A Conversation with Mariko Chang

Mariko Chang is the director of philanthropy at Honolulu Civil Beat . Before entering the news industry in 2016, she was a fundraiser at the Hawaii Theatre Center and worked extensively for museums.

She talked to INN about the transition from traditional to digital fundraising and the challenges of working in an online environment.

INN: Tell us about your role. What do you spend your days doing?

Mariko Chang: When I first started at Honolulu Civil Beat in 2016, I was one of only two fundraisers, and the outlet had just transitioned to a nonprofit and removed its paywall, so we were? excited at the prospect of building something from the ground up.?

Now, we’ve more than doubled in staff overall and went from 1,100 individual supporters to over 7,200. I manage a small team: someone that does individual support — membership and grassroots donations — as well as an institutional gifts person.

One of the initial challenges we faced is that Civil Beat was founded and largely?funded by the Omidyar Ohana Fund, and we’re fundraising to a community that is aware of Pierre Omidyar’s support. We’d often get asked, “Why do you need my $10 or $100 donation?” Our job is to let our community of readers know that their investment – however big or small – helps ensure Civil Beat’s long term stability. We help them understand that we don't want to be reliant on one primary supporter in case they change their minds one day and go in a different direction. We have to be able to say confidently that we'll still be here tomorrow.

I came from a very traditional fundraising shop where we relied on mass mailings and high touch interactions. So it was a leap to digital fundraising. It was quite liberating to?think about, how might we best spend our time and where can we automate?

INN: What did you do before coming to the nonprofit news field that informs your current work?

MC: I came from arts and culture, and I was curious as to what fundraising for nonprofit news would be like.?

The transferable skills I brought to Civil Beat were the ability to work with a database, a passion for connecting prospective donors with the mission and strong interpersonal skills to communicate with colleagues — in this case, the editorial team — whether it's to pitch a grant or prepare for a big funder meeting.?

In terms of what was really new: I came from a very traditional fundraising shop where we relied on mass mailings and high touch interactions. So it was a leap to digital fundraising. It was quite liberating to?think about, how might we best spend our time and where can we automate? How do we segment and think about the audience in a way that we can begin to scale, but still maintain a personal touch?

Because we can get down into that granular level now. With a fully digital product, we know how often people click, whether they're a loyal reader, what they are clicking on, if we want to tag them in a way that indicates their affinity area.?

INN: What is the most frustrating aspect of your job?

MC: I think one of the pain points of the job initially has evolved into an encouraging aspect of the work. When I first started, there seemed to be a lot more skepticism about giving to nonprofit news. Eight years later, initial meetings or early rejections have turned into significant funding relationships because we have a strong proof of performance, a track record of impact and sound finances. It’s really rewarding to see funder partnerships come full circle.?

We've been trying to identify the areas that Civil Beat really needs to address. On the fundraising side, that means trying to line up community support to ensure that that coverage happens.

INN: What do you find rewarding?

MC: I feel fortunate to be a part of a newsroom that continues to grow. During my time at Civil Beat, we’ve seen cuts and downsizing among many journalism outlets, especially locally. And so we've been trying to identify the areas that Civil Beat really needs to address.

On the fundraising side, that means trying to line up community support to ensure that that coverage happens. For example, identifying funding partners so that we could have a more robust presence on the island of Maui, or trying to identify funders so that we can do more accountability reporting or cover higher education and climate change.

While I don't produce the stories themselves, I see impact from my colleague’s coverage, and as a fundraiser, I get to play a small role in that impact because our team helps make certain stories and special projects possible.

INN: What would you say to someone with your skills who wants to transition to working in news?

MC: I actually think it's not that difficult of a transition to make, and it could be actually really advantageous for newsrooms to bring on a fundraiser with prior experience. Say you've been a fundraiser for the Nature Conservancy. I think you could slide fairly seamlessly into an environmental journalism outlet. You can bring your knowledge of the funding landscape as well as relationships you’ve built over time to the new role. I think it’s quite exciting to explain to a funder why supporting journalism should be part of their giving portfolio.?

But if I'm speaking really candidly, I think you have to be prepared to work in a fast-paced environment. In order to succeed, one has to be resourceful, savvy and as comfortable with tech as one is in-person. We do so much on email, and we're constantly communicating on Slack and working in our donor database.?

We're also in many of the communications platforms that the newsroom operates on, like WordPress. Sometimes I even help write our daily newsletter. I need to understand not just how to write the pitch, but how to build an email in MailChimp with the appropriate tracking link so that donations are logged? appropriately. There's so many different platforms, and they speak to one another.

We have on several occasions actually turned down funding when it's come with strings attached.?

INN: You mentioned seeking funders to support coverage of a particular area or issue. How would you respond to the criticism that philanthropy has too much influence over nonprofit news?

MC: Nonprofit media is still fairly new, especially in Hawaii. And so the way that we've been able to onboard new funders is to say, for example: "Help fund our health reporting with a $10,000 gift, and we'll produce four health-related stories a month." The funder understands that they are investing in a broad issue area, rather than specific stories or topics, and we also abide by the American Press Institute’s guiding principles for nonprofit newsrooms and funders.?

However, managing those deliverables has been a real challenge more recently. In some cases, our fundraising commitments have outpaced our capacity to deliver on those agreements. The news cycle moves so quickly, and people may get pulled in a lot of different directions such as the case with the Lahaina wildfires that devastated Maui last summer. And so sometimes our job is a friendly reminder of, "Hey, we got funding to support this issue area and we need to stay true to that." Other times, it’s a candid conversation with our funders as to why we needed to pivot. In the end, it’s our job to ensure that the editorial team has the flexibility to report on what’s needed, while also maintaining trust with our supporters.?

We have on several occasions actually turned down funding when it's come with strings attached. Our reporting is transparent, so our fundraising is transparent — down to listing every donor that gives to Civil Beat.

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