Craig Newmark Foundation gives $1 million to ProPublica

The Craig Newmark Foundation, the philanthropic endeavor started by Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, announced on Wednesday a $1 million gift to ProPublica.

The gift will “allow ProPublica to deploy resources and address opportunities, including adding staff, where they are most needed over a wide range of issues in the public interest,” according to an announcement from the investigative nonprofit.

“A trustworthy press is the immune system of democracy,” Newmark said in a press release. “As citizens we can only make informed decisions when we have news we can trust. Independent investigative reporting is essential to shoot down false claims and expose bad actors.”

Newmark, who donated $1 million to Poynter in December to create a faculty position promoting journalism ethics and trustworthy news, recently made public his intent to give away an additional $3.5 million to journalism causes he believes in.

“It’s incumbent on me as an ultra-patriot to spend like a sailor on shore leave,” Newmark told Nieman Lab’s Ken Doctor.

ProPublica, like some nonprofit news organizations, has been on a funding kick since Donald Trump was elected president. In 2016, ProPublica ended the year with $2.9 million in individual contributions, up 544 percent over the previous year. They’re now opening up a newsroom in Illinois and recently hired their first editor in chief.

Correction: A previous version of this story referred incorrectly to the gift. It came from the Craig Newmark Foundation, not Newmark himself.