If audience work feels like a never-ending to‑do list right now, you’re not alone. I hear from so many trying to launch new products, deepen community listening, overhaul newsletters and chase revenue experiments all at once — and then wondering why nothing feels like it’s moving.

What I’ve seen, across scrappy startups and legacy newsrooms alike, is that audience development rarely suffers from a lack of ideas; it suffers from a lack of focus. We’re trying to be in all seasons at the same time — planting, tending, harvesting and planning for next year — and burning ourselves out in the process.

That’s why this month, we’re sharing the Audience Almanac framework: a seasonal way to think about your engagement work so you can stop doing “everything” and start doing the right work for the season you’re actually in. Instead of asking “what else should we be doing?,” try asking, “What can we intentionally stop doing for now?”

If you’re ready to stop spinning and actually go somewhere — this month’s newsletter is for you!

📋 The Playbook

Full disclosure: I am not a farmer. 😅 But I do have a bit of a green thumb, and I’ve learned to pay attention to what mother nature has to say about the ways we work — which is honestly how this space came to be.

I devised the Audience Almanac not just as a newsletter, but as a framework for approaching any audience-first initiative with intention. This month’s playbook is your permission slip to stop trying to do everything at once, and your starter guide for figuring out what kind of work to tackle in this moment.

Here’s the core idea: audience engagement moves in cycles, just like a growing season. You don’t plant and harvest in the same week. You don’t rest when there’s tending to do. Each phase has its own purpose — and rushing any one of them costs you later. In this framework, those phases map to four seasons: Spring: Define. Summer: Listen. Autumn: Build. Winter: Sustain.

Here’s a quick snapshot of each:

• 🌱 Spring: Define – Get specific about who you’re here for, what they need, and why you’re uniquely positioned to serve them. This is where you name your audience, set clear engagement goals, choose KPIs that reflect civic impact (not just clicks), and clarify your communication channels and voice.
• ☀️ Summer: Listen – Build real feedback loops instead of relying only on dashboards. This is where you ask readers what’s missing, pay attention to what they say in your inbox and DMs, monitor how they move through your site, and show up where they already gather.
• 🍂 Autumn: Build – Create in direct response to what you heard. You’re launching or refining products — newsletters, events, WhatsApp groups, membership offerings — that clearly trace back to expressed audience needs, and you close the loop by telling people “you told us X, so we did Y.”
• ❄️ Winter: Sustain – Step back, synthesize, and prepare for the next cycle. You’re reviewing what worked (and what didn’t), updating your audience definition and KPIs with what you’ve learned, tending to core relationships, and making sure your tools and systems actually support the strategy you say you have.

The point isn’t to “finish” the cycle. It’s to know what season you’re in — right now — and commit to doing that season’s work well before you layer on more.

If you want a practical way to get oriented, pull your team into a 30‑minute check‑in and ask:

• Can we describe our primary audience in two specific sentences — as actual humans, not abstract theories?
• When was the last time we heard directly from readers (beyond traffic data)?
• Is our latest initiative clearly traceable to something our audience told us they needed?
• When did we last pause to review and update our audience strategy based on what we learned?

Your answers will tell you which season you’re actually in — and, just as importantly, which one needs more attention. From there, you can use the framework (here’s the full post) to set one clear priority for the next 30–90 days instead of chasing 10 at once.

We’ll be coming back to this framework in future editions, and I’d love to hear how you’re using it in your newsroom. 📩 Hit reply and tell me: what season are you in, and what’s one thing you’re choosing to focus on — or consciously let go of — this quarter?

💰 Grants, Fellowships & Funding Radar

• The Data Institute 2026 — Deadline: April 19, 2026 — Amount: free — A two-week training in Washington, D.C., on data journalism, design, charts and coding; applications are open now. Apply here
• Los Angeles Reporting Collective StoryLab Development Grant — Deadline: April 24, 2026 — Amount: $500 stipend — For freelance journalists based in Southern California, with editorial support and introductions to editors; priority is given to SoCal-focused stories. Apply here
• Climate Beacon Newsroom Initiative 2026–2027 — Deadline: April 24, 2026 — Amount: $10,000 and 12 months of training/mentorship — Six U.S.-based newsrooms will be selected to cover climate topics through a solutions lens using visual storytelling; selected teams may also exhibit their work with CatchLight and Photoville in spring 2027. Apply here
• Fund for Investigative Journalism grants — Deadline: April 27, 2026 — Amount: up to $10,000 for regular grants, up to $2,500 for seed grants — Supports investigative reporting across print, internet, broadcast, books, films or podcasts. Apply here
• Knight Cities Challenge — Deadline: April 30, 2026 — Amount: up to $200,000 — A $5 million open call for creative local projects that strengthen local news and information, economic opportunity or community connection across Knight’s 26 communities. Apply here
• 2026 LION Publishers Sustainability Awards — Deadline: April 30, 2026, 5 p.m. PT — Amount: N/A — Recognition for independent news businesses that are keeping their operations and business models strong. Apply here
• Libraries and Local News Initiative — Deadline: May 1, 2026 — Amount: $7,500–$10,000 — A national micro-grants pilot from the Urban Libraries Council and More Perfect for library-newsroom collaborations focused on trusted civic information, community voice and democratic participation. If you’re already partnering with a library or would like to do so, this is your chance! Apply here

🔖 ALSO: If you'd like more timely updates on opportunities like these, RJI fellow Monica Williams created a dedicated resource just for you: Follow Grants For Journalists on LinkedIn here.

📬 One Thing to Try This Month

You already know which questions to ask. Now block the 30 minutes, pull in one or two colleagues, and answer them — honestly, not aspirationally. What season are you in? Write down the one thing you’re committing to for the next 30 days.

And just as importantly: name one thing you’re putting down.

Let us know how it goes — and as always, thanks so much for reading.

In community,
Amanda ✌️

Audience Almanac is a monthly newsletter from Agencia Media — delivering practical frameworks, funding leads and community-first models for publishers doing the work. Subscribe and share.