Cowles Co. is exploring turning over The Spokesman-Review, the city’s 132-year-old daily newspaper, to a nonprofit that partners with local school districts, regional universities, and other nonprofit-based news organizations, the company announced. 

Cowles has entered into an agreement with Spokane-based Comma Community Journalism Lab to transfer the assets of the newspaper and a gift of $2 million. The gift is contingent on Comma raising a $2 million match, Cowles President and Spokesman-Review publisher William “Stacey” Cowles says. 

The transfer is expected to happen within the next three to 12 months, depending on the progress of fundraising efforts and the ability to establish independent accounting, benefits, and human resource departments for Comma. 

Cowles says the idea of changing the multi-generational ownership of Spokesman-Review to a nonprofit model has been in the works for some time. 

“For 132 years, we’ve been good stewards of the newspaper, and I think that we’re acting to put it in good hands again,” Cowles says. “And knock on wood, it will be around for another 132 years.”

Comma Community Journalism was established in 2022  by Rob Curley, executive editor of The Spokesman-Review, to incubate community-centered journalism, amplify diverse voices, and share best practices with independent news organizations worldwide. In September, Comma received its 501(c)3 designation, an important legal distinction that allows for donations to the organization to be tax-exempt, Cowles notes. 

“We’ve been successful in the past at raising nonprofit dollars, but if people donated to us as a corporation, they couldn’t tax deduct them,” Cowles says. 

In addition to donations, the paper also received grants from journalistic foundations that contributed as much as $350,000, he says. However, those grants were only for three years and were set to expire this year, further prompting the company’s decision to move to a community model, he says. 

Comma is based on Gonzaga University’s campus and is home to The Black Lens newspaper, a monthly issue that focuses on the region’s Black, indigenous, and people of color, and Northwest Passages, the Spokesman-Review’s book club and current events forum.  

Moving forward, the organization is expected to be an operating newspaper with educational and community partners that receive philanthropic support, Cowles says. Discussions are underway at the region’s universities and community colleges to create relationships and get students interested in journalism and related fields, such as business, graphic design, education, and computer programming. 

“If the paper’s going to survive, we've got to have more digital subscribers, and who better than college kids and high school kids to help advise us on how to do that,” Cowles says. 

Philanthropic support for the community model will include outright gifts, corporate sponsorships, and individual memberships, Cowles says. Comma has engaged Boston-based Bridgespan Group, a global nonprofit advisory firm, to test the model and identify new opportunities. 

Cowles says the difficult economics of newspapers played a major role in the company’s decision. 

“The newspaper business has been a struggle from an investment standpoint since the Great Recession,” Cowles says. “It’s been difficult because big tech steals headlines, and the new digital world has eliminated brick-and-mortar retailing and print advertising substantially.”

Cowles is the great-grandson of The Spokesman-Review’s founder William H. Cowles. The Cowles Co. is a diversified family holding company engaged in print and broadcast media, real estate, paper manufacturing, timber, and venture investing in the Pacific Northwest. The Company was founded when W.H. Cowles consolidated ownership of The Spokeman and The Review, and published the first merged edition on May 19. 1893. 

The Journal of Business is owned by Northwest Business Press Inc., which is a subsidiary of Cowles Co.