The Correspondent raises 1.8 million dollar in runway funding and teams up with Blue State Digital

Omidyar Network is granting The Correspondent 950,000 dollar in runway funding, bringing our total funding to 1.8 million dollar. And Blue State Digital — the agency behind both of Obama’s digital campaigns for president — will team up with our creative partner Momkai to build our global campaign.

Like its Dutch counterpart, The Correspondent will be made possible by future members. But to find those members, they also needed money up front.

The Dutch publication, De Correspondent, launched in 2013 with a world record-breaking crowdfunding campaign, which raised 1.7 million dollars from some 19,000 backers. We now have 60,000 paying members and we don’t take ad dollars of any kind. 85 percent of revenue comes directly from readers. It puts the most important stakeholders — the readers — squarely at the heart of the operation.

This early funding will allow us to put together a top-notch campaign team from our US base in New York and run a worldwide membership campaign within the year.The Omidyar Network and Blue State Digital will help to do that.

Omidyar Network grants The Correspondent close to a million dollars in runway funding. Omidyar Network is helping bring the dream of The Correspondent one giant step closer. The philanthropic investment firm has awarded 950,000 dollars in runway funding. This contribution will allow them to set up a global membership campaign and hit the ground running soon after.

Omidyar Network works to advance a strong and independent media, and funds innovative organizations working to provide people with the tools they need to serve the public interest and hold leaders to account. They are honored that the people from Omidyar Network backs The Correspondent’s vision for journalism, and they are grateful for the trust they’ve put in them to make this happen.

Nishant Lalwani, Director of Independent Media at Omidyar Network’s Governance & Citizen Engagement initiative: "We believe that The Correspondent represents a pioneering and powerful model of independent journalism. Their membership-focused approach strives to deliver the things that really matter: reader trust, diversity in the newsroom, and data privacy for their users. De Correspondent, their Dutch counterpart, has shown that it’s possible to build deep trust and meaningful relationships with their audience through an ad-free, financially sustainable media platform. We are confident The Correspondent can do the same, and are thrilled to support them as they prepare for their membership campaign."

Furthermore, Blue State Digital will be joining forces, whose experience building grassroots movements and helping mission-driven organizations operate at scale will be of tremendous value as we develop our membership campaign.

www.decorrespondent.nl
www.bluestatedigital.com
www.omidyar.com