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‍MEMORANDUM: Global Press Strategic Plan Approved, Key Organizational Updates and 2023 Activities

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On October 21, 2022 the Global Press board of directors convened in person to review the organization’s proposed strategic plan, 2023-2025. The first in-person meeting of its kind since 2020, staff members from New York to Sri Lanka attended to present the plan.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the board unanimously approved the new strategic direction of the organization which includes major changes to editorial structure, audience engagement and global expansion. 

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Comprising five key objectives, the new strategic plan projects a 62% increase in budget size by 2025 and the addition of more than thirty reporters and a dozen new full-time staff. Here is a summary of the plan and key activities coming to Global Press:

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Objective 1: Our Audience

Summary: We will create cross-functional audience teams to simultaneously meet the needs of local audiences across remote regions of the world and serve audiences at scale via mainstream partnerships.

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Key 2023 Activities: Global Press is overhauling how it prioritizes, engages and measures its audience. Our local, coverage country audiences remain our top priority. Given the negative impact of COVID-19 on local media around the world, we will be working to rebuild our partnership networks in each coverage country. Beginning in January 2023, our new team of local audience liaisons will work to ensure wide story reach and brand growth across each GP coverage country. Global partnerships will continue to be led from New York under the leadership of our new Chief Content Officer, Shanté Cosme.

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Global Press is also overhauling the way it measures audience reach and engagement. Global Press is no longer using the previous audience reach estimate of 20 million per month as we no longer believe it to be accurate for a variety of reasons. Namely, this pre-pandemic estimate used rough broadcast and circulation estimates from partners around the world. The tools now exist to gather more precise data. In addition, many of these partners are no longer operating or no longer using Global Press content. In the same period we have grown a number of large-scale news partnerships, such as Quartz and BBC. We've also secured a host of partnerships that require different reach assessments, such as television, textbook and offline partnerships. For now, we’ve opted to use a much more conservative estimate, .1% of our online partners’ monthly page views in addition to our direct and social analytics, while we work to establish more sophisticated metrics for all partnerships. Beginning in Q2 2023, we will report new audience reach and engagement metrics, which will be transparently updated quarterly. We will begin using a new annual reach and engagement metric at the end of 2023. 

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Objective 2: Our Journalism

Summary: To engage our diverse audiences, we know our journalism needs to innovate. We’ll transform editorial leadership to employ more agile systems that yield more diverse and relevant storytelling.

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Key 2023 Activities: Global Press is returning to its regional hub model. New regional editors and full-time editorial teams in each region will increase both quantity and quality of production in English as well as local languages. Most editor jobs will be converted to full-time roles, a return to pre-pandemic staffing models.

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An overhaul of the branding and presentation of our news will include the return of multiple content types and more ambitious cross-border and global storytelling. In addition to its key topics, Global Press will launch storytelling verticals on labor, climate and women’s health. 

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Objective 3: Our Global Footprint

Summary: To maximize audience and impact, we must continue to prove the Global Press model is effective across diverse regions and market types. We will open as many as 20 new bureaus across at least nine new coverage countries, while continuing to expand and strengthen current coverage locations.

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Key 2023 Activities: In 2022, Global Press piloted a return to global expansion with all-virtual training for new reporters in Haiti and Nepal. In 2023, the Institute team will prepare to launch the virtual training program in Puerto Rico and Cote d’Ivoire in 2023. The Institute team will also resume global Duty of Care training, with updated learning materials and hybrid in-person and virtual training opportunities. 

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Objective 4: Our Systems

Summary: To ensure the wellbeing of our global team members, the efficiency of our systems and the potency of our journalism, we will continue to invest in organizational systems that create a stable, well-run organization.

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Key 2023 Activities: In Q1 2023, Global Press will hire its first Director of People and Talent to lead all recruitment and HR operations. Global Press is also investing in significant benefits additions for global team members, from expanding the wellness network to improving IT infrastructure and our global technology refreshment program for reporters around the world. 

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Objective 5: Our Revenue

Summary: To enhance stability and ensure our ability to meet the bold objectives in the plan, we will grow four revenue streams, including institutional, major gifts, events and earned revenue, to ensure a minimum of 60% revenue growth by the end of 2025.

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Key 2023 Activities: Global Press will continue to grow its development and earned revenue teams. The development department will see the addition of one development officer and the earned-revenue team at Global Press News Services will grow significantly under the new leadership of managing director Celia Wu. Earned revenue is expected to nearly quadruple in 2023, and philanthropic revenue is projected to increase by an additional 28%. 

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