Our Commitment to Our Donors

GroundTruth subscribes to the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Donor Bill of Rights, which states that our supporters are entitled to the following:

I. To be informed of GroundTruth’s mission, of the way GroundTruth intends to use donated resources, and of its capacity to use donations effectively for their intended purposes.
II. To be informed of the identity of those serving on GroundTruth’s governing board, and to expect the board to exercise prudent judgment in its stewardship responsibilities.
III. To have access to GroundTruth’s most recent financial statements.
IV. To be assured their gifts will be used for the purposes for which they were given.
V. To receive appropriate acknowledgement and recognition.
VI. To be assured that information about their donation is handled with respect and with confidentiality to the extent provided by law.
VII. To expect that all relationships with individuals representing GroundTruth to the donor will be professional in nature.
VIII. To be informed whether those seeking donations are volunteers, employees of the organization or hired solicitors.
IX. To have their email address and other personal information protected by GroundTruth, and never shared without their permission.
X. To feel free to ask questions when making a donation and to receive prompt, truthful and forthright answers.

All GroundTruth donors have access to an exclusive monthly newsletter that keeps our supporters updated on the impact their gifts have on reporting around the globe.

Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), all rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Editorial Independence Policy

GroundTruth is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to supporting a new generation of journalists to cover the most important stories of their generation in the US and around the world.

GroundTruth, and subsequently Report for America, is committed to ensuring our journalism and editorial process is free from any undue influence by funders.

We pledge the following:

  • That GroundTruth, Report for America, and our editorial partners will have complete editorial independence and control over the content we create and publish.
  • That we will always be transparent in our disclosure of funder support of content.
  • That in our relationships with funders we will take care to avoid any actual or perceived conflicts of interest and the potential for audience confusion of a funder’s role.
  • That in instances where there may be a direct association between the funder’s interests and our content, we will closely review the funder’s products, services, or other business interests to determine whether the funding is appropriate for the content, especially with regard to content involving controversial subjects, political and public policy matters.

GroundTruth relies on a variety of funding sources to support its programs and editorial production, strengthening our editorial independence such that we do not rely solely on any one donor.

Questions? Please contact us at [email protected].