The Collegian has several avenues it can pursue in an effort to expand revenue and improve the organization’s bottom line, including grants, subscriptions, donations, and events.

That was the advice Penn State Class of 1992 alumnus Kevin Naff offered to the current Collegian staff during his Alumni Interest Group roundtable on Nov. 14. Naff, a former Collegian opinion page editor, is now the editor and co-owner of the Washington Blade, the nation’s oldest and most acclaimed LGBTQ news publication.

Grants, Naff said, are potentially the most lucrative funding stream available to student media organizations like the Collegian.

“There’s a lot of opportunity – now more than ever – in the grant world, for journalism,” Naff said. “But there’s a lot more competition than there used to be, so your applications have to be laser-focused.”

In addition to a distinguished and award-winning career as a journalist and author, Naff has extensive fundraising and nonprofit experience, having served on the boards of directors for the Collegian Alumni Interest Group and the Penn State LGBT Student Resource Center as well as the Washington, D.C., Chapter of the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Maryland Corporate Council, and Live Baltimore.

Naff, who said he has been writing grants for journalism-related projects since 2016, offered his assistance to Collegian staffers interested in applying for similar funding.

In addition to grants, Naff advised the Collegian staff to establish more online newsletters and to market them to the wider Penn State community of students, faculty, parents and alumni as a means of expanding the publication’s reach and soliciting additional financial support.

“Expanding the newspaper’s subscriber base will pay dividends,” he said.

The Collegian also should consider partnering with other student organizations to sponsor signature events, such as a “Best of State College” special issue, which serves to increase readership and prompt local businesses to purchase advertising.

“It is a great ad driver, and it’s great for community interest and promotion,” Naff said. “It’s good for the Collegian brand. It’s just feel-good all around.”

To view the full November roundtable discussion, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJIHKTP3FGk


Barbara Stack

I started my journalism career at The Daily Collegian, where I covered cops, "radicals and minorities," and served as editorial page editor. After graduation, I worked as a reporter and feature writer for two community papers, The Tribune-Review and the Beaver County Times, before being hired by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. I worked for the Post-Gazette for 27 years as a reporter, assistant city editor and editorial page writer. For a decade I covered issues regarding children and families, and a series of stories I wrote, along with a court case I persuaded the Post-Gazette to pursue, led to an order opening to the press and public dependency hearings in Pennsylvania juvenile court. In 2007, I began working as a blog writer for the United Steelworkers Union, composing blogs and op-eds that were published in the name of the union's international president. I am now retired and working as a consultant for The Pittsburgh Foundation's communications department.