Form

**CLOSED TO SUBMISSIONS**
Application: Influencers Learning Cohort (2025)

The American Press Institute invites local and community-based media to apply for our Influencers Learning Cohort 2025.

Participating news organizations will receive $3,000 to establish connections and collaborate with local influencers or trusted messengers.

API will help support and enable up to 12 U.S. local and community-based media organizations to:

Experiment with how they collaborate with influencers around their local reporting, e.g. content guides, Instagram or TikTok storytelling or events with candidates.
Join cohort learning calls to exchange ideas, solve problems with peers and provide insights to the API for developing additional local news and influencer resources and programming for 2025.

To be eligible to apply, news organizations must:

Be a local or community media organization based in the United States
Demonstrate an interest in collaborations of local impact, i.e.., with those trusted messengers and influencers within the geographic area of the news organization
Complete the application below in full and commit to completing their project and spending all funds by July 31, 2025.

SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW CLOSED.

For more information, please see the full announcement. For questions, please email grants@pressinstitute.org.

Email*

First name of person completing form*

Last name of person completing this form*

Job title*

Organization*

Organizational tax ID*

Please upload a signed and dated W-9 for your organization.*

This will expedite the delivery of funds, should your application be accepted.

Organization address*

Who will be responsible for signing paperwork related to this grant opportunity? Please provide their name, title and email address.*

API will help support and enable up to 12 U.S. local and community-based media organizations to augment their community engagement efforts by:

Establishing connections with local influencers or trusted messengers to share their local reporting.

Note: For this learning cohort, an influencer is defined as a trusted community messenger with a platform on or off social media. “Influencers” have uniquely local communities of any size. Consider recreational league football coaches, religious leaders, admins of community Facebook groups, as well as foodies and lifestyle bloggers, for example.

The news leader who would 1) be responsible for this type of experiment and 2) will participate in learning calls should complete the following two sections or have their perspective reflected in these answers.

First name of person responsible for influencer project + attending learning calls*

Last name of person responsible for influencer project + attending learning calls*

Job title of person responsible for influencer project + attending learning calls*

Email of person responsible for influencer project + attending learning calls*

Share the names, handles and community descriptors of at least 3 influencers you may collaborate with for this project.*

150 words

Which "project type" comes closest to what you hope to do together?*

Promotion of a reported resource

Promotion of a news organization-hosted event

Community listening

Explanatory storytelling

Experiential storytelling (e.g. "watch me do x or z")

Street interviews

Coverage of a news event

Cohort learning calls will help you further explore what’s possible with local influencers. If you have ideas now, please share what you’re considering.*

250 words

What community coverage, engagement or outreach have you already done or might be planning that might help you build influencer relationships?*

250 words

What reservations might you have in collaborating with community messengers as freelancers?*

250 words

How might you measure the impact for your organization?*

Views (how many times a video was watched)

Reach (how many people saw the video)

Shares and other accounts sharing the post to their stories

Comments (the themes and tone of the comments can give you valuable insights)

Followers (uptick in average follower count pre and post partnership, increase for specific content)

Conversions (subscribe to a newsletter, fill out a survey, register for an event through UTM codes)

What would impact be for your community? How might you measure it?*

250 words

What would your news organization learn for the future?*

250 words

I can and plan to attend the three learning calls:*

Call #1, Thursday, May 8 from 1-2:30 p.m. ET
Call #2, Thursday, May 15 from 1 to 2:30 p.m. ET
Call #3, Tuesday, Aug. 26 from 1 to 2:30 p.m. ET

Yes

I understand my organization will need to submit a short project description and budget breakdown during this grant period, once a project is determined and cleared in writing by API.*

Yes

I have read and accept the conditions for Use of Funds as outlined in information from API*

(e.g. "No funds shall be used to support direct advocacy or lobbying")

Yes

I understand that API will share insights from this experiment with other local and community-based media, including based on the learning calls; through a "learning memo" and potential, reasonable interviews or questions to promote their news organization’s successes and insights.*

Yes

If selected, I will cooperate with API requests necessary to award this grant.*

(e.g. signing paperwork efficiently, responding to accounting requests, etc.)

Yes

Anything else we should know as we evaluate your application?*

Expected events over the next four months that affect capacity? Other funders or potential funders for related work? Etc.