Ethics

We receive financial support from numerous foundations and individual donors. See a list of our major contributors.

Some of the funding we receive from foundations goes to support newsroom projects or fellowships for journalists. We recognize that there are potential conflicts of interest inherent in using philanthropic funding to support journalism, just as there are potential conflicts of interest with advertising or sponsorships. But, as public media organizations have shown for years, there are ways to accept and use philanthropic dollars that maintain journalism’s independence and its highest ethical standards.

Toward that end, our projects and fellowships are typically focused on broadly defined issue areas. For example, newsroom partners have pursued solutions-oriented reporting projects focused on health, education, democracy, economic mobility, public safety, environmental sustainability, race relations and COVID-19, among other topics.

News organizations and journalists that receive funding from Solutions Journalism Network retain full editorial control over their reporting, including what stories they pursue and how they report and write them. And we encourage them to publicly identify the sources of financial support for their solutions-focused reporting.