Membership Puzzle Project is a public research project that explores how news organizations can turn their strongest supporters into members who help sustain their journalism with their time, money, connections, ideas, and expertise.
Since we launched in May 2017, we have studied what motivates people to become members of news organizations, the opportunities and challenges of networked beat reporting, what media can learn from member-driven movements beyond news, metrics for measuring membership success, how newsrooms can develop memberful routines, and more.
As we prepare for our August 2021 sunset, we are issuing a final call for research proposals that can expand the journalism industry’s knowledge of what works – and what doesn’t – among membership models in news. You do not need to have prior research experience to pitch us, and we are eager to receive pitches from both researchers and newsroom practitioners.
We’re particularly interested in…
We invite proposals tied to membership programs and/or memberful routines, and are particularly interested in research proposals that explore the following topics:
Inclusion and equity: Not everyone who cares about journalism can afford to give money, and not everyone who supports the work has a lot of free time to devote to it. If membership is in large part about participation, then a key part of the participation “puzzle” is how to include as many people as possible as members and participants, no matter how much time or money they have. How can newsrooms do this?
Metrics and other key performance indicators: As sites change what they’re optimizing for, what metrics accurately measure member-driven newsrooms’ organizational health (e.g., retention, diversity, inclusivity)? What are the key performance indicators most worth watching? And when numbers can’t tell the story, what can?
Giving and volunteer habits beyond news: As newsrooms explore how they can become engines for change in their communities through practices such as solutions journalism, giving and volunteer habits in other fields are increasingly relevant examples for newsrooms. What can we learn from small dollar, mission-driven giving and volunteerism in other fields that can inform our own efforts to enlist members in our quest for impact and sustainability?
Participation path design: What are examples of successful practices that involve community members in news reporting, production, and site growth? Is there a continuum of practices that make for the most agile membership programs? How can newsrooms employ the ladder of engagement to make member conversion the start of a new journey, not just the end of the standard audience funnel?
Illustration by Jessica Phan
Developing healthy online communities: When people become members of a news organization, they’re not just accessing your newsroom and its knowledge, they’re joining the community of people who gather around your journalism. The stronger your community, the stronger your offer to members is – and the pandemic has underscored the importance of building online spaces that offer an authentic sense of community. How can newsrooms develop vibrant, healthy online communities with strong moderation policies and member feedback loops? We’re particularly interested in lessons from fields beyond journalism.
For examples of previous work, head to our research archives.
next steps
Proposals are due Feb. 28 at 5 p.m. ET. They should be no more than one page and cover the following.
Research goals: What do you hope to accomplish with this research? Who is it for, and how do you foresee them using this research in their work?
Research background: Please offer any relevant information underpinning this research proposal, such as how it’s been developed or any relevant experience you have with the topic. If you’re building on existing/previous research, please include that in this section.
Research design: This can include a rough timeline, research methods, research phases, proposed structure of final publication, etc. If your proposal requires user/audience research, please outline your proposal for who you’ll speak to and how (i.e. survey, interview, focus group).
Please email proposals as a PDF to ideas@membershippuzzle.org. We will select no more than three proposals, and will notify those whose proposals have been selected in mid-March. All research must be completed by May 31, 2021, and we will discuss incremental deadlines once the final proposals have been selected.
If you have any questions before you submit a proposal, please email Ariel Zirulnick at ariel@membershippuzzle.org. Compensation will vary based on the scope of the research proposed, and we are happy to discuss compensation via email before submission of a proposal.
We look forward to hearing your ideas.