Collaborating with other newsrooms and organizations can produce powerful journalism, but it’s also challenging to manage limited newsroom resources for impactful outcomes. That’s why collaborations director Bridget Thoreson teamed up with the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute to develop a collaborations toolkit for community-based newsrooms. In this webinar, Thoreson shares what she and her partners learned from in-depth interviews on collaborative journalism with 39 outlets, 44% serving local audiences, and how you can develop collaborations that serve your community.

Since 2018 Bridget Thoreson has managed strategic editorial collaborations and audience engagement projects with more than 130 newsrooms, as a consultant with social impact firm Hearken and the first Director of Collaborations for the Institute for Nonprofit News, where she launched the 78-newsroom Rural News Network. Now she is Hearken’s Chief Project Officer/Dream Wrangler, connecting journalists with civic information initiatives to support a healthy democracy. Thoreson served as project manager for Election SOS, which brought together 45 organizations to support more than 1,500 journalists during the 2020 election. She got her start as a reporter and editor at a daily community newspaper in Wisconsin and has more than 15 years of experience in journalism and publishing. She also reviews books for the American Library Association and writes the “Explore Your Career River” newsletter. Connect with Bridget on LinkedIn.