesses, the core purpose of journalism is to serve the public good, Murray said.
“Nonprofit news organizations are very mission-driven,” she continued. From board members to beat reporters, that shared mission is defined by community service.
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit newspaper like The Two River Times can accept grants and donations. Rather than simply subscribing, readers may sign up for an annual membership. Their $100, tax-deductible donation is more than a simple exercise – it reflects each donor’s support for the paper’s role within the community. While The Two River Times continues to earn revenue through advertising dollars and single copy sales, as a nonprofit, it is working to build a base of member support that will allow the paper to serve its read- ers for many more years to come.
In addition to annual memberships, The Two River Times welcomes tax-deductible donations of any amount its readers are willing to give, with a special category of support at the “leadership level” of $1,000.
“The model that (nonprofit) tax status helps enable is very, very unique,” Murray said. “It’s building a different model that’s very community-rooted.” The key to succeeding as a nonprofit news organization, Murray said, is letting the community know how important their support is in keeping a trustworthy source of local news alive. “There’s a ton of education that has to happen on a local level,” Murray continued. “Local news is facing an incredibly tough business climate and it’s under a lot of pressure.”
If community members understand that buying a membership or donating is similar to their support for a local arts or humanitarian organization, “It really resonates,” Murray said.
According to a 2025 report from INN, nonprofit media outlets of all types are enjoying significant revenue growth – but those that focus specifically on local news, rather than state, national or global news, are doing especially well. According to INN’s most recent data, local news outlets saw a significant increase in revenue from 2023 to 2025.
Although the rate of new nonprofit startups has slowed, existing outlets are holding their own.
“These organizations often operate with smaller budgets and leaner staff, yet they distinguish themselves through a close alignment with community needs,” INN reported.
But even with a smaller staff and budget, producing a well-written, well-reported newspaper will always require the financial support of the community.
“We really need more people in New Jersey to understand and support nonprofit news,” said Murray. “We’re a very rich state. I would like to see more people with the means (to contribute) come off the sidelines and support nonprofit news.”
As the results of The Two River Times reader survey reveal, the newspaper’s strength is its dedication to community coverage and its commitment to reliable reporting.
“The quality of any great newspaper is that it’s ubiquitous,” said Gabriel Donio, The Two River Times executive director. “It’s everywhere. People have known it and the people who produce it for many decades, and that’s what makes the brand so strong.”
This story is the second in a three- part series about the Two River Times’ nonprofit status.
The article originally appeared in the October 16 – October 22, 2025 print edition of The Two River Times.
