Texas Tribune Inc. is a Texas-based news organization that publishes news articles online and is the host of the annual Texas Tribune Festival. ¹

Texas Tribune has a Climate Change series that reports on how climate is affecting Texas residents, how elected officials vote on environmentalist policies, and frames environmentalist policies as “solutions” for climate change. ²

Arnold Ventures committed over $4.1 million between 2019 and 2025 to fund what it describes as an “investigative unit” for Texas Tribune in partnership with ProPublica. ³ The “unit” has its own section on Texas Tribune’s website that reports on news in Texas and nationally in instances it claims are abuses of power. ^{4 5}

Background

Texas Tribune is a Texas-based nonprofit news organization that was founded in 2008 by investor John Thornton, who contributed $1 million to its founding; Evan Smith, who worked as its CEO until 2022; and Ross Ramsey, who also worked as executive director until 2022. It publishes what it describes as “explainers,” where it publishes news articles with additional context, and analysis articles. ⁶ Texas Tribune also hosts a variety of events featuring activists and elected officials. ¹

Per its 2022 annual report, Texas Tribune has 10,000 members and 3.5 million unique monthly viewers. ⁶ It also reported that during its annual Texas Tribune Festival in 2022, it hosted 189 sessions with 366 speakers, 9,000 attendees, and 1.1 million session views online. ¹

Diversity and Equity Initiatives

Texas Tribune Inc.’s 2022 annual report states that it has hired Courageous Conversation, a diversity consulting firm that has argued, “It is critical that we address racial issues in order to uncover personal and institutional biases that prevent all people, and especially people of color, from reaching their fullest potential.” ⁷ In addition to counseling Texas Tribune on so-called “racial equity transformation,” Courageous Conversation is also said to help it conduct “pay equity analysis” of its pay structure. ¹

Texas Tribune’s 2018 Strategic Plan stated that by 2025 it aimed to double its audience. It specifically targeted ethnic minorities and young people as audience-growth targets. ⁸ In 2022, it reported that 79 percent of its new hires were youths and that 49 percent of its employees were ethnic minorities and that it would continue its recent increase in hiring ethnic minorities. ¹

Reporting on Right-of-Center Groups

In October of 2023, Texas Tribune Inc. published an article covering a meeting between antisemitic radical-right commentator Nick Fuentes and Jonathan Strickland, former leader of Defend Texas Liberty, one of Texas’s largest right-of-center political action committees. It asserted in the headline and article that Defend Texas Liberty “embraced” Fuentes, who is infamous for espousing white-supremacist views, despite the fact that Defend Texas Liberty also stated in hindsight the meeting was a “mistake” and issued a statement “denouncing” Fuentes. ⁹

Funding

As of October 2023, Texas Tribune Inc lists on its website Arnold Ventures and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as its top donors, having given over $5.4 million and $3.4 million respectively. It also lists receiving over $3.1 million from Houston Endowment, $2.5 million from the Facebook Journalism Project, $2.2 million from the Knight Foundation, $2.2 million from Emerson Collective, and $2.1 million from Ford Foundation as its top donors for nonprofit organizations. ¹⁰

Texas Tribune Inc.’s largest individual donors as of October 2023 include $2.7 million from Paul L. Foster and $2.4 million from Texas Tribune founder John Thornton. ¹⁰

Texas Tribune lists corporate sponsors separately from donations from individuals and nonprofit organizations as donations can come in the form of digital advertising revenue, sponsoring events, and “events-in-kind.” As of October 2023, Texas Tribune reports having received over $1.3 million from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, $1.2 million from Raise your Hand Texas, $1.1 million from Pearson, and $1 million from Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc. ¹¹

People

Sonal Shah has worked as the CEO of Texas Tribune Inc. since 2022. Prior to joining, she was interim executive vice president for United Way Worldwide. Shah also founded the Asian American Foundation in Houston and led Georgetown University’s Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation. Additionally, she led the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation under the Obama administration, served as an international economist for the Treasury Department, and was policy director for Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign. ¹²

Financials

In 2021, Texas Tribune reported receiving $10.1 million in total revenue on its tax returns, $9.3 million of which came in the form of direct contributions and $696,000 of which came in the form of program service revenue. ¹³ It also reported $11.7 million in total expenses, $9 million of which was spent on employee compensation and benefits. ¹⁴

1. Texas Tribune 2022 Annual report. Accessed October 30, 2023. https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/a5c56a036a501f1a876f037fb2f5c715/TT-2022-Annual-Report-090123.pdf.
2. “Climate Change in Texas.” The Texas Tribune. Accessed October 30, 2023. https://www.texastribune.org/series/texas-climate-change/.
3.  “Grants Search.” Arnold Ventures. Accessed October 30, 2023. https://www.arnoldventures.org/grants-search?q=Texas%2520Tribune&sort=amount%253Adesc.
4. “Propublica Investigative Unit.” The Texas Tribune. Accessed October 30, 2023. https://www.texastribune.org/series/texas-tribune-propublica/.
5. Priest, Jessica, and Perla Trevizo. “Despite Decades of Mass Shootings in Texas, Legislators Have Failed to Pass Meaningful Gun Control Laws.” The Texas Tribune, February 16, 2023. https://www.texastribune.org/2023/02/16/mass-shootings-texas-gun-control/.
6. The Texas Tribune Staff. “About Us.” The Texas Tribune, August 31, 2023. https://www.texastribune.org/about/?utm_medium=top-nav-about.
7. “About Us.” Courageous Conversation, October 2, 2023. https://courageousconversation.com/about/.
8. “A Strategic Vision for the Texas Tribune’s Future.” The Texas Tribune. Accessed October 30, 2023. https://www.texastribune.org/about/texas-tribune-strategic-plan/.
9. Downen, Robert. “Nick Fuentes Is Just the Latest White Supremacist Embraced by Defend Texas Liberty.” The Texas Tribune, October 24, 2023. https://www.texastribune.org/2023/10/23/defend-texas-liberty-nick-fuentes-jonathan-stickland/.
10. “Our Supporters.” The Texas Tribune. Accessed October 29, 2023. https://www.texastribune.org/support-us/donors-and-members/.
11. “Our Supporters.” The Texas Tribune. Accessed October 29, 2023. https://www.texastribune.org/support-us/corporate-sponsors/.
12. “Sonal Shah.” The Texas Tribune. Accessed October 30, 2023. https://www.texastribune.org/about/staff/sonal-shah/.
13. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Texas Tribune Inc. 2021. Part I, Lines 8-12.
14. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Texas Tribune Inc. 2021. Part I, Lines 13-18.