A new Ellsworth nonprofit has set a $1 million fundraising goal to purchase a group of Hancock County-based weekly newspapers by the summer of 2027.
Acadia Newspaper Trust, a recently-created local nonprofit, said Wednesday it hopes to buy the Ellsworth American, Mount Desert Islander and the Bangor Historian from Reade Brower, a Maine newspaper businessman who previously owned several newspapers now owned by another nonprofit, the The Maine Trust for Local News.
The acquisition would mark the latest effort to reorient local newspapers under nonprofit stewardship. Brower sold 22 of his daily and weekly newspapers, including the Portland Press Herald and Lewiston Sun Journal, to the National Trust in 2023.
Brower, who currently owns the Midcoast Villager, is retiring, according to the American.
The funding will also go toward initial operating costs, according to the new trust.
Acadia Trust said the newspapers’ editorial independence would remain intact and be separate from the nonprofit’s fundraising efforts.
The move comes after the Ellsworth American, the largest and oldest newspaper involved in the trust, and the Islander laid off some of their staff in mid-August.
The American has been in publication since 1851, and the Islander was founded by former American owner and publisher Alan Baker in 2001. The two outlets sell roughly 8,000 print copies weekly and have 6,000 digital subscribers.
The Bangor Historian publishes historical stories to the greater Bangor area. The Historian distributes about 26,000 copies weekly, according to the nonprofit.
The three outlets employ 39 people across Hancock County, according to the group.
The new trust seeks to raise the money through gifts, pledges, grants and community partnerships, with the intention of transitioning from for-profit outlets to nonprofit newspapers, according to the group.
The trust is hosting a community event Oct. 29 at Fogtown Brewing Company in Ellsworth to raise money and awareness of the nonprofit transition.