Our journalists work around the clock to bring vital information about the Bay Area to its residents during this unprecedented time when the novel coronavirus has threatened our health and way of life.
~ Our COVID-19 Information Hub brings updated information about services, health measures, school openings and cases in the 12-county region to readers so they are informed and able to navigate the pandemic.
~ We have been proud to work with ProPublica on an investigative series you can find at LocalNewsMatters.org.
~ In 2020, we published dozens of stories on equity issues, local arts and culture, and the volunteers and first responders who inspire us every day. We also hosted a Voter Information Hub for local election coverage.
Bay City News Foundation was started as a 501(c)(3) to bring coverage of the people, places and issues that deserve more attention to Bay Area readers like you. Thank you for your ongoing support, fueling our growth in the last two years and setting us on a sustainable course for the future.
Thank you for helping us exceed our 2020 fundraising goal: $350,000
453,882
Raised so far
Our Mission
Bay City News Foundation serves the San Francisco Bay Area and is backed by charitable donations from contributors who care about local news, a free press, democratic values and an informed citizenry. We target geographic and topical news deserts. We collaborate with other media. We experiment with technology. We work with journalism schools to train the next generation of reporters. Help us do more with a donation today.
Individual and institutional donors help us with projects aimed at:
Providing on-the-ground local news reporting and filling the geographic and topical gaps left by contracting legacy media companies. You can find many of these stories about Bay Area news, arts and culture, demographic trends and history at LocalNewsMatters.org. In January, we started putting additional resources into covering Contra Costa County and Martinez when that city’s local paper closed.
Building partnerships with other media and nonprofit groups to do journalism projects. We have been working with Solutions Journalism Network, SF Senior Beat, CALmatters, The Conversation, USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism, Catchlight, PolicyLink, Renaissance Journalism, ProPublica Local and others to amplify good and important work. We welcome inquiries from philanthropic partners to do collaborative work in the months ahead.
Testing new technology to gather and distribute news in the ways consumers want to get it. We are collaborating with entrepreneurs from the JSK Journalism Fellowship program at Stanford University, including Project Facet, to test new distribution products. We are partnering with Newspack to use the WordPress publishing platform for local websites. We are working with Microsoft to modernize our internal story assignment, creation and editing workflows. We are open to experimentation.
Supporting the next generation of journalists with internships and training. We are working with San Francisco State, San Jose State, UC Berkeley, Newsroom by the Bay at Stanford University and others to train and mentor students so they have a professional path toward journalism jobs. A generous seed donation from the Hogan-Newton Fund at the Miami Foundation is helping to “turbocharge” this program by giving substantive mentoring to these interns.