Managing editor Dee J. Hall interviews Bianca Shaw at the State Capitol on Jan. 31, 2018. Credit: Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism
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Local, independent, fact-based reporting is essential to vibrant communities and a healthy democracy. We’re rebuilding and reimagining the future of local news across Wisconsin.
(Narayan Mahon for Wisconsin Watch / Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service)
Our mission
Using journalism to make the communities of Wisconsin strong, informed and connected.
Our impact
Our work helps people navigate their lives, be seen and heard, hold power to account and come together in community and civic life.
Our values
Our work is guided by these core values:
We are committed to service, prioritizing the needs of the communities we serve through relevant, empowering and civic-minded journalism.
Integrity drives us to report with truth, fairness and transparency, earning and maintaining public trust.
Through collaboration, we partner with organizations, residents and media outlets to amplify diverse voices and deepen our impact.
We act with initiative, identifying emerging issues and responding creatively to changing community needs.
We invest in growth by fostering a culture of learning, open communication and innovation to sustain our mission for future generations.
Who we are
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit organization dedicated to using journalism to make the communities of Wisconsin strong, informed and connected. As a nonprofit investigative news organization, we expose injustices, listen to the everyday problems in our communities and shine a light on issues that too often go unnoticed. Every story we publish is rigorously fact-checked to ensure accuracy, fairness and impact.
We don’t just report the news — we connect communities. By collaborating with news organizations across Wisconsin and beyond, we expand the reach of our reporting, ensuring critical stories reach the people who need them most. Our multimedia investigations appear on WisconsinWatch.org and are republished by hundreds of outlets statewide.
Wisconsin Watch is home to multiple newsrooms and teams that work together to strengthen local journalism and amplify underrepresented voices:
Our statewide newsroom uncovers systemic issues affecting communities across Wisconsin, putting local challenges into broader context.
That newsroom’s statehouse bureau covers state and local government, ensuring our readers understand how the decisions made in the capital impact communities across Wisconsin.
Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service (NNS), an independent community-based newsroom in Milwaukee that delivers deeply rooted, community-driven reporting on issues that matter to Milwaukee’s central city and communities of color.
Our northeast Wisconsin bureau is built around community connection, accountability and public participation. Aside from publishing stories, it exists to build a conversation with the people who live and work in northeast Wisconsin.
By exposing the truth, we spark change that improves communities across Wisconsin.
How do you know you can trust our work?
It’s harder than ever to know which information to trust. The sheer volume of news, opinions and misinformation online can make it difficult to separate credible reporting from content that isn’t grounded in facts. We understand that skepticism, and we believe trust must be earned, not assumed.
At Wisconsin Watch, our reporting is built on a commitment to transparency, accuracy and the public interest. We’re part of a network of respected journalism organizations that hold us accountable to high standards:
We are a founding member of the Institute for Nonprofit News, a community of nonprofit newsrooms dedicated to investigative reporting that serves the public.
We participate in the Trust Project, a global initiative that developed transparency standards — called Trust Indicators — to help you evaluate the credibility of our work and understand how our journalism is produced.
Through the CatchLight Local Visual Desk, we collaborate with other newsrooms to strengthen visual storytelling and make high-quality journalism more accessible.
As a member of Gigafact, we publish Fact Briefs that quickly and clearly respond to widely shared claims, helping set the record straight.
These partnerships don’t replace your judgment; they’re one way we show our work and invite scrutiny. We encourage you to explore our methods, review our sources when available and hold us accountable. Trust in journalism starts with openness, and we’re committed to providing it.
We’re excited to announce that gifts to the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism are being doubled, up to $1,000 per donor, from now through Dec. 31!
A way to boost the impact of your generosity even more: If you set up recurring donations, they will be matched at a full-year value to encourage sustaining support of the Center. For example, a new $20-a-month donation now is eligible for an immediate $240 match.
“The matches of new recurring donations are the best opportunity we’ve ever seen for donors to quickly make a difference in our bottom line,” said Andy Hall, co-founder and executive director of the nonpartisan and nonprofit Center, which is completing its first decade of operations.
