2017: A Year of Growth & Transition ABOUT THE CENTER FOR PUBLIC INTEGRITY The Center for Public Integrity is one of the country’s oldest and largest nonpartisan, nonprofit investigative news organizations. The Center produces groundbreaking stories that inform people around the world and inspire action. To serve democracy by revealing abuses of power, corruption and MISSION betrayal of public trust by powerful public and private institutions, using the tools of investigative journalism. MOTTO “Watchdog in the corridors of power” FOUNDED 1989 HEADQUARTERS Washington, DC EMPLOYEES 37 National Security EDITORIAL Environment Finance and Broadband State Government DEPARTMENTS Federal Politics Immigration Dark gray | rgb(50,50,50) Workers’ Rights I’ve always been an advocate for the underdog. Investigative reporting is my way of shining a light in dark places on behalf of people who don’t have the time or money to take on powerful interests themselves. — Sarah Kleiner, Federal Politics Reporter REPORTER IN THE SPOTLIGHT Sarah Kleiner on fraud within a veteran’s charity organization - CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper” 2 The Center for Public Integrity TABLE OF CONTENTS From the Board Chair. .4 From the Chief Executive Officer .................................5 2017: A Year of Growth & Transition ..............................6 Editorial Highlights ............................................7 Federal Politics. 7 State Government .........................................8 Environment ..............................................9 Finance and Broadband ....................................9 Immigration .............................................10 National Security .........................................11 Workers’ Rights ..........................................12 Collaboration Expands Reach and Impact .........................13 Major Impacts in 2017 .........................................14 Major Awards in 2017. 15 Building Community = Engaging our Readers .....................16 Meet our Team ...............................................17 Board of Directors ........................................17 Staff ....................................................18 Financials. 19-20 About our Funders. 21-23 How You Can Help ............................................23 2017 ANNUAL REPORT 3 FROM THE BOARD CHAIR I am delighted to have the privilege of serving as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Center for Public Integrity at such a critical time for investigative journalism and our world. I first want to congratulate my predecessors, Olivia Ma and Scott Siegler, and our CEO, John Dunbar, for an extraordinary 2017. We are moving forward on all fronts to improve the Center and fulfill its essential mission. I look forward to working with my terrific board colleagues, our extraordinarily talented and dedicated staff, and new and longtime funders to ensure that the Center delivers on its mission. I hope many of our paths will cross as together we Jim Kiernan build on our great legacy. Board Chair Dark gray | rgb(50,50,50) Our investigations go deeper by design — to the benefit, we hope, of readers who thirst for comprehensive, relentless reporting that tells them lots of things they don’t already know — Dave Levinthal, Senior Reporter, Federal Politics REPORTER IN THE SPOTLIGHT Dave Levinthal on Donald Trump’s business deals - NPR’s “1A” 4 The Center for Public Integrity FROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER The noise level in Washington and the drumbeat of an ever-faster news cycle continued to intensify throughout 2017. People are confused — what is “fake news?” Is the press really the “enemy of the people?” Amidst the chaos, the mission of the Center for Public Integrity has remained the same: to provide in-depth, trustworthy, investigative reporting in the public interest. But times are changing, and the Center must change to survive, yet still hold to its mission. And 2017 showed the first hints of what’s coming. The Center has launched a major strategic planning process to determine what we will look like in three years. We’ve started a membership program to better connect with our audience and diversify John Dunbar our revenue. We’re working on a communications plan CEO to boost our profile and improve our brand. We’re building a new website. That’s not to say we haven’t had our share of challenges, like other journalistic enterprises. But today we are thriving and the future is bright. We’ve built a robust data team, hired a host of investigative reporters with diverse backgrounds and skills, and implemented strategies to engage readers through social media, livestream Q&A sessions with reporters and audience input. Most importantly, we continue to produce great journalism on climate change, nuclear security, immigration, phony charities, powerful lobbying groups, “dark money”, corruption in state legislatures and other issues that matter most to our readers. These may be uncertain times, but you can count on the Center to continue doing what we do best – outstanding investigative reporting. We cannot do it without you. Thank you for your support. John Dunbar CEO 2017 ANNUAL REPORT 5 2017: A YEAR OF GROWTH & TRANSITION Our 2017 and 2014 Pulitzer Prize-winning newsroom comprises reporters, editors and data experts who dig deep and deliver national and international investigative journalism of enduring significance. Thanks to the support of generous foundations and individual donors, the Center entered a period of robust growth in 2017. Financial stability enabled the Center to strengthen its staff across all editorial departments, filling 13 positions in 2017. A key component of our strategic growth plan was to rebuild our data and digital teams by hiring reporters with specialized skills, in addition to hiring a digital editor and an audience engagement editor. These personnel work across all editorial departments to enhance the reader experience by producing useful data tools and graphics. We also hired five new fellows in 2017 from the following programs: American University James R. Soles/University of Delaware John S. & James L. Knight Foundation W.K. Kellogg Foundation Stanback/Duke University Dark gray | rgb(50,50,50) Charles Lewis III Founder, Center for Public Integrity Professor and Executive Editor, Investigative Reporting Workshop, The American University School of Communication For nearly 30 years, the nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity has been a vitally important watchdog in the corridors of power. Its truth-telling work has never been more timely, important or necessary than it is now. — Charles Lewis, Founder, Center for Public Integrity 6 The Center for Public Integrity EDITORIAL HIGHLIGHTS Investigative journalism is time-consuming work. We are proud of our dedicated journalists who produced 199 stories in 2017. The following are noteworthy investigations from each of our editorial desks. FEDERAL POLITICS In July, the Center partnered with the Center for Investigative Reporting to launch a major crowdsourcing effort — #CitizenSleuth — that examined financial disclosures from more than 400 Trump administration officials. The project evolved from an earlier Center collaboration with ProPublica, which resulted in a searchable, sortable database. The Center added more than 100 new Trump administration officials’ financial disclosures to the database, allowing anyone to easily understand the wealth, assets and business interests of those working for President Donald Trump. #CitizenSleuth resulted in special investigative series, including two focusing on former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon. Steve Bannon has a shadow press office. It may violate federal law, published in July, prompting the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., to request that the White House, Department of Justice and Office of Government Ethics investigate Bannon for using a private public relations executive to conduct official White House business. Steve Bannon misreports $2 million in financial disclosure debt, also published in July, drove Bannon to disclose the source of the unreported $2 million debt on a revised government document at the end of 2017. REPORTER IN THE SPOTLIGHT Carrie Levine on the money behind the midterm elections - NPR