News

Technology Circle grantee Spot.Us, the community funded journalism project founded less than a year ago in San Francisco, announced on September 22, 2009 it is expanding to Los Angeles through a collaboration with USC Annenberg’s School of Journalism. The USC Annenberg partnership, which will integrate Spot.Us’ innovative news delivery method with the journalism academy and strengthen ties to the local media community, is made possible by additional funding from the the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, one of the original backers of the project (along with Full Circle Fund). Among other things, the grant will fund local staff to coordinate freelancers and publications in the LA area and further site development.

Click here to read the complete press release.

In Fall 2008, Full Circle Fund’s Technology Circle recognized Spot.Us as an innovative leader in leveraging technology for social change. Since then, Full Circle Fund Technology Circle members have been working with Spot.Us on several different projects to build capacity of the early startup. Some of these projects have included providing assistance in hiring a community organizer, refining the revenue model and developing a scalable costumer relationship management system.

A pioneer in community-funded journalism, Spot.Us is the only “crowd-sourced” Web site that focuses on local, long-form reporting. Visitors to the site may choose to donate money to support investigative reporting into an issue of their choice. Once completed, the reports are solicited for distribution through local media outlets – If no outlet is found, the story is posted on the Spot.Us site. If wider distribution is found, the story is sold to the outlet and the donation is refunded.

On September 1, 2009, things came “full circle” when the Spot.Us’s crowd-sourcing model resulted in an article being funded and written about the challenge of bringing healthy lunches into schools, and featured Revolution Foods’ Founder and CEO Kristin Richmond. Revolution Foods is a former nonprofit grant partner of Full Circle Fund’s Education Circle. We’re excited to see that two nonprofits Full Circle Fund has had a role in supporting from an early stage are now thriving and benefiting the community through their innovative work.

Posted in Spot.us, Revolution Foods, technology