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.
For the third straight year, donors provided gifts that qualified the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism for full funding in the national NewsMatch campaign for nonprofit newsrooms.
And once again, the Center attained an annual fundraising record.
Individual and business donations increased 12 percent from $94,362 in 2017 to $105,850 — our first time in six figures — in 2018, putting the Center in a strong position as it begins its 11th year of operations.
Those gains were attained through the generosity of first-time donors, reliable supporters and an increase in major gifts of $1,000 or more.
Donors provided kind words in addition to financial support.
“It is getting harder and harder (almost impossible) to recognize the truth amid all the noise — but it needs to be found and shared,” donors Robert and Elke Hagge wrote.
“Democracy needs informed participants. Thank you for helping so much to shed light into Wisconsin’s darker corners.”
Tom Bier, a retired broadcast executive, told us: “I continue to be impressed with the work of you and your team. It’s not only good investigative journalism but also a needed example for others — both journalists and media organizations.”
Credit: Click to enlarge
Watchdog Club membership grows
Members of the Center’s Watchdog Club, its largest and most loyal donors, accounted for 73 percent of the individual donations received, up from 67 percent in 2017.
Watchdog Club membership increased 54 percent, from 50 to 77.
Watchdog Club members received special invitations to the Center’s events, including a club launch reception featuring Walt Bogdanich, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist at The New York Times and a University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate; the annual Wisconsin Watchdog Awards; coffee with NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik; and an evening with former New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr.
Additional events for club members will be held in 2019.
Donations to the Center were matched, up to $1,000 apiece to the maximum limit of $25,000, by the NewsMatch program, created by foundations to encourage grassroots support of nonprofit journalism.
During 2018, the Center received gifts from people in 20 states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and of course Wisconsin — plus the District of Columbia.
Andy Hall, the Center’s co-founder and executive director, noted that the Center’s budget, which is about $500,000, increasingly relies on support from individuals and businesses to complement revenue from foundations, earned income and sponsorships. The 2019 budget sets the bar for individual donations at $200,000 — nearly double the record amount received in 2018 — as the Center seeks to expand its journalistic operations to better serve the public.
On Thursday, the Center announced that it has been been selected to host one of 50 journalists by Report for America, a national service program that places emerging reporters in local newsrooms to report on undercovered topics and communities.
The Center’s RFA corps member will investigate criminal justice issues in Wisconsin, including wrongful convictions and official misconduct.
“We are filled with gratitude,” Hall said, “that so many people have shared their hard-earned dollars to support the Center’s efforts to produce high-quality investigative reporting and train the next generation while informing the public and strengthening our democracy.
“We couldn’t do this without you.”
WCIJ staff photo, summer 2018. From left: Grigor Atanesian, Coburn Dukehart, Andy Hall, Belle Lin, Lauren Fuhrmann, Madeleine Heim, Katie Scheidt, Dee Hall, Emily Hamer, Natalie Yahr, Emily Neinfeldt. Credit: Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism
The independent and nonpartisan Center has four full-time employees, and several paid interns and skilled volunteers. Its investigative reports are shared for free on WisconsinWatch.org and through hundreds of other news organizations. The Center collaborates with Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Television, other news media and the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication, where it is housed.
Funders exercise no control over the Center’s editorial decisions. All are publicly identified as a matter of policy to protect the integrity of the Center’s journalism.
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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These people supported fearless investigative reporting — and helped to set a record
by Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch January 18, 2019
