Financial Policies

Financial Transparency

Our work is made possible by the generous support of individuals, foundations, donor advised funds, corporations, businesses, and other non-profit entities for purposes that help the organization further its mission. The following policies and guidelines govern acceptance of gifts made to CommonWealth Beacon. 

Our organization will make public all donors who give a total of $2,500 or more per year to CommonWealth Beacon.

CommonWealth Beacon accepts financial support from a variety of sources. We do not accept donations from sources that present a conflict of interest with our work or compromise our independence. CommonWealth Beacon’s parent organization, MassINC, also provides financial support to CommonWealth Beacon, using unrestricted dollars it receives from donors and earned revenue. Since MassINC allocates a portion of its unrestricted donations to CWB, we will list those donors on the CWB website as well in the interests of full transparency. Such donations and donors must comply with the policies indicated herein.

CommonWealth Beacon will not allow receipt of funds from or solicitation of donors to CommonWealth Beacon to affect its decisions about its journalism. All editorial decisions are made independently and not based on donor support. Donors receive no preferential treatment and have no right to review editorial content. We do not give supporters the right to assign, review, or edit content. If a financial supporter is covered in a story or other editorial content, we disclose this at the bottom of the story.

CommonWealth Beacon also accepts donations to support the coverage of particular topics, but our organization maintains editorial control of the coverage. We cede no right of review or influence of editorial content, nor of unauthorized distribution of editorial content.

We do not accept gifts from current elected Massachusetts state constitutional officers, members of the state Legislature, members of Congress, or mayors, candidates running for those offices, or state cabinet-level office holders. We do not accept support from political campaigns, political action committees, or political organizations as defined in Section 527 of the IRS Code. 

Sponsors are entitled to share their messaging with “message from our sponsors” display units on our website and in our newsletter, or through sponsorship messages that accompany our events and special projects. All sponsor messaging is subject to review, and we decline any messaging that supports particular candidates or messages that we deem to be inaccurate or misleading.

Campaign Contributions

CommonWealth Beacon journalists may not make campaign contributions to political candidates. The MassINC CEO and publisher of CommonWealth Beacon may not make campaign contributions, either.

CommonWealth Beacon Funding

MassINC Funding