ELi’s Donor Transparency Policy

In keeping with the standards of the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN), of which East Lansing Info (ELi) is a proud member, we are committed to transparency in every aspect of funding our organization.

Accepting financial support does not mean we endorse donors or their products, services, or opinions. We may accept gifts, grants and sponsorships from individuals, organizations and foundations to help with our general operations, coverage of specific topics, and special projects. Our news judgments are made independently – not based on or influenced by donors. We do not give supporters the rights to assign, review or edit content.

We make public on our Sponors Page which donors give $5000 or more per year.

We will accept anonymous donations for general support only if it is clear that sufficient safeguards have been put into place that the expenditure of that donation is made independently by our organization and in compliance with INN’s Membership Standards.

No donations are anonymous to the Board of Directors (the Board of Directors can see all of our financial information, including all donors and donations). Unless a donor specifically requests to be anonymous and donates less than $500 per year, his or her name will be listed on our sponsors page.

We do not take donations from government entities, political parties, or individuals seated on or running for East Lansing City Council, East Lansing Public Schools Board of Trustees, or a judgeship on East Lansing’s 54B District Court.

We will not accept donations from sources who, deemed by our Board of Directors, present a conflict of interest with our work or compromise our independence.

(Adopted by ELi’s Board of Directors in February 2018.)