A news collaborative is a lot like a marriage. And if you’ve actually been in a collaborative for a while, you definitely remember the honeymoon phase. Back when every Zoom call put a little pep in your step. When that first co-reporting project was going to be so easy because you all just got each other.
Shared mission! Shared values! Shared Google Docs! What could possibly go wrong?
Then reality sets in. The honeymoon phase ends. And suddenly keeping a collaborative healthy, productive, and moving in the same direction feels… really hard.
Here’s the thing, though: most collaboratives don’t fail because they lack money, good ideas, people, or exciting technology. More often than not, they struggle because of project management challenges — unclear expectations, communication breakdowns, uneven workloads, lack of structure, or systems that don’t fit the partnership.
The good news? That can be fixed.
That’s where Granite State News Collaborative comes in. We help journalism collaboratives strengthen partnerships, build sustainable structures, solve operational headaches, and add a little mojo back into the relationship between you and your partners.
Strong collaborations don’t happen by accident. They start with clear expectations, honest conversations, and systems that actually work for the people involved. We help partners get aligned around shared goals, clarify roles and decision-making before confusion sets in, spot potential risks early, and build practical governance and coordination structures that help collaborations function smoothly long after the kickoff meeting ends.
Strategy Intensives
Facilitated working sessions designed to help collaborative leadership teams get unstuck, get aligned, and move forward with confidence. Together, we help partners clarify goals, define roles and decision-making structures, identify risks and priorities before they become problems, and turn endless discussion into clear next steps and action plans. We also help collaboratives think through fundraising strategy and long-term sustainability from the start — not as an afterthought.
Training & Workshops
Practical, real-world workshops for collaborative networks, newsroom partnerships, and cohort programs. We focus on the stuff people usually have to learn the hard way: what collaboration models actually work in practice, how to build trust across organizations with different cultures and capacities, how to structure governance and decision-making without creating chaos, and how to avoid some of the most common collaborative pitfalls before they derail the work.
We work with funders to help collaborative projects get off the ground — and stay healthy once they do. That means helping partners figure out whether they’re truly ready to collaborate, getting everyone aligned around shared goals and expectations, putting systems in place that reduce headaches and confusion down the road, and building structures that support long-term sustainability instead of short-term burnout.
This work is also part of Granite State News Collaborative’s broader effort to strengthen local journalism and civic information across New Hampshire. Revenue generated through consulting helps support collaborative reporting projects, workforce development programs, community engagement initiatives and other efforts designed to expand access to trusted local news throughout the state.
If you’re interested in collaborative strategy support, training, facilitation, or funder-sponsored partnership development, we’d love to talk. Please contact:
Melanie Plenda
Executive Director
Granite State News Collaborative
melanie.plenda@collaborativenh.org
Not sure where to begin? We’ve got you—start with our free templates to help you get your collaborative off the ground.
