The Sustainability Maturity Curve for Mission-Driven Media
A new LION report has a 4-stage model for newsrooms. But “Preparing” and “Building” are academic terms. Here’s what those stages feel like, and how to climb them.
What does “Preparing” actually feel like? It feels like Survival.
What does “Building” mean when you’re in it? It means you’re building Structure.
This is the “work behind the work” that’s missing. The LION report is the what. This post is the so what. It’s a translation.
Let’s stop talking like academics and start talking like leaders. Let’s walk the real stages.
Sustainability is not a checklist. It is a curve. Once you see the curve, you start to understand why so many newsrooms feel stuck. The journalism is strong. The purpose is clear. The systems underneath wobble.
It’s just four stages.
Survival (LION’s “Preparing”)
Structure (LION’s “Building”)
Stability (LION’s “Maintaining”)
Strategic Growth (LION’s “Growing”)
Okay, that’s enough setup. Let’s get to the real work.
Stage 1: Survival
I know what you’re thinking. This is us, right? We’ve all been here. Survival mode is just too familiar to deny.
Urgency: Everything is urgent. Everything is reactive. You’re running the place, holding the roof up, and doing the work all at once.
Signs: The signals of a stage 1 organization are all over the 21 items. The founder is still approving expenses. Board meetings happen only when there’s a crisis.
Metrics: We track everything except the things that actually matter. Pageviews. Pageviews matter to ad sales, but they’re just vanity metrics. Don’t get me wrong. A budget matters. A board matters. A plan matters. But you’re not going to build momentum until you move past these basics.
The Challenge: The trick with survival mode is it fools you. It makes you think hard work equals momentum. But it doesn’t. It just leaves you exhausted.
The Leadership Questions for Stage 1
What problem are we truly built to solve?
Who is the smallest audience that actually needs us?
What are we measuring that tells us something real?
Stage 2: Structure
If you’ve ever had a job before, you should recognize this stage. You probably had a desk in Stage 1. A computer in Stage 2. Structure is the stage where you stop relying on memory. You have systems that hold the place together.
Revenue: You know who owns what. You have processes for tracking impact and revenue that make sense. Your budget plan now lasts longer than a single quarter.
Systems: Structure is a job title for revenue. It’s a donor database that’s not an Excel spreadsheet. It’s board meetings that happen quarterly and with a shared agenda.
Metrics: One of the most overlooked signals in LION’s research is about measurement: “The newsroom clearly defines what ‘impact’ means for them and their work.” This is the key.
Survival mode is loud, and it’s frustrating. Structure is the opposite. It’s the slow, repetitive discipline of turning a newsroom into an organization.
The Leadership Questions for Stage 2
What system must exist before we take the next step?
Which metrics show progress instead of just activity?
How do we support the person responsible for revenue?
Stage 3: Stability
The moment a newsroom achieves stability is that point you hear about when the ground literally stops shaking. When you know you’re going to make payroll next month.
Revenue: Stability means more than one stream. It means you stop chasing the next revenue opportunity and you actually know who you serve and why they return.
Processes: One of my favorite signs of Stability in the LION research: “When someone on the team takes a vacation, their work doesn’t collapse.” It’s just a small signal, but small operational shifts create outsized stability.
A few times in my career, I’ve led newsrooms through these stages. I was on the staff of the ONE press when it moved from Stage 1 to Stage 3. It’s also where I met a newspaper executive who had to rebuild his newsroom’s budget from -$10 million to zero over a 12-month period. He had Stage 3 leadership skills.
The Challenge: Stability is dangerous because it fools you into thinking that you’ve arrived. You’re not. But at least you have the right to plan for the future.
The Leadership Questions for Stage 3
What do we do that no one else can match?
Where can we deepen impact without expanding staff?
What part of our work is ready for the next level?
Stage 4: Strategic Growth
Growth is the end game. The key here is that growth is not volume. Growth is clarity. It’s where the systems you built in the other stages start to compound.
Signals: The strongest signals in the LION research all point here.
Example: A stage 1 organization launches a podcast because “everybody is doing one.” A stage 4 organization launches a podcast because they know their audience spends 45 minutes commuting, have tested audio storytelling in their newsletters, and have the production capacity to sustain it.
Intention: A Stage 4 newsroom “turns down opportunities that do not fit with their mission” and is able to “Scale with intention.” Growth isn’t the noise of more. It’s the confidence of clarity.
The Leadership Questions for Stage 4
What would we grow if we could only grow one thing?
How do we scale without losing trust?
What new system must exist to support that growth?
How to Climb the Curve
Understanding your stage is the diagnosis. The prescription is a system.
It’s the ability to prove the value of your journalism. Not feel it. Not believe in it. Prove it. With data that matters to the people who fund your work.
It’s hard. That’s why most newsrooms get stuck in Stage 2 or Stage 3. They know their journalism matters. But they can’t prove it in a way that unlocks new revenue or bigger funders.
Funders don’t want metrics for outputs (stories published, events held). They want to see metrics for outcomes (behavior changed, problems solved, trust built).
This challenge is exactly why we developed the Impact & Trust framework at the American Press Institute. It’s designed to be that repeatable system. The one that turns your mission into a measurable asset.
When you can prove your impact, not just to yourself, but to funders who need evidence? You have the clarity to make better decisions. You have the data to earn new revenue. And you have the confidence to climb the curve.
The Real Work
Let’s be honest. That was a lot. If you made it this far you deserve a thank you.
But here’s the real payoff: Once you know the curve, the real work is right in front of you.
It has two parts. First, leaders need a system that can prove the value of journalism in a way that actually matters to funders. The Impact & Trust framework can be that system.
The second? This is the most important thing you can do next. Stop. Breathe. And think. Don’t react. Be intentional.
When you know your stage, you can lead. You can make the decisions you need to. You can stop chasing growth. Instead, you can grow.
Sustainability is a maturity curve. And it’s yours to climb.
So, let’s make this real.
As you read through those four stages—Survival, Structure, Stability, Growth—which one did you feel? Where is your team, or your newsroom, right now?
The first step in climbing the curve is knowing where you stand. I’d love to hear what you’re seeing.
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