BANGOR, MAINE — October 24, 2025 — The Maine Independent News Collaborative (MINC) announced today that it is issuing an open call for applications from independent publishers in Maine to join MINC’s collaborate-over-compete grassroots effort to sustain and grow independent local journalism in Maine.
How to apply: Fill out the application form here.
Deadline: Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
Two years in, MINC has successfully awarded two rounds of grants to participating newsrooms and built a culture of sharing among its members “We are all trying to figure out our sustainability while providing essential service to our communities, and we know that collaboration is key to helping local news stay healthy,” said Bangor Daily News Executive Editor Dan MacLeod.
Collaborative efforts to date include information sharing and coaching on fundraising practices, fiscal sponsorship, and development of a content sharing agreement among newsrooms. In the next year, MINC intends to expand the membership, pursue new methods to facilitate shared reporting, develop incentives for members to fill coverage gaps, and identify opportunities to share certain back office systems across publications. “MINC provides a needed collaborative backbone for the independent journalism world in Maine, and it fits perfectly with the work we have always done to support Maine’s news ecosystem,” said Micaela Schweitzer-Bluhm, Executive Director of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, which publishes The Maine Monitor.
Lee Umphrey, CEO of Eastern Maine Development Corporation, noted that “MINC recognizes how important it is for each news organization to retain its own autonomy — especially the smaller organizations — and to not fear being ‘swallowed up’ by a larger entity. MINC offers identity preservation and growth.”
The generous support of the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation and the Stephen & Tabitha King Foundation made MINC’s formation and pilot possible. Support for membership expansion through this open call for applications and investments in shared resources is provided by the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation and The Broad Reach Foundation.
The Maine Independent News Collaborative was founded by the Bangor Daily News, Eastern Maine Development Corporation and the Unity Foundation. MINC today represents 1.5 million readers served by six news organizations with common values: Amjambo Africa, the Bangor Daily News, the Lincoln County News, The Maine Monitor, Penobscot Bay Press and The Quoddy Tides. The project is fiscally sponsored by EMDC.
The group came together in 2023 to support Maine communities by funding shared-reporting resources, improvements to the digital technologies that deliver our journalism to readers and a collaborative inter-newsroom structure to facilitate statewide accountability and enterprise reporting.
Learn more about the Collaborative at maineindependentnewscollaborative.org.