Solutions journalism has developed from a reporting approach into a global network of stories, journalists, training programs, and newsroom collaborations. The available figures show both its reach and the resources supporting it: the Solutions Story Tracker lists about 17,600 stories, while earlier annual-report figures document how the network, audience research, partnerships, and operating budget developed over time.
Contents
- The scale of the Solutions Story Tracker
- Global network, languages, and training
- Audience trust and engagement
- Local media collaborations
- Climate and community reporting initiatives
- Funding and expenses
- Earlier benchmarks and program results
The scale of the Solutions Story Tracker
The Solutions Story Tracker is the clearest quantitative window into the volume and geographic spread of solutions journalism. The Solutions Story Tracker home page lists 17,600 stories. A separate figure from the Solutions Journalism Network home records 17,500 stories, so these numbers should be read as measurements from different points rather than added together.
The home-page figures also describe the people and organizations represented in the tracker. The 17,500-story count was produced by 9,970 journalists and included work from 2,200 news outlets. The outlets were located in 102 countries, while the stories covered responses in 199 countries. The tracker included content in 19 languages.
| Tracker measure | Reported figure | Source label |
|---|---|---|
| Stories | 17,600 | Solutions Story Tracker home page |
| Journalists represented | 9,970 | Solutions Journalism Network home |
| News outlets | 2,200 | Solutions Journalism Network home |
| Countries where stories came from | 102 | Solutions Journalism Network home |
| Countries whose responses were covered | 199 | Solutions Journalism Network home |
| Languages | 19 | Solutions Journalism Network home |
These measures describe different dimensions of reach. The 102-country figure concerns where the reporting came from, while the 199-country figure concerns the geographic scope of the responses covered. That distinction matters when interpreting the tracker as an international record of both journalism production and reported solutions.
Global network, languages, and training
The Solutions Journalism Network’s impact page reports a global network of 102,000 journalists trained and using SJN tools. It also lists 1,480 fellows, 208 accredited trainers worldwide, and five university hubs. The network offers more than 150 Learning Lab resources.
The figures indicate several layers of participation. Journalists trained and using tools form the broadest group. Fellows represent a smaller leadership or development community, while accredited trainers and university hubs provide formal channels for spreading the practice. Learning Lab resources add a library dimension to that network, with more than 150 resources available.
Language and geography also appear in the organization’s earlier annual-report figures. In 2021, the multilingual Story Tracker featured 285 stories in 11 languages. Those stories came from 32 countries. The full 2021 Story Tracker counted 12,844 stories, listed 7,293 journalists and 1,609 news outlets, covered 73 newsroom nations, and addressed countries in 176 locations across 14 languages.
The 2021 multilingual subset should not be combined with the full tracker total: it was a defined collection of 285 stories as of November 2021. Together, the figures show how the tracker distinguished between the size of its complete record and the smaller set specifically highlighted for multilingual coverage.
Audience trust and engagement
Audience research in the Solutions Journalism Network’s 2021 annual report measured how people responded to solutions-oriented reporting. The SmithGeiger study surveyed 638 people across six U.S. metropolitan areas. In that study, 79% said local news should identify problems and report solutions.
The same research reported a difference in trust between story formats. Eighty-three percent trusted the solutions story, compared with 55% for the problem-focused story. These are survey results from six U.S. metro areas, not a universal estimate of all news consumers, and the two percentages refer to the story treatments measured in that study.
The 2021 annual report stated a 2025 goal that half of U.S. news consumers would have access to solutions journalism. That is a stated target, not a measured outcome in the figures available here.
Website engagement provides a separate behavioral measure. The SJN 2023 annual report recorded a 64.2% website engagement rate. Sessions averaged 1 minute and 42 seconds. The report also said that the Climate and Democracy Solutions Worth Sharing newsletters grew their subscriber base by 68% in 2023.
In 2023, Custom Story Alerts launched. More than 400 people responded to the Solutions Journalism Directory launch; those respondents worked in 46 countries and represented 36 languages. The directory also attracted 76 organizations based in 17 countries. These counts describe the response to that launch and should not be interpreted as the total size of the global journalism field.
Local media collaborations
The Local Media Project figures in the SJN 2023 annual report document collaboration at the local level. The project catalyzed 15 media collaboratives, and 13 of those collaboratives were financially self-sustaining. Together, the collaboratives produced more than 2,000 pieces, with participation from more than 190 news outlets.
