My usual Sunday roundup of noteworthy journalism is taking the week off, as I prepare to head out of town for most of this week. I’m attending INN Days, a conference for nonprofit news organizations organized by the Institute for Nonprofit News. This is a still very new but immensely consequential field; it’s really the best option we have for a vibrant journalistic future.

I serve on the board of the Northeast Kingdom Public Journalism, the nonprofit operator of The Hardwick Gazette. The “paper” (now a digital weekly) is very successful in terms of journalism, but struggling to achieve financial sustainability.

Not unlike just about every other nonprofit journalism organization besides public radio and television. Well, the broadcasters have their own struggles, but for nonprofit “print” reporting on paper or digital, the challenges are very much existential. We still don’t know if this model actually works.

So I’m traveling to Minneapolis in search of ideas, answers, and connections. No pressure, though.

The Gazette serves 11 communities in the Northeast Kingdom including Hardwick, Craftsbury, Greensboro, Plainfield, and Calais. It’s been in existence for close to 140 years, but was reborn as a nonprofit only a year and a half ago. The previous owner basically decided it wasn’t a paying proposition anymore, and handed over the keys to a group of volunteers who created NEKPJ as a nonprofit governing entity.

The same scenario has played out across the country. Either a for-profit outlet is recreated as a nonprofit, or a new nonprofit steps into a niche or market vacated by the shrinkage of commercial outlets. These new players generally find a receptive audience eager for quality journalism, but an audience that can’t entirely fill the void left by the loss of traditional advertising and print circulation revenue.

People who are involved in these nonprofits are dedicated to journalism. They’re willing to work very hard, often for less money than they could make in less soul-enriching fields. They want this to succeed. But they don’t have the skills, or even inclination, for fundraising and development. It’s an entirely different skillset, not to mention mindset.

The question is, can we develop these skills quickly enough to survive and thrive? The stakes are extremely high. If outlets like The Gazette can become sustainable, then we will have created a new operational model that could ensure the survival of journalism as an enterprise and as a career. If not, then I don;t know where journalism goes from here.

It’s possible that we are at the dawn of a new Golden Age of journalism. In truth, the traditional advertising-supported model creates inherent conflicts of interest. It always has. Corporate journalism has often compromised the quality of its product in pursuit of commercial advantage, or in order to avoid financial risk.

If we can create a sustainable nonprofit model, we could wind up with better and more independent journalism than we’ve ever had before. But nothing is assured.

We are confident that the community support is there for The Gazette; the response to our first big fundraising drive was overwhelming, and we’ve received unsolicited large donations from those with the means to write big checks. But we lack the skills and experience to realize the potential support we know is there for the taking. I’m hoping to return from Minneapolis with at least some of those skills, a bit more experience, and some strategies that have proven effective for other organizations.

Wish me luck.