Guide

How creator journalists can assess – and disclose – their funding

By Liz Kelly Nelson and Mollie Muchna

November 21, 2025

This resource is part of the Creator Journalism Trust and Credibility Toolkit from the Knight Communities Network, Project C, and Trusting News, which helps funders identify — and fund — creator journalists in their local ecosystem. Find more information here, or reach out to Project C and Trusting News.  

As influencers have demonstrated a clear ability to build scaled audiences across distributed platforms, funders and causes have recognized the value of funding independent creators. This goes for journalism creators, too. More potential sources of funding are available than ever before — including well-known national and local journalism funders, cause-driven foundations, partisan PACs and wealthy people with a message they want to see spread.

This is a positive development, adding another stream of financial support for independent journalists outside reader revenue and advertising. Yet at the same time, it means that due diligence is crucial to ensure you don’t align yourself with an organization that runs counter to your values and that you don’t contractually agree to cede editorial independence. Taylor Lorenz wrote in Wired about a shadowy funder, Chorus, that offered to pay influencers (including some news influencers) $8,000 a month in exchange for secrecy about their funding source and control over the influencers’ content. 

Independent journalists usually don’t have legal or bizdev teams who can carefully evaluate potential funders. So what can you do to ensure a funder is ethically aligned?

As the funding landscape for creators expands, the most important principle is simple: Don’t give up your independence in exchange for support. Here are some questions to ask — and red flags to watch for — before you sign on.

Ensure funders will:

• Be transparent about their support. You should be free (and encouraged) to disclose who funds your work. Secrecy is a major red flag.
• Respect editorial independence. Any agreement should explicitly state that editorial control rests with you. Funders may set broad thematic interests (e.g., local democracy, environmental reporting), but they should never dictate your conclusions.
• Align with your values. Ask whether the funder’s mission and track record align with your own — and with the community you serve.
• Provide clarity in writing. Always get the scope, deliverables, and expectations spelled out in a contract or grant letter.

Be cautious if funders want to:

• Control your content. If they want approval power or final say over what you publish, walk away.
• Restrict your transparency. If they prohibit you from naming them as a supporter, that’s a red flag.
• Exploit your audience. If the funding arrangement primarily benefits the funder’s brand or agenda, without centering your journalism, think twice.
• Leave you without recourse. If there’s no contract, or the terms are vague, you risk being exploited.

If you don’t have a legal or bizdev team, ask a peer, mentor, or trusted colleague to read over agreements. 

How to get clear about your funding 

Once you’ve secured funding, the next step is to get clear about that to your audience. As people navigate online content, they’re naturally skeptical about whether what they’re seeing is authentic and independent or whether it’s advertising. That’s why transparency is so needed.  

While many creators rely on ads and sponsorships to stay in business, people won’t understand how that works or how the money does or does not sway your coverage – unless you explain it to them. 

Here are some ways creator journalists can do that:  

• Talk about how you’re funded. You don’t need to share your exact budget lines, but give people a general idea of your revenue streams and sources, or how – and who – funds you. Sharing your funding breakdown can also be a great way to ask for audience support, if that’s part of your business model. 
• Clearly label ads, gifts and sponsorships. Any content that has specific money attached needs to be disclosed. And if you’re covering a product or service and NOT getting paid, explain that too.  
• Explain when funding impacts your content. Are you covering a specific topic because you’re getting paid by a company? Is your work being underwritten by a sponsor? Are you sharing reviews because you went on a paid trip? Are the product links you share affiliate links? Get clear about this so you’re not leaving people to guess. 

Where should these disclosures go? Anywhere you share content regularly! While it can be great to have a policy page on your Substack or a story saved in your Instagram highlights, unless you’re pointing people to it regularly, they won’t see it. Look for chances to address or disclose your funding day to day. 

Examples of what this looks like:

• Becca Farsace shares the ethics behind her sponsorships and brand deals 
• Phil Edwards shares a pie chart of where his funding comes from   
• Matt Kiser of WTF Just Happened Today shares how the work is reader-funded
• Tim Mak of Counter Offensive lays out how read funds help support his team