Why we have a gift acceptance policy, and what it means for you
Follow the money: that’s what Center for Public Integrity journalists do every day. So when it comes to our own organization’s funding, we want to be as transparent and ethical as possible. But what does that mean, exactly, as it relates to support for the Center?
We seek to answer this question by broadly sharing a new, board-adopted gift acceptance policy. It outlines how we work with funders, the sources of our contributions and the efficient management of those important funds. It is a guide to how we hope to conduct our business, and it is a tool to evaluate how we’re doing.
Why should this matter to you?
Investigative journalism, so crucial to a functioning democracy, is priceless — but it isn’t free. Newsrooms are struggling to survive, new streams of funding are critically important, and the public demand for unbiased, yet credible news is at an all-time high. Understanding how your news is produced and funded makes a lot of sense. And if you’re not only a reader but a donor (“thank you!”), you surely care about the way we accept and manage tax deductible gifts.
The fact is, the Center for Public Integrity is funded almost solely by philanthropy. Contributions from our readers and from foundations are the lifeblood of the Center for Public Integrity, and have been for the last 25 years.
In some ways, we are just like other 501(c)(3)s based in the U.S., such as disaster relief organizations, colleges, or food banks. But in other ways, we differ completely. Our purpose is to produce investigative journalism, which means asking hard questions and holding the powerful accountable — so we are obligated to make sure we have our own house in order. To that end, we began a process a year ago of asking ourselves hard questions about accepting and managing contributions. The result: a more comprehensive, formalized gift acceptance policy.
Why now?
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Copyright 2014 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
