Contributoria was an independent journalism network founded by Matt McAlister, Sarah Hartley and Dan Catt. It operated as a division of

Guardian Media Group Guardian Media Group plc (GMG) is a British-based mass media company owning various media operations including ''The Guardian'' and ''The Observer''. The group is wholly owned by the Scott Trust Limited, which exists to secure the financial and e ...

, the company that owns British daily national newspaper

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

. It launched on 6 January 2014 and published its final issue on 1 September 2015 after running for 21 issues in print and online.

Purpose

Sarah Hartley, editor and co-founder of the platform has said: "Contributoria is designed to operate like a cooperative and inspire professional writers and journalists to support each other. Finding new ways to fund quality journalism for freelance writers will help keep a diversity of published voices online. I encourage all journalists and writers to join up and help shape what could be the future of writing."

Funding

The platform was initially funded as a winner of the News Innovation Contest from the

International Press Institute International Press Institute (IPI) is a global organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of press freedom and the improvement of journalism practices. The institution was founded by 34 editors from 15 countries at Columbia Universit ...

and sponsored by

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

Development

In March 2015, Contributoria introduced a new feature called 'Topics' which allows

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

s, media outlets and commercial companies to commission stories through the platform.

References

{{Reflist 2014 establishments in the United Kingdom Guardian Media Group