Our policies

Editorial independence policy

We subscribe to standards of editorial independence adopted by the Institute for Nonprofit News:

Our organization retains full authority over editorial content to protect the best journalistic and business interests of our organization. We maintain a firewall between news coverage decisions and sources of all revenue. Acceptance of financial support does not constitute implied or actual endorsement of donors or their products, services or opinions.

We accept gifts, grants and sponsorships from individuals and organizations for the general support of our activities, but our news judgments are made independently and not on the basis of donor support.

Our organization may consider donations to support the coverage of particular topics, but our organization maintains editorial control of the coverage. We will cede no right of review or influence of editorial content, nor of unauthorized distribution of editorial content.

Our organization will make public all donors. Our bylaws do not allow anonymous gifts.

Donor Transparency Policy

Our intent is for our donors to exert no more influence on our reporting than other members of the community. We do not accept anonymous gifts or those that appear to have strings attached.

We publish on our website the names of all contributors. Whenever we write about a donor who has contributed $5,000 or more, we disclose this in the story, at the earliest possible opportunity. Donors at that level will also be asked to sign a statement affirming our stances.

We believe that everyone in our community should have the ability to be involved in our work. We do not discriminate about sources of support. We strive for a healthy cross-section of support from different generations, those who hold divergent views and from all corners of Richmond. We believe local news is fundamentally non-partisan.

We reserve the right to refuse any donation that we deem a conflict of interest or we believe could detract from our reputation as an independent, trustworthy news source.

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that operates as a public trust, we do not pay certain taxes. We may receive funds from government programs offered to nonprofits or similar businesses and we will disclose all public funds we may accept in support of our mission. We may submit competitive bids to win contracts for advertising or other services from federal, state or local government agencies.

Acceptance of donations, sponsorships, grants or advertising does not imply any endorsement by The Richmonder of donors’ products, services or opinions.

We strive to report the news accurately. When errors happen, we will correct them as quickly and transparently as possible.