Our Funding Model: 100% Reader-Funded
Investigative Journalism Reportika (IJ-Reportika) is funded entirely by our readers. We do not accept funding from corporations, governments, political parties, foundations, or advertisers. Every dollar that keeps our newsroom running comes from individuals who value independent investigative journalism and choose to support it directly.
We believe this matters enough to say plainly: no outside organization funds our reporting. Our editorial decisions are made solely by our editorial team, based on newsworthiness and public interest — not by any funder’s priorities.
Why We Chose This Model
Investigative journalism on sensitive geopolitical topics – government accountability, human rights, corruption, propaganda – invites an obvious and fair question: who’s paying for this, and what do they want in return?
Our answer is simple: our readers pay for it, and they want the truth. A reader-funded model means:
- No advertiser can pressure us to soften a story.
- No foundation grant comes with implicit thematic strings attached.
- No government or political entity has a stake in what we publish.
- Our only obligation is to the people who fund us to report accurately and fearlessly.
How Reader Funding Works
- Individual contributions. Readers support us through one-time or recurring donations via our official mail.
- No minimum required for access. All our reports, investigations, and surveys remain free and publicly accessible. Funding supports the newsroom – it does not gate our journalism behind a paywall.
- No sponsored content. We do not publish paid placements, sponsored articles, or “native advertising” disguised as journalism.
What Your Support Funds
Reader contributions go directly toward:
- Original reporting, field research, and data verification
- Compensation for journalists, researchers, and contributors
- Survey design and data collection for our reports (e.g., our economic and geopolitical sentiment surveys)
- Website hosting, security, and accessibility
- Editorial and fact-checking processes
We do not use reader funds for lobbying, political campaigning, or advocacy activities unrelated to journalism.
Our Commitment to Transparency
We recognize that “reader-funded” claims are only meaningful if they’re verifiable. We commit to:
- Publishing an annual transparency report summarizing total revenue, number of supporters (in aggregate, not individually identified), and how funds were allocated across reporting, operations, and overhead.
- Disclosing any future institutional funding immediately – if this ever changes and we accept a grant, sponsorship, or partnership from any organization, we will disclose the funder, the amount, and any conditions attached, on this page, before or at the time funds are received.
- Maintaining editorial independence in writing. Our editorial standards policy governs how coverage decisions are made, and confirms funders – including individual readers – have no input into story selection, framing, or conclusions.
What We Don’t Do
- We do not accept payment in exchange for coverage, favorable or otherwise.
- We do not accept funding from any government, state-affiliated entity, or political party, foreign or domestic.
- We do not run third-party advertising networks that could create undisclosed financial relationships with subjects of our reporting.
