Posted in Fundraising Lessons,Spot Us News by Digidave on March 12th, 2009

Spot.Us and On Earth Magazine Refund Original Donors

The dream of Spot.Us is a marketplace for journalism – where content is being bought and sold. Community members identify stories they want to see published and give small donations to make it happen. Publishers then come in and find quality content that has a community of supporters. If they want first publishing rights – they must refund the original donors (or they have to get involved in the pitch process early).

Thanks to On Earth magazine and Aaron Crowe‘s pitch “When will solar technology be affordable for bay area homeowners” we have our first example refunding the community of donors that made a story possible (see the list of donors on the right…. they get to reinvest the money into another story!).

How This Happened

  • Aaron Crowe turned in the finished story to Spot.Us.
  • Instead of publishing it right away – Spot.Us contacted news organizations in our system (and a few outside our current system).
  • On Earth Magazine showed initial interest so we sent them the copy. They asked if a re-write was possible.
  • Aaron Crowe is awesome and is fine with doing a re-write, giving the story more of a narrative.

The finished content will, at the very least, appear at On Earth‘s website. It might end up in the magazine as well – but that is pending.

Who wins? Everyone!

  1. The original funders will have access to the story (spot.us will link to it when published online), the knowledge that the story wouldn’t have happened without their initial support, and the reward of being able to re-invest in another article of their choosing.
  2. On Earth: Gets to find and work with new talent. They also get a new dynamic relationship with some readers. I’m willing to bet the original donors appreciate On Earth trusting their news judgement and rewarding them for it.
  3. The reporter: Aaron Crowe gets a chance to work for On Earth – which could be the start of a beautiful freelance relationship. He gets a great byline, the chance to really craft a great story – and has a new found relationship with the original funders who probably appreciate how hard he worked to put this piece together.

A special shoutout goes to Celeste Lecompte who volunteered to edit this piece and helped shape it with Aaron so that it was appealing to On Earth when they saw the initial version.

The real question is whether or not Spot.Us can replicate this. Just this week I’ve received two drafts from reporters.

1. How is the recession hitting the SF Sex Industry?

2. Why Doesn’t Muni run more express buses?

I’m willing to make an offer right now: If a news organization is willing to refund the original donors half of the money for these pitches – Spot.Us will refund them the other half. You’ll get first publishing rights and as explained above – you’ll help create a situation where everyone wins.

Related posts:

  1. More Donors Get Refunded!!!
  2. A Note from the Earth Island Institute to the Spot.Us Community
  3. Spot.Us Gives Lunch Money Back to Users – Two Stories Refunded by Two New Partners
  4. Spot.Us Members Getting Refunded to Support More Journalism
  5. New Features for Spot.Us!!!!

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9 comments

9 Responses to 'Spot.Us and On Earth Magazine Refund Original Donors'

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  1. Ruth Ann Harnisch said, on March 12th, 2009 at 1:47 pm

    As one of the refunded funders, I’m delighted that you’ve achieved this success. I am headed for spot.us right now to reinvest this money!

  2. Chris Amico said, on March 12th, 2009 at 7:58 pm

    Me too, and me too. Awesome work, folks.

  3. Judy McLeary said, on March 15th, 2009 at 11:11 am

    I also want to reinvest this money, but am having trouble figuring out how to do it. Please Email me what to do. Thanks.

  4. New Features for Spot.Us!!!! « Spot Us - “Community Funded Reporting” said, on March 17th, 2009 at 8:04 am

    [...] Buttons that make it explicit what actions you can take if you are a news organization. You can show support as a news org, join the reporting team (provide editorial oversight so you know the story will work for your publication) provide half the money for a pitch and get first publishing rights or fully fund the pitch to reimburse the original donors and earn their love! [...]

  5. Greg Wolff said, on March 18th, 2009 at 4:07 am

    Will the story eventually be available under a creative commons license?

  6. Digidave said, on March 18th, 2009 at 1:56 pm

    @Greg Wolff

    It will – but not until two weeks after On Earth has published it.

  7. A Peek at What I’ve Been Doing « revolutionary grammar said, on March 25th, 2009 at 8:57 am

    [...] Spot.Us story on solar power in the Bay Area that I helped edit also got some good news this month: On Earth magazine is going to publish the story and refund the original donors. I met with Dave Cohn just before that happened to talk about the [...]

  8. More Donors Get Refunded!!! « Spot Us - “Community Funded Reporting” said, on March 26th, 2009 at 2:37 pm

    [...] They will most likely run the piece next week at SF Station. When they do – I will be singing their praises. As outlined here – they helped to create a win-win-win situation. [...]

  9. Caught at Web 2.0 « Spot Us - “Community Funded Reporting” said, on April 1st, 2009 at 9:48 pm

    [...] and I are at the Web 2.0 conference this week. One of our community members Jaan Orvet (recently re-funded for his initial donation to a story on solar technologies) caught us in [...]

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