Where We’ve BeenCommunity-Funded Reporting

• Transparency and control over donations.

• No longer a foreign concept.

• Cloud reporting (platform).

• Around 95 projects in 95 weeks.

• Average amount raised $970.

Ideas/Accomplishments Ambitions

Ethics/Ideals incorporated into other organizations (NPR).

Adoption of platformAPI and increased productivity.

Community-focused sponsorships.

From successful experiment to sustainable business.

Research Areas in progress1) Spot.Us data analysis, with USC doc student Lian Jian.

2) Interviews by Mizzou doc student of ‘awesomesauce’ Jon Peters with other players in the field and Spot.Us reporters. Aim: Handbook for Community-Funded Reporting.

Research to do:

1) Crowdfunding and Spot.Us (the business model): strengths, weaknesses, limitations, etc.

2) Crowdfunding and journalism (the journalism model): ability of Spot.Us reporters to perform quality journalism while using the model either by assigning tasks or fundraising.

Reporter Feedback[T]he problem with a public pitch is that if potential sources see your pitch and don’t like your angle, they might not talk to you. I had one source that was unhappy with the language I used in my pitch.

    – Sheila Regan

From all the stories I have written this year, and the editors I've worked with, my experience with Spot.Us has been the best. [David was] great at maintaining communication and ready and willing to help along the way. I ... haven't readily experienced this type of relationship with traditional publishers and editors, so it's a breath of fresh air. Secondly, the idea that the public [is] willing to pay to see your story come to fruition is beyond exciting.    – Liana Aghajanian 

I was also intrigued to be part of this experiment in journalism. However, in practice, I found it to be more work than the usual method of pitching a story to an editor and then going from there. I spent a lot of time researching and writing blog posts in an effort to gin up enthusiasm and dollars for my story ... [A]s a professional reporter, I'm uncomfortable posting information unless I can verify its accuracy, which takes time.      -- Erica Gies 

[David] stressed the role of Spot as a fund-raising mechanism and not a grant source, that I would needed [sic] to partner with others in my community to get my stories funded and that local stories tended to have more of an attraction. This focus appealed to me because my career has always been rooted in community journalism and my ideas spring from the communities I serve. I feel the role of journalism is to help communities make meaning of issues in their communities by providing credible information and to promote public dialogue.      – Denise Lockwood

Other playersBroad Players Journalism Funders Alt. Fundraising

Experiment - CFS

Community-Focused Sponsorship

• It is sellable!

• It Doesn’t sell itself.

• This week’s experiment - might be a flop

CFS is an experiment for Spot.Us: Advertising with transparency and control for the public.

Status: Mostly built with a few rough edges.

Early success: I’ve sold a few in my copious spare time.

S.W.O.T.Weaknesses/Threats

Kickstarter's broad appeal. The hard sell of local reporting that doesn’t come with a crocheted scarf.

Realities of fundraising.

Strengths/Opportunities

Language barrier.

Mass adoption of paywalls.

Vulnerability to lawsuits or loss of trust to larger communities.

• Sweet spot of journalism funding.

• Empowering community, engagement.

• A.P.I. / Platform = Cloud ie: We can scale.

• New sponsorship model.

• Built a strong brand in some communities. With the right API we can incorporate other brands easily.

Strengths/Opportunities

Aim By May

• A handbook for reporters to guide them through the process of community-funded reporting.

• An A.P.I. that starts with P.R.X. (working on it ASAP). First partner is Louisville Public Media. Plus natural expansion of Spot.Us.

• Community-focused sponsorships: As many as humanly possible. While selling we will refine, define best implementations for Spot.Us and best target sponsors.