Talking Points Memo

I was talking to someone in the non-profit journalism world recently and he explained how one major (justifiable) concern among donors can be boiled down to a simple question: Will this organization continue to exist?

It made me think about how so often emails and marketing pitches from organizations that do journalism are a plea for sustainability. There is a tautological truth to this: Without revenue, organizations will cease to exist. But at the same time, nobody wants to bet on a losing horse right? So how do we, in the journalism world, walk that fine line?

At TPM, we have two tools at our disposal — or perhaps two broad categories of tools. The first is transparency. We have a page on our website where you can see our financials. We tell you what we are spending money on. This transparency is largely just a component of TPM's DNA. Josh Marshall has always been open with readers about these sorts of things. TPM being a union shop fortifies this foundational approach: We're contractually obligated to be on the up and up. You can read the CBA. It's public.

But transparency only goes so far. You also need execution. Nobody's gonna care about our financials if we aren't doing work people care about in the first place. We are doing that work. And people are noticing. Josh Kovensky's series on Kenneth Chesebro was picked up and amplified by outlets ranging from hyper niche experts, like Election Law Blog and American Oversight to major networks like MSNBC. Our reporters are being invited on podcasts like The New Abnormal and the Bill Press Pod. In a role reversal of sorts, some of our reporting is being picked up by local outlets, like the Arkansas Times writing about Hunter Walker's investigation into Sarah Huckabee Sanders Super Bowl Extravaganza funding. And perhaps the biggest sign of respect is when CNN sorta minimizes our role in their "exclusive."

Everyone makes their membership and subscription decisions according to their company's own set of criteria. But on some level, I think, everyone wants to support an organization where their dollars matter. So the truth is, at good organizations, both things are true. We need memberships to be sustainable. But you can also trust us when we say that with those dollars, we won't just scrape by, we'll thrive and publish meaningful, important journalism that cannot be ignored. And you, the paying member, will have contributed to both missions: The surviving and the thriving.