ProPublica

ProPublica was announced as a nonpartisan, nonprofit investigative newsroom led by Paul E. Steiger, former managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, as editor-in-chief and president, pledging that “We will be non-partisan and non-ideological.”⁠[1]

The release said it would be supported entirely by philanthropy, with Herbert Sandler as board chairman and a multi-year commitment from the Sandler Foundation, along with Atlantic Philanthropies, the JEHT Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation; it planned 24 full-time reporters and editors and an annual budget of about $10 million, roughly two-thirds for news, with Richard J. Tofel as general manager.⁠[1]

American Journalism Review described the Sandlers’ backing as $10 million a year, with Stephen Engelberg named managing editor and a Manhattan newsroom of about 25.⁠[2]

ProPublica planned to start in January 2008 and begin publishing early that year; IRS records show its tax exemption was issued in February 2008 (EIN 14-2007220).⁠[1][3]

ProPublica’s Sheri Fink, in collaboration with The New York Times Magazine, won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for “The Deadly Choices at Memorial,” about the urgent life-and-death decisions made by one hospital’s exhausted doctors after a hurricane. The Next Web called it the first Pulitzer awarded to an online news site.⁠[4][5]

Jesse Eisinger and Jake Bernstein won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for “The Wall Street Money Machine,” which journalism.co.uk described as the first Pulitzer for a series not originally published in print.⁠[6][7]

ProPublica announced that Steiger would become executive chairman in 2013, with Stephen Engelberg succeeding him as editor-in-chief and Richard Tofel becoming president, the two serving as co-CEOs.⁠[8]

ProPublica founded its Local Reporting Network in 2018 to partner with local newsrooms on investigations, and in 2024 launched a 50 State Initiative aiming for yearlong projects in every state by 2029.⁠[9]

ProPublica’s list of honors shows: in 2016 T. Christian Miller and The Marshall Project’s Ken Armstrong won Explanatory Reporting for “An Unbelievable Story of Rape”; in 2017 the “Nuisance Abatement” series with the New York Daily News won Public Service; in 2019 Hannah Dreier won Feature Writing for following Salvadoran immigrants on Long Island; and in 2020 T. Christian Miller, Megan Rose and Robert Faturechi won National Reporting for an investigation of the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet.⁠[7]

In February 2021 ProPublica announced Tofel’s retirement, saying its budget had grown from $10 million to nearly $36 million, it had raised more than $210 million beyond its founding funders and it had more than 43,000 donors in 2020.⁠[10]

On June 22 that year Robin Sparkman, chief executive of StoryCorps, was named president and co-CEO, effective September 8.⁠[11]

On February 28, 2022 ProPublica announced a three-year, $5 million grant from Building a Stronger Future, the foundation of Sam and Gabe Bankman-Fried, for reporting on pandemic preparedness and biosecurity.⁠[12]

After FTX collapsed, AxiosAxiosAxios is a US digital news media company founded in 2016 by former Politico executives Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, and Roy Schwartz and launched in January 2017. It is known for short news items and industry newsletters in the “Smart Brevity” style, especially for its Washington political coverage, and publishes local news newsletters in cities across the United States through Axios Local. Since 2022 it has been owned by Cox Enterprises.Open the full entry reported on December 20 that ProPublica would return the $1.6 million it had received and end the relationship; ProPublica said in an editor’s note that it “does not seem appropriate to keep these funds,” which were held in a separate account pending a bankruptcy court decision, with FTX’s bankruptcy counsel notified. A November 22, 2023 note said it had reached an agreement to voluntarily return the funds to the FTX and Alameda debtors.⁠[13][12]

Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott and Alex Mierjeski published “Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire,” revealing years of undisclosed luxury travel provided to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas by billionaire Harlan Crow, the first story in the Friends of the Court series.⁠[14]

The series won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service; the Pulitzer board said it “pierced the thick wall of secrecy surrounding the Supreme Court” and led the Court to adopt its first code of conduct.⁠[15]

“Life of the Mother” by Kavitha Surana, Lizzie Presser, Cassandra Jaramillo and Stacy Kranitz won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for reporting on pregnant women who died after doctors delayed urgently needed care.⁠[16]

“On the Hook,” a collaboration between ProPublica and The Connecticut Mirror exposing the lax standards and predatory practices that let the towing industry victimize people living paycheck to paycheck, won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting, ProPublica’s ninth Pulitzer.⁠[17][7]

ProPublica says it has more than 150 journalists. Its Form 990 for fiscal 2024 reports revenue of about $64.3 million, expenses of about $45.7 million and total assets of about $108.1 million.⁠[18][3]

Its officers page lists Stephen Engelberg as editor-in-chief and Robin Sparkman as president.⁠[19]

ProPublica: Official website: https://www.propublica.org/ (opens in a new window)⁠[18]