The Lansing Journal is committed to transparency in every aspect of funding our organization.
Accepting financial support from people does not mean we endorse their products, services, or opinions, and we consider ourselves blessed to serve a community of people who understand that.
We accept gifts, grants, and sponsorships from individuals, organizations, and foundations to help with our general operations, coverage of specific topics, and special projects.
We are a for-profit news organization, but we do benefit from the fiscal sponsorship of Independent Arts & Media (IAM), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. They do not provide funding to The Lansing Journal, but they share their grant-seeking expertise, and our relationship with them allows us to apply for grants that require nonprofit status. Having a fiscal sponsor also allows us to extend tax benefits to donors who specifically donate through the IAM portal: https://thelansingjournal.com/donate/ Independent Arts & Media receives 10% of those donations. Gifts that are made directly to The Lansing Journal are not tax-deductible.
Our news judgments are made independently – not based on or influenced by donors, supporters, advertisers, or any revenue source. We do not give supporters the right to assign, review, or edit content.
We make public all revenue sources, publishing a list of supporters each month, including donors who give $5,000 or more per year. As an independent news organization, we avoid accepting charitable donations from anonymous sources, government entities, political parties, elected officials, or candidates seeking public office — though they are welcome to purchase advertising. We will not accept donations from sources who, deemed by our fiscal sponsor’s board of directors, present a conflict of interest with our work or compromise our independence.
The Lansing Journal is a free newspaper because we want everyone to have equal access to the news we report. But there are costs involved with reporting, publishing, and delivering news, so we rely on advertising revenue and reader support to keep the news free for everyone.
We welcome gifts of any size, and our supporters understand that those gifts do not buy editorial influence or coverage. No matter who contributes money to The Lansing Journal, we report news that is important for our community, and we make sure it is balanced and accurate.
If you want to join our family of supporters — people who understand the importance of having an independent source of local news — we welcome your support. And if you can keep that “monthly” box checked, your gift will help provide the sustainability we need:
Your gift at any level helps ensure that The Lansing Journal can continue reporting, publishing, and delivering local news every day.
Choose your level of support:
Thank you for understanding, and thank you for supporting local news.