These funds come from NewsMatch. For the third consecutive year, NewsMatch has selected the Center to participate in its national campaign to encourage grassroots support of the nonprofit news sector, which plays an increasingly important role in providing the public with essential information. Across the country, 155 nonprofit news organizations are eligible for $25,000 each in matching funds plus performance incentives from NewsMatch 2018.
Managing editor Dee J. Hall interviews Bianca Shaw at the State Capitol on Jan. 31, 2018, for a story about Wisconsin’s FoodShare program. Donations to the Center help fund fearless investigating reporting and the training of investigative journalists. Credit: Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism
Gifts from individuals and businesses are the fastest-growing part of the Center’s revenue and now account for a fifth of its $500,000 budget.
We’re also continuing to build on last year’s successful launch of the Watchdog Club, a network of people and businesses taking a leadership role in sustaining investigative reporting and the training of investigative journalists.
Donors of at least $1,000 become members of our Watchdog Club and receive “behind the story” insights, events and benefits, such as coffee conversations with NPR’s Eric Deggans and David Folkenflik, a reception with Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times investigative reporter Walt Bogdanich and an upcoming evening with former New York Times Publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr.
Recurring gifts of at least $83.33 a month qualify donors for the Watchdog Club.
Watchdog Club members share the distinction of being the Center’s most generous and loyal contributors. They are also our ambassadors. They help us excel and innovate, while fostering an informed citizenry and strengthening our democracy.
As an added incentive, several current Watchdog Club members will match new club members’ gifts. This means that, combined with NewsMatch, new Watchdog Club members’ donations of $1,000 will be tripled.
We don’t often get an opportunity like this. Please invest in the news you need today.
“Your support,” Hall added, “means that the Center will be able to expand its fact-checked, award-winning multimedia journalism, which it provides for free at WisconsinWatch.org and to hundreds of news organizations across the nation, as well as continue to train investigative journalists.”
In the past 12 months, the Center has released 24 major reports that were published, broadcast or cited by more than 270 news organizations — a number boosted through a new distribution agreement with The Associated Press — and reached an estimated audience of more than 15.6 million in Wisconsin and nationwide.
In addition, many of the Center’s 41 former interns and fellows are producing important stories and working in innovative businesses aimed at creating sustainable models for journalism.
NewsMatch is funded by Democracy Fund, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation and the Facebook Journalism Project, along with supporting partners across the nation. The Miami Foundation is the fiscal sponsor. The Institute for Nonprofit News and the News Revenue Hub are nonprofit partners.
Hall expressed gratitude to the many generous donors who last year fueled a 56 percent increase in individual and business support of the Center.
“Together,” Hall said, “we can hold the powerful to account, and we will hold true to the guiding principles that the Center’s managing editor, Dee J. Hall, my wife, and I created long ago: Protect the vulnerable. Expose wrongdoing. Explore solutions.”
Donations may be mailed to Wisconsin Watch, P.O. Box 5079, Milwaukee, WI 53205, or made securely via credit card by clicking here.
Because the Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, a donation you make between now and Dec. 31, not only gets doubled by NewsMatch, but it’s also tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Please make a gift today and have it matched!
The nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism (www.WisconsinWatch.org) collaborates with Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Television, other news media and the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by the Center do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.
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Your gift to support fearless investigative journalism in Wisconsin will be doubled, or tripled, with the launch of NewsMatch 2018
by Emily Neinfeldt, Wisconsin Watch November 1, 2018
Emily Neinfeldt joined the Center in September 2017 after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in journalism and political science. She started as a public engagement and marketing intern before becoming membership manager in 2019 and membership director in 2021. Her role includes maintaining and improving the digital infrastructure and operations developed under the Facebook Local News Membership Accelerator program and recommending and leading implementation of audience-growth efforts including marketing initiatives.
Before working at the Center, she was a news intern at Wispolitics.com. She has also worked as associate news editor, features editor and managing editor at The Badger Herald, an independent student newspaper. Neinfeldt is secretary of the Madison Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
