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Non-profit

Guardian.org Foundation

Website:

theguardian.org/
Location:

Washington, DC
Tax ID:

81-2404459
Tax-Exempt Status:

501(c)(3)

Budget (2022):

Revenue: $4,732,399
Expenses: $4,789,386
Assets: $2,505,680
Type:

Advocacy Journalism Group
Founded:

2016
Principal Officer:

Rachel White

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The Guardian.org Foundation is the US-based fundraising arm of the Guardian Media Group, publisher of the Guardian newspaper. The foundation receives contributions from individuals and nonprofits and issues grants for left-leaning journalism and advocacy projects.

Background

The Guardian.org Foundation was founded as a nonprofit funding arm of The Guardian Media Group. Although the foundation is a formally independent entity, it has a resource-sharing agreement in place with Guardian News and Media.

The president of the Guardian.org Foundation, Rachel White, is a former executive at the left-leaning think tank New America Foundation. Board secretary Victoria Collins also worked as a deputy director at the New America Foundation. Board member Vivian Schiller formerly worked as president and CEO of National Public Radio but departed after two high-profile controversies. 1 2

Activities

The Guardian.org Foundation uses contributions from individuals and organizations to fund journalistic projects that underpin left-leaning environmental, economic, and social initiatives. An area of heavy focus for these projects is climate change. With assistance from the Skoll Foundation, the Guardian.org Foundation funded a Guardian US series about the dangers of rising sea levels and other extreme weather events supposedly caused by climate change. The series also promotes the expansion of weather-dependent energy sources and phaseout of conventional energy sources. 3 4 The foundation also funds the Age of Extinction project, which is a series of articles attributing species loss to anthropogenic climate change. 5

The foundation also funds the Climate Crimes series, which is dedicated to “Investigating how the fossil fuel industry contributed to the climate crisis and lied to the American public” as well as the Big Oil Uncovered series, which has the objective of “reporting on the efforts to hold the fossil fuel industry, and its enablers, accountable for the climate crisis, and investigating attempts to disrupt the transition to clean power.” 6 7

The Guardian.org Foundation also funds journalism projects on left-leaning social issues, including critical race theory-inspired concepts of social justice and environmental justice. It funds the Antiracism and America series, which is a Guardian US collaboration with American University’s Antiracist Research and Policy Center to examine “structures at the root of racial inequities.” 8

The foundation also funds the Our Unequal Earth series focused on “environmental injustice and the efforts to address it” and the Genderqueer Generation series aimed at covering “the experiences and perspectives of non-binary and other gender-nonconforming young people.” 9 10

The foundation also funds the Guns and Lies series, which advocates for gun control measures that have been instituted in the state of California. 11

Financials

The Guardian.org Foundation receives significant contributions from left-leaning non-profit organizations. The foundation reported $2.3 million in donations from the Open Society Foundations between 2020 and 2022 for reporting on topics including “environmental and climate justice,” “vaccine equity,” and “gender equality in the US.” 12

The foundation also reported contributions of $1.75 million from the 11th Hour Project between 2019 and 2022 for reporting on “environmental justice” and $1.6 million from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation between 2018 and 2023 for reporting on “the connections between ocean conservation and climate change.” 13

The Guardian.org reported $2.2 million in contributions from the Open Philanthropy Project between 2017 and 2019 for reporting on “factory farming and animal cruelty” and a contribution of $1.5 million from the Helmsley Charitable Trust in 2021 for reporting on “non-communicable diseases in the developing world.” 14

The foundation reported $775,000 in contributions between 2018 and 2021 from the Park Foundation for reporting on US voting rights and $800,000 from the Society of Environmental Journalists between 2017 and 2023 for reporting on “public land” and “oceans.” 15

The Guardian.org Foundation reported payments to U.S.-based Guardian News and Media LLC of $1.2 million in 2020, $1.9 million in 2021, and $2 million in 2022. The foundation also reported grants to European journalism projects of $2.3 million in 2020, $2 million in 2021, and $2.7 million in 2022. 16 17 18

References

  1. Memmott, Mark. “NPR CEO Vivian Schiller Resigns after Board Decides She Should Go.” NPR, March 9, 2011.  Accessed August 9, 2023. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2011/03/10/134388981/npr-ceo-vivian-schiller-resigns.
  2. “FAQ.” theguardian.org. Accessed August 9, 2023. https://theguardian.org/faq/.
  3. “About Us.” theguardian.org. Accessed August 9, 2023. https://theguardian.org/about-us-2/.
  4. “Climate Change in the US: The Dangers and the Solutions.” The Guardian, February 28, 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/20/climate-change-us-solutions-dangers-series.
  5.  “The Age of Extinction.” The Guardian. Accessed August 13, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/series/the-age-of-extinction.
  6. “Climate Crimes.” The Guardian. Accessed August 13, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/series/climate-crimes.
  7. “Big Oil Uncovered Series.” The Guardian. Accessed August 13, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/series/big-oil-uncovered.
  8. “Antiracism and America Series.” The Guardian. Accessed August 13, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/series/antiracism-and-america.
  9. “Our Unequal Earth Series.” The Guardian. Accessed August 13, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/series/our-unequal-earth.
  10. “Genderqueer Generation Series.” The Guardian. Accessed August 13, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/series/genderqueer-generation.
  11. “Guns and Lies Series.” The Guardian. Accessed August 13, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/series/guns-and-lies.
  12. About Us.” theguardian.org. Accessed August 9, 2023. https://theguardian.org/about-us-2/.
  13. “About Us.” theguardian.org. Accessed August 9, 2023. https://theguardian.org/about-us-2/.
  14. “About Us.” theguardian.org. Accessed August 9, 2023. https://theguardian.org/about-us-2/.
  15. “About Us.” theguardian.org. Accessed August 9, 2023. https://theguardian.org/about-us-2/.
  16. Guardian.org Foundation. Return of an Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). 2020.
  17. Guardian.org Foundation. Return of an Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). 2021.
  18. Guardian.org Foundation. Return of an Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). 2022
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Nonprofit Information

  • Accounting Period: March - February
  • Tax Exemption Received: October 1, 2016

    • Available Filings

    Period Form Type Total revenue Total functional expenses Total assets (EOY) Total liabilities (EOY) Unrelated business income? Total contributions Program service revenue Investment income Comp. of current officers, directors, etc. Form 990
    2022 Mar Form 990 $4,732,399 $4,789,386 $2,505,680 $2,325,000 N $4,732,555 $0 $0 $0
    2021 Mar Form 990 $4,095,936 $3,925,484 $1,722,667 $1,485,000 N $4,095,936 $0 $0 $0
    2020 Mar Form 990 $3,507,805 $3,581,941 $1,662,215 $1,595,000 N $3,507,805 $0 $0 $0 PDF
    2019 Mar Form 990 $1,711,671 $1,726,201 $895,729 $754,378 N $1,711,671 $0 $0 $0 PDF
    2018 Mar Form 990 $1,219,257 $1,064,542 $682,503 $526,622 N $1,219,858 $0 $0 $0 PDF
    2017 Mar Form 990 $552,000 $550,834 $1,166 $0 N $552,000 $0 $0 $0

    Guardian.org Foundation

    900 17th Street NW Suite 250
    Washington, DC 20006-2524