The Knight Foundation

Founded by the Knight brothers, co-owners of the predecessor to the Knight-Ridder newspaper chain, the Knight foundation has donated over $400 million to journalistic endeavours since 1950. They support mid-career training of journalists through grants to major American universities. The foundation also created “The Knight Chairs in Journalism” which funds professional journalists to become professors at 22 universities, including Columbia, Duke, Yale, and Miami. The list of projects funded is extensive and they’re focused on “leading journalism excellence into the digital age.”

Featured Story:
Killing the News: Stories Go Untold As Latin American Journalists Die, by Tyler Bridges

Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University

Based out of American University in Washington D.C., the Investigative Reporting Workshop was founded in 2008 by American University professors Charles Lewis (also founder of the Center for Public Integrity) and Wendell Cochran. It is dedicated to “conducting significant, multimedia investigative journalism projects on a national and international level.” Last year, they published eight investigations on subjects ranging from nuclear energy to regional airlines, working with partners like PBS’ Frontline, The Washington Post, and msnbc.com. The workshop’s iLab is dedicated to conducting research about investigative journalism itself.

Featured Stories:
TV, Internet and The Merger: What's best for consumers? by John Dunbar
An investigation on the effects of the potential merger between Comcast and NBC Universal.

Flying Cheap - Regional airlines cut cost of flying, at what price? By Catherine Rentz
An investigating US regional airlines who cut costs on safety measures. In partnership with PBS’ Frontline

Fund for Investigative Journalism

Founded in 1969 by Philip M. Stern, the Fund for Investigative Journalism was built on the principle that small amounts of money could enable the work of investigative reporters and “yield enormous results.” The Fund has donated over $1.5 million over the life of the organization, funding more than 700 stories and 50 books. Works funded by the FIJ have been honoured with two Pulitzers and two National Magazine Awards. Last year, the FIJ awarded 16 grants to both individuals and organizations. They are based in Washington, D.C.

Featured Story:
Seymour Hersh and The My Lai Massacre

The Walrus

Known as Canada’s answer to The New Yorker, The Walrus was launched in 2003 by publisher Ken Alexander and founding editor David Berlin. It was seen as a way to establish a home for the country's investigative journalism. It also contains fiction, poetry and work by Canadian illustrators.

Circulation: 60,000 in Canada and the U.S.

Frequency: 10 issues a year

Funding: The Walrus is published by a registered non-profit charitable foundation (The Walrus Foundation). It receives donations but also profits from circulation revenue, ad dollars and government subsidies.


Featured Story:
A 10 Percent World by J.B. MacKinnon
An acclaimed portrait of our eroding natural environment, this story launched discussion among the environmental movement’s key players, David Suzuki included.

This Magazine

One of Canada’s longest-publishing alternative journals, This Magazine was created by “school activists” in 1966. Originally focused on radical pedagogy, the publication is now focused on Canadian politics, pop culture and the arts, still maintaining its radical roots. It includes many long-form, investigative pieces.

Circulation: 5,000 in Canada

Frequency: 6 issues a year

Funding: This Magazine is published by the Red Maple Foundation, a charitable organization and hence relies on public donations. It is also funded by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council with financial support from the Government of Canada through the Publication Assistance Program and the Canada Magazine Fund.

Featured Story:
Snowbirds Gone Wild! Canadian retirees and locals clash in Honduras by Dawn Paley
While Canadians are building retirement homes in Honduras, the locals claims these developments are illegal and are fighting to reclaim the land they say is theirs.

The Tyee

Launched in 2003 by David Beers (formerly of The Vancouver Sun), The Tyee began is an independently-owned electronic magazine dedicated to news and commentary. Their promise: “At The Tyee you'll find investigative reporting no one else is doing, and fresh viewpoints from all over B.C." The Globe and Mail has said The Tyee publishes "some of the best investigative reporting in the province."


Page Views: 30,000,000 total as of 2010

Funding: While subscriptions are free, The Tyee is funded by a philanthropic family and charitable donations. They have also launched two charitable fellowship funds for independent journalists. The Tyee Investigative Fund provides grants to journalists researching under-reported social, economic, and environmental issues in BC and beyond while the Tyee Solutions Fund supports writers “telling inspiring stories of unsung innovators and leaders successfully tackling tough issues.” On their website, they explain that while they have enough funding to maintain a barebones existence, they are “seeking investors, advertisers, and funders for our long list of investigative projects just waiting for resources.”

Featured Story:
The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating by James MacKinnon and Alisa Smith
For one year, MacKinnon and Smith only consumed food grown or produced within a 100 mile radius. This story was critically acclaimed and resulted in a book deal.

OpenFile

Launched in 2009 by former CNN correspondent Wilf Dinnick, OpenFile is a Canadian local news site with an innovative collaborative news system. Stories can be suggested by just about anyone, and journalists are assigned to these stories, giving the news a more participatory model. While OpenFile is not an example of non-profit investigative journalism, their innovative model is useful to our analysis of the Canadian landscape.

Page Views: More than 50,000 unique visitors, monthly

Funding: OpenFile’s board of directors is shepherded by big names, including Kevin Newman (former anchor and executive director of Global National) and David Galloway (former president and CEO of TorStar.) Sponsors include TD Friends of the Environment Foundation, MaRS, Canadian Digital Media Network, the University of Waterloo and Toronto Community Foundation.

