Center for Public Integrity awarded $2M grant

Introduction

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation today announced a $2 million general-operating grant to The Center for Public Integrity to support the Center’s groundbreaking investigative reporting work on domestic and international issues. The grant was part of a larger commitment by the MacArthur Foundation to strengthen professional nonprofit reporting, with grants of nearly $25 million to a core group of journalism non-profits.

“General support is vital to the health of the entire non-profit news sector where growth has often been stymied by a lack of investment in efficient and modern management. This support from MacArthur will help the Center for Public Integrity in its mission to become the most modern and impactful investigative journalism organization worldwide through Public Integrity journalism and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists,” said Peter Bale, Chief Executive Officer of The Center for Public Integrity.

“The Center for Public Integrity and its worldwide arm, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, are at the forefront of new non-profit models for journalism built on big data journalism and a new collaborative model exemplified by the Panama Papers,” Bale added.

In announcing the grant, the MacArthur Foundation said it was helping support in-depth journalism and documentary storytelling while also supporting innovation and experimentation and building diversity in the field.

“Independent media plays an important role in how Americans understand their community and the world, the decisions they make, and whether and how they exercise their responsibility as citizens,” said MacArthur President Julia Stasch, who announced the new commitment today at the PBS Annual Meeting. “MacArthur’s investments will strengthen and enlarge the ecosystem of independent journalism, enabling even more entrepreneurial work that makes available factual reporting, authentic stories, and diverse voices to help inform a robust public civic dialogue.”

The Center for Public Integrity has an unrivaled record of award-winning and impactful investigative journalism. Just this year its international reporting project, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, has completed and published a yearlong investigation into a massive leaked cache of 11.5 million financial records, known as the Panama Papers. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists helped to expose the offshore holdings of 12 current and former world leaders and revealed how associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin secretly shuffled $2 billion through banks and shadow companies. The investigation also revealed details of offshore financial dealings of 128 more politicians and public officials around the world, leading to arrests, investigations and resignations.

The far-reaching investigation was carried out by the ICIJ, German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and about 370 journalists from more than 70 countries. ICIJ, a global network of investigative reporters who collaborate on in-depth investigative stories, is a project of the Center for Public Integrity, the Pulitzer Prize-winning organization funded by philanthropy and individuals committed to unbiased investigative journalism.

To support our ambitious investigative projects please visit https://donate.publicintegrity.org/