An update for the Bay Bridge investigation with McSweeney's

OUR LATEST FUND APPEAL ON SPOT.US

An exciting thing about pushing boundaries in journalism is looking back at space you've carved out along the way. If you've followed the Bay Bridge project since its announcement two weeks ago you will notice a slight repositioning, not of the editorial (which will be the subject of our next post) but the representation of monies. Instead of a "matching" grant from McSweeney's we are considering it a commitment of $5,000 towards our goal which will pay for expenses and reporters time.

Part of this switch is in response to a donor question about the level of engagement McSweeney's has in this project. They are fully committed to doing everything possible to make it happen. We hope you are too! 

In light of that dedication, the matching part of this grant can be expressed as less of a conditional. There is nothing nefarious in wanting to express this as a matching grant. Our goal was to make contributions from the public a social engagement, a way to be working with McSweeney's, The Public Press and Spot.Us as a team in putting this project on. But to be fully transparent, which we believe is key in a public project, we've decided to show the project's progress by representing McSweeney's contributions which have been committed. The Public Press, McSweeney's and Spot.Us are all in agreement with this transition.

Another part of this decision is to give the project a boost of adrenaline. Look how much we've raised now!

Spot.Us is going to match all donations that have come into the project to date — just to ensure people that have donated so far that indeed their donations had double the impact.

If you or others you know might support this investigation please pass along word of the Bay Bridge investigation!