Featured Story:
The Poppy File by various journalists
This special Remembrance Day series delved into the stories of Canada’s veterans, fallen soldiers and the people whose lives they touched. The crowning achievement was the acclaimed Poppy Map, which used an interactive map to highlight the address of Toronto’s WWII soldier casualties.

The Canadian Centre for Investigative Reporting

Founded in 2008 by journalist Bilbo Poynter, the Centre seeks to respond to what Poynter sees as the “attrition of the resources and expertise from Canadian newsrooms necessary to produce in-depth investigative reporting on matters of significant public interest.” Its website states it is the only organisation of its type in the country. They aim to collaborate with large-scale media in order to produce investigative reports.

Page Views: n/a

Funding: The CCIJ are funded by grants from the Douglas Coldwell Foundation, Blake, Cassels and Graydon LLP, the McLean Foundation and the Service Employees International Union, in addition to larger and smaller individual donations. Poynter says they are about to announce new partnerships.

Featured Story:
Heroin glut hits home by Alex Roslin and Bilbo Poynter
Treatment centres are struggling to cope with the surge of addicts hooked on the heroin that is pouring into Canada from war-torn Afghanistan

The Voice of San Diego

Founded in 2005, the Voice of San Diego is a highly specialized and localized non-profit investigative journalism outlet. The About section of their website perhaps sums up what they do best: “We don't try to be everything to everybody. We don't think we're the only place you're going to get news today. We know that in today's world you've got plenty of places to turn for national and international coverage, and there are other publications in San Diego doing work that we don't need to chase after or replicate.”

Funding: Like ProPublica, the Voice of San Diego rely on donations from foundations and individuals to sustain themselves. They run PBS-style pledge drives to help shore up their funding and, also like ProPublica, have relationships with for-profit outlets. They partner with their local NBC TV affiliate in order to augment that station’s crippled newsroom and provide a vehicle for their content. This relationship has been so successful that media giant Comcast, which is currently in talks to take over NBC Universal, cited it as a model that they would like to replicate across the country.

Featured Stories:
Affordable No More by Andrew Donahue
This story about the San Diego real estate market was the winner of the 2007 Sigma Delta Chi award for online investigative reporting.

The School Guru Who Promised Rescue and Brought Ruin by Emily Alpert
This story about mismanaged charter schools was the winner of the 2008 Education Writers Association award.

ProPublica

Founded in 2008, at the height of the global recession, ProPublica is a non-profit, independent newsroom led by Paul Steiger, former managing editor of The Wall Street Journal. Their investigative pieces depend on partnerships with large news organizations like 60 Minutes, CNN, ABC World News, The New York Times and This American Life, among many others.

Funding: Propublica is funded mostly through a $10 million-a-year grant from the billionaire Sandler family. They also receive support from the Knight Foundation.

Featured Story:
Deadly Choices at Memorial by Sheri Fink
This Pulitzer Prize winning investigation of decisions made by exhausted doctors in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The Center for Public Integrity

The Center for Public Integrity was founded by Charles Lewis in 1989 with the intention of making institutional power more accessible and more transparent. The Center is non-partisan and non-advocacy and is able to remain so by building "a strong and sustainable financial base of support, including a community of committed individuals and foundations." The Center aims to provide the public with the information they need to hold governments and other institutions accountable in a democratic society.

Funding: The CPI relies on donations from charitable foundations and individual donors. They do not accept contributions from corporations or labor unions.

Featured Story:
America's Frontline Trade Officials
The Center gained respect with their first publication, America's Frontline Trade Officials. The story revealed that nearly 50% of trade officials at the White House had become involved in lobbying for foreign corporations upon retiring from public service.

The Nation Magazine

The Nation is the oldest weekly magazine in the United States. Unlike many similar publications, it chooses to directly associate itself with activism and calls itself "the flagship of the left." The Nation regularly calls out American politicians and reporters who neglect their duty to the public. The Publication focuses on these areas of activism: Anti-Racism Activism, Civil Rights Activism, Disability Rights Movement, Gay and Lesbian and Organizing, Global Justice Movement.

Circulation: 145,000 in print, 15,000 in digital subscriptions

Funding: Circulation amounts for 60% of the total revenue, but The Nation also relies on advertising, which accounts for 10% of the revene. A group of 30,000 readers, called "The Nation Associates," also help the magazine by donating more than the cost of their subscription annually.

Featured Story:
Katrina's Hidden Race War, by A.C. Thompson
Reporter A.C. Thompson talks with innocent victims and ruthless vigilantes about his expose on shootings of black New Orleans residents fleeing the city in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and police misconduct after the storm.

Democracy Now!

Democracy Now! is a daily independant news program hosted by progressive investigative journalists Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez. It is unique in that it typically focuses on stories that are under-reported by mainstream media.

Audience: Airs on more than than 900 radio, television, satellite and cable TV networks in North America.

Funding: Contributions from its audience are the main source of funding for the news program, which does not collaborate with advertisers, corporations. They do not receive any government funding.

Featured Stories:
Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship
This radio documentary won the George Polk Award in 1988 for exposing the death of two Nigerian Villagers who died protesting a Chevron oil spill. You can listen to the full documentary here.

Massacre: The Story of East Timor
Amy Goodman, the host of Democracy Now! and Allan Nairn won Robert F. Kennedy Memorial's First Prize in International Radio for this 1993 documentary exposing the murder of hundreds of innocent civilians.