The Lens

The Lens receives most of its revenue from contributions, grants, and gifts from organizations and private grantmaking foundations including the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, Foundation to Promote Open Society, John S., and James L. Knight Foundation, New Venture Fund, and the Surdna Foundation. ²

Background

The Lens is the first nonprofit media organization based in New Orleans, Louisiana. The organization was founded in November 2009 and was established as a nonprofit organization in February 2010. It was granted charitable status in December 2012. ¹

Before its charity status, The Lens operated under the “fiscal sponsorship” of the Center for Public Integrity (CPI), a left-of-center investigative journalism group headquartered in Washington, D.C. CPI was highly critical of the Trump administration and has asked supporters to “Scour our searchable, sortable and public database of Trump administration financial disclosures to probe the mysterious companies contained within.” It also stated that it had “comprehensive opposition research files” on members of the Trump administration. ^{1 3 4}

The Lens lists the Center for PublIc Integrity as an affiliated organization on its website. The Institute for Nonprofit News (INN), an educational and philanthropic organization that aims to increase the impact of not-for-profit, left-of-center media, is also on the list of affiliated organizations. ⁵

Financials

The organization had a total revenue of just under $400,000 in 2018, $387,000 of which came from contributions and grants. Its total functional expenses amounted to $440,000, approximately $315,000 of which was used to pay wages and other salaries. ⁶

The Lens’ revenue increased to around $430,000 in 2019, approximately $420,000 of which came from contributions and grants. The organization’s expenses amounted to a total of around $385,000, of which $268,000 was used to pay for salaries and wages. ⁶

The organization’s total revenue for 2020 amounted to $417,510, 99 percent of which came from contributions and grants. Its total functional expenses amounted to just under $431,000, approximately $133,000 was spent on salaries and wages while just under $200,000 was used for “executive compensation.” ⁷

Funding

The Lens receives most of its revenue from contributions, grants, and gifts from organizations and private grantmaking foundations including the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, Foundation to Promote Open Society, and the Surdna Foundation. ²

The Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation (EEJF) is a private grant-making foundation that awards grants to support advances in journalism. EEJF granted The Lens a total of $610,000 between 2012 and 2019. ²

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, also known simply as the Knight Foundation, is a left-leaning private foundation that sets a primary emphasis on funding media-related projects. The foundation granted The Lens a total of $373,860 between 2010 and 2019. ²

The New Venture Fund is a funding and fiscal sponsorship nonprofit that makes grants to left-of-center advocacy and organizing projects and provides incubation services for other left-of-center organizations. It is the largest 501(c)(3) nonprofit in the network of nonprofits managed by Arabella Advisors, a Washington, D.C.-based philanthropy consulting company that caters to major foundations and organizations on the political left. The New Venture Fund granted The Lens $50,000 in 2013. ^{2 8}

The Open Society Foundations (OSF; formally Open Society Institute) is a private grantmaking foundation created and funded by billionaire financier and liberal philanthropist George Soros. OSF granted a total of $1,233,000 between 2010 and 2016. ²

The Foundation to Promote Open Society (FPOS) is closely affiliated with OSF and is another grantmaking foundation created by Soros. According to the OSF website, FPOS granted $200,000 to The Lens in 2016. ⁹

The Surdna Foundation is an advocacy and endowment management foundation that focuses on funding organizations to advocate for left-of-center public policy. The organization’s advocacy efforts generally support left-of-center organizations and focus on three left-of-center issue areas: environmentalism, economic redistribution, and political advocacy through the arts. The Surdna Foundation granted The Lens a total of $375,000 from 2010 until 2013. ^{10 11}