Technical.ly has been awarded a $250K Longwood Foundation catalyst grant

Technical.ly is proud to announce we have been awarded a two-year $250,000 catalyst grant from the Delaware-based Longwood Foundation. It is the largest grant of its kind that our news organization has received in our 15-year history.

We will use the investment to expand Technical.ly’s journalism and community engagement, with the goal of making Delaware’s tech economy more accessible and competitive.

This fall, we will return to providing daily reporting of Delaware’s tech economy in a daily (Monday through Thursday) newsletter, after reducing our output during the pandemic.

What makes the Longwood grant special

The investment is unusual for the Longwood Foundation for at least two reasons: Technical.ly is not a nonprofit, and we are, of course, a news organization (like another organization the foundation invested in this cycle, too).

The grant is noteworthy for Technical.ly for at least two reasons, too: For most of our organizational history, we did not pursue philanthropic support, and this is our biggest organizational initiative after a strategic vision we produced during the pandemic. It just so happens that next year will mark 10 years of Technical.ly publishing in Delaware.

How Technical.ly has changed since we started publishing in Delaware

What changed was a boatload of pandemic-era self-discovery about why we matter.

The COVID-19 lockdowns crushed our old events model, in which we primarily used our regular reporting to engage technologists and entrepreneurs who would come out to events that local companies sponsored. It was effective but a grind, and as tech and startup events became more commonplace, we were undifferentiated. Even as in-person events returned, I knew Technical.ly would not return to the same model we once had.

Our team set off on our first-ever five-year strategic vision, which uncovered many enlightening truths about ourselves from dozens of interviews with readers and non-readers alike. One important insight that emerged was that Technical.ly’s journalism is best understood as primarily serving two waves of key readers:

• Experienced technologists and entrepreneurs who rely on us to keep them tethered to where they live and
• Aspiring technologists and entrepreneurs who rely on us for wayfinding around the resources and programs that are offered where they live.

Across both, we serve cities and states that need accountability and context to adapt their economies through technological upheaval.

We’ve long had a healthy suite of services to help connect our clients to those experienced members of our community. Our strategic vision identified how important it is that we also earn the support of partners who help career changers and others joining the tech economy and entrepreneurship for the first time.

At the core, then, we at Technical.ly gather news and information that doesn’t exist elsewhere to engage a community of professionals whom we introduce to ideas, resources and services. This Longwood Foundation investment will give us the shot to incorporate everything we’ve learned to level up in Delaware — with the expectation that this updated model is sustainable and will radiate out across the other markets we serve and beyond.

The nonprofit helping Technical.ly with the Longwood grant

One logistical detail that will also serve as a full disclosure, too: Though philanthropy is increasingly bolstering news orgs, since Technical.ly isn’t a nonprofit, we need a fiscal sponsor to serve as partner and intermediary to receive the foundation investment. We couldn’t think of a more aligned partner than Wilmington Alliance, the merged economic development group led by Delaware insider Renata Kowalczyk.

Those who know Technical.ly’s journalistic ethics might still wonder if these relationships leave us compromised. What if a challenging story needs to be told about Wilmington Alliance, the Longwood Foundation or others involved? It’s no different than how we handle other client relationships: Our newsroom operates independently than the rest of the team.

Technical.ly only works because we prioritize our community first.

How you can help

As ever, we need your help.

More reporting is coming your way, so if you don’t already, subscribe to our newsletter.

Join the Technical.ly Slack community, and talk with Delaware and Delaware-curious technologists in our Delaware channel.

And if you need to reach technologists, entrepreneurs or a community of innovative professionals, work with us. We’ll only do this together.