The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism is a nonprofit, nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization that is primarily funded through grants and donations from foundations and individuals. A smaller amount of its revenue is earned through production of commissioned materials — investigative journalism projects and an online tutorial for journalists launching nonprofit newsrooms.

As a matter of policy, funders exercise no control over the Center’s editorial decisions, and all funders are publicly identified.

The Center’s first major grant, a gift of $100,000, was awarded by the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation in 2009.

The Oklahoma-based foundation continued to support the Center with grants of $100,000 in 2010, $100,000 in 2011, $100,000 in 2012 and $100,000 in 2013. (The 2013 grant contained a $50,000 match challenge, which was successfully accomplished.)

In 2010, the Center received a two-year $75,000 matching grant from Challenge Fund for Journalism VI, a joint program of the Ford Foundation in New York, the McCormick Foundation in Illinois and the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation. The Center successfully completed a campaign to raise those matching funds in 2011.

The Foundation to Promote Open Society, which works in cooperation with the Open Society Institute in New York City, awarded the Center $50,000 in 2009, $100,000 in 2010 (to be spread over two years), $35,000 in 2011, and $350,000 in 2012 (to be spread over two years).

In 2013, The Joyce Foundation became a major supporter of the Center. The Chicago-based foundation awarded a $100,000 grant to be split by the Center and MinnPost, a nonprofit news organization, to support in-depth coverage of key issues in Wisconsin and Minnesota. The grant will fund coverage of political reform, environmental protection and gun violence issues in Wisconsin, as well as political reform in Minnesota.

The Center also is grateful for contributions it received from the Peters Family Foundation in Utah in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012; the Evjue Foundation in Madison in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012; and the Wisconsin State Journal in 2009 and 2012.

All members of the Center’s Board of Directors, who serve as volunteers, are financial supporters of the organization.

The Center has received revenue for producing reports through arrangements with the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.; WBEZ Public Media in Chicago; and American University’s J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism.

In 2011, the Center announced a partnership with MAPLight.org to investigate the influence of money in Wisconsin state politics and policymaking. The project was supported by the Open Society Institute. The Center received about $25,000 for this project in 2011 and a similar amount in the first half of 2012.

Additional donors

Susan Applegate

Appleton Post-Crescent Community Fund

Herman Baumann

Tom Bier

Walt Bogdanich

Teri Boggess

Daniel Brand

Malcolm Brett

Dylan Brogan

Jim Burgess

Linda Calhan

The Capital Times

Denis and Carol Carey

Janice Chernik

Ned Cochrane and Bonnie Cox

Nora Cusack

John Daigle

James Danky

Judith Davidoff

Eric Englund

Robert Dreps and Betty Koehl

Fund for Environmental Journalism

Fund for Investigative Journalism

Warren and Sharon Gaskill

Neil Gleason

James M. Grayson

Timothy Haering

Andy and Dee J. Hall

Philip and Janet Hasler

Scott Haumersen

Nick Heynen

Brant Houston

Isthmus

Forrest Jafuta

Kay James

Amy Karon

Gail Kohl

Scott and Donna Lewein

Troy Lethem

Charles Lewis

Jim Massey

Michael P. May

McGillivray Westerberg & Bender LLC

Jody McIntyre

Dan Melton

Karen Lincoln Michel

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Jack and Bonnie Mitchell

John Moyer

Valerie Murphy

Richard Oliver

Tara and Carlos Pabellon

Mark Pitsch

Charley Preusser

Dick Record

Richard Thomas Record Living Trust

Jonathan M. Rivin

Schott, Bublitz & Engel s.c.

Richard Seaman

Bob Segall

Robyn Shingler

Molly Stentz

Dean Strang

Tim Townhill

Vantage Point luncheon series

Roger and Kristi Williams

Wisconsin Broadcasters Association

Wisconsin Newspaper Association

Wisconsin State Journal

WISC-TV

Sharyn Wisniewski

Dave Zweifel

Updated April 23, 2013