This page shares key policies for our newsroom operations and details about our finances, including organizations and individuals that have contributed a total of $5,000 or more per year.
Editorial independence policy
We subscribe to standards of editorial independence, following the lead of other esteemed nonprofit newsrooms and the Institute for Nonprofit News.
Our organization retains full authority over editorial content, with no outside financial influence.
When we accept grants, donations, and other forms of financial support for our activities, accepting this support does not constitute endorsement of our donors or their products, services, or opinions.
While our small team of two does not have the capacity to maintain a firewall between news coverage and managing our finances, we maintain internal boundaries to ensure that donors have no influence on our editorial decisions. We also make it clear to donors that our coverage is independent; for example, they cannot pitch us specific stories or propose sources for us to platform.
Our organization may consider donations to support the coverage of particular topics, both by applying for specific grant and fellowship opportunities and through project proposals from donors. However, our organization maintains editorial control of this coverage. We thoroughly review all stories to ensure they meet our standards of reporting that is based on scientific consensus and lived experience of Long Covid, without influence from any specific organization or individual.
Our organization will make public all donors who give a total of $5,000 or more per year on our Transparency page. We will accept anonymous donations for general support only if sufficient safeguards are in place to ensure that we utilize the funds as an independent organization and comply with standards set by the Institute for Nonprofit News.
Donor transparency policy
We are committed to transparency in every aspect of funding The Sick Times. Accepting financial support does not mean we endorse donors or their products, services, opinions, or organizations.
We accept gifts, grants, and sponsorships from individuals, organizations, and foundations to help with our general operations, coverage of specific topics, and special projects. As an organization sponsored by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, we do not pay certain taxes. We may receive funds from standard government programs offered to nonprofits or similar businesses.
Our news judgments are made independently – not based on or influenced by donors or any revenue source. We do not give supporters the rights to assign, review, or edit content. For example, coverage of scientific research on Long Covid occurs without any input from scientists who have donated to us.
We make public all revenue sources and donors who give $5,000 or more per year. We also make public our monthly budget and provide regular updates on our website and in our weekly newsletter about how we are utilizing donations.
As a news nonprofit, we avoid accepting charitable donations from anonymous sources, government entities, political parties, elected officials or candidates seeking public office. We will not accept donations from sources who, deemed by our advisory board, present a conflict of interest with our work or compromise our independence.
Corrections policy
We will correct or clarify any errors that are deemed to be inaccurate or misleading due to missing or incomplete context as quickly as possible once we can verify correct information. Corrections are publicly disclosed with editor’s notes stating the date and time of the correction. If you notice an accuracy issue, contact us at editors@thesicktimes.org.
Funders
2024:
- Silver Giving Foundation ($20,000)
If you’re interested in submitting a larger donation or sponsoring a newsletter issue, article, event, or other form of content, please reach out to betsy@thesicktimes.org.
Disclosures
The MuckRock Foundation is our fiscal sponsor. See their website for tax forms and other financial information; The Sick Times will be listed on forms starting in 2023.
Budget
Our monthly budget is estimated at about $11,330 per month, which includes:
| Expense | Cost per month | Details |
| Staff salaries | $6,000 | This would compensate our two editors, Miles and Betsy, for 10-15 hours of work per week each. Their work currently includes writing and editing stories, newsletter production, social media, fundraising, collecting feedback from the Long Covid community, and more. |
| Freelance budget | $4,000 | We aim to publish at least two articles from freelance writers each month, including news stories, features, and essays/commentary. This budget would cover 2-4 articles per month at an industry-standard rate of $1/word. |
| Website, publishing, other tech tools | $300 | This includes costs for WordPress (which hosts our website), Mailchimp (which hosts our newsletter), a tool to produce audio versions of stories, and other tools that may be used for multimedia stories. |
| Fiscal sponsor fee | $1,030 | Our fiscal sponsor takes 10% of donations in exchange for managing our legal and financial infrastructure. |
| Total | $11,330 |