A new $1.5 million Knight Foundation grant will help the Texas Tribune navigate its own path to sustainability -- and show other nonprofit news sites how they can get there, too.

According to the Knight Foundation, this grant will fund a few key efforts at the Tribune.

One third of the grant ($500,000) will fund the hiring of two business analysts "who will examine the creation of premium content for specific audiences and explore new revenue streams." Also, the Tribune team will use this part of the grant to "write about their experiences and the successes of similar ventures on a new web site, sharing lessons and best business practices with nonprofit news organizations and other media observers."

Most of the grant ($1 million) will help "shore up the Tribune's working capital to ensure its long-term sustainability."

Since its founding in 2009, the Tribune has attracted considerable financial support -- often in large chunks. In 2010 Editors Weblog noted that for the its first year the Tribune "had a fundraising goal for 2009 of $3.5 million, and managed to end the year with close to $4 million. …It's helpful if the co-founder has deep pockets. [Venture capitalist and cofounder John] Thornton and his wife contributed $1 million to the Tribune, and financier T. Boone Pickens has donated $150,000. Foundations have also helped out to the tune of around $1.1 million."

According to the Tribune's 2011 financial report, in that year the Tribune pulled in $4.2 million -- mostly from "major gifts" (larger-than usual donations), events, grants, corporate sponsorship, and an annual fund drive. Revenues from advertising and subscriptions were a small part of the Tribune's financial picture that year. The 2012 financial report has not yet been published.