More than 50 participating outlets served and were led by underrepresented communities. The collaboratives also involved 65 civic and educational organizations. These figures connect production volume with organizational participation: the program was not limited to individual reporters or single newsrooms, but included media outlets and civic or educational partners.
The earlier 2021 annual report recorded a smaller collaborative network at a different point in time. It said the SJN collaborative network grew from six collaboratives to nine during 2021. The new collaboratives launched with more than 30 news and community partners.
One example was the Granite State News Collaborative, which raised more than $400,000. Its partnership grew to 20 New Hampshire news, education, and community partners. The 2021 report also said that more than 500 people completed the Public Records Are Power course during its first six months.
Climate and community reporting initiatives
The SJN climate solutions cohort page reports that the 2024 climate solutions cohort had 20 journalists. The cohort produced 60 stories and delivered 30 climate solutions journalism trainings. Those trainings reached more than 350 journalists.
The same source reports that a climate-audio partnership reached more than 100 million listeners in 2024. That is a reported audience-reach figure for the partnership and measurement year stated by the source; it is not a count of unique listeners established by the other figures in this article.
Earlier program figures show how the network also supported regional and educational work. In 2021, the Africa Initiative funded 20 newsrooms in Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. SoJo African fellows published 100 stories that year, and SJN trained 38 trainers in Europe and Africa.
Education programs recorded additional participation. The 2021 HSI Educators Academy had 14 faculty members from seven states. The HBCU Educator Academy supported 16 faculty members. These are program participation counts from the SJN 2021 annual report, not estimates of all journalism educators in those regions.
The 2021 annual report also described a Chicago essential-worker coverage analysis that reviewed more than 80 stories. In that analysis, 66% of people represented or cited were people of color. The city benchmark cited in the report estimated that 70% of Chicago’s essential workers were people of color. The two percentages measure different things: representation in the reviewed coverage and the estimated composition of the essential-worker population.
Funding and expenses
The SJN 2023 annual report recorded $4,934,513 in new grants and revenue. SJN entered that year with approximately $8 million in restricted net assets. Total expenses were $9,456,535, and the report said expenses were 7% lower than in 2022.
The largest reported 2023 expense categories were salaries, payroll taxes, and benefits at $4,785,751; sub-grants at $1,885,862; and website expenses at $184,069. Payroll costs were 3% lower than in 2022, sub-grants fell 15%, and website expenses fell about 20%.
| 2023 measure | Reported amount or share |
|---|---|
| New grants and revenue | $4,934,513 |
| Restricted net assets entering the year | Approximately $8 million |
| Total expenses | $9,456,535 |
| Salaries, payroll taxes, and benefits | $4,785,751; 51% of expenses |
| Sub-grants | $1,885,862; 20% of expenses |
| Professional Fees: Program | 16% of expenses |
| Travel & Events | 6% of expenses |
| Website & Technology | 3% of expenses |
By program-spending share, Systems Change accounted for 84% in 2023. Management & General accounted for 10%, and Fundraising accounted for 6%. The report’s expense-share figures provide a functional view of spending, while the dollar figures identify several specific cost categories.
Earlier benchmarks and program results
The SJN 2022 annual report recorded $8,110,721 in new grants and revenue and approximately $9 million in restricted net assets entering the year. Total expenses were $10,115,233, which the report said was 28% higher than in 2021. Sub-grants totaled $2,224,110 and were 42% higher than in 2021.
Travel and events totaled $484,141 in 2022, up 371% from 2021. Website expenses were $229,270, about 800% higher than in 2021. These percentage changes are the comparisons stated in the annual report; they should be read alongside the reported dollar amounts and the different annual measurement periods.
The 2021 annual report also recorded 20 funded African newsrooms, 100 stories by SoJo African fellows, and 38 trainers trained in Europe and Africa. Taken with the 2023 figures, those measures show the range of activity reported across the period: story production, training, local collaboration, audience engagement, and organizational spending.
For readers comparing years, the most important caution is that the figures are not all the same kind of measure. Tracker totals, annual financial statements, survey responses, program participation, audience reach, and stated goals answer different questions. Keeping their dates, geographies, and source labels attached is essential when using solutions journalism statistics to assess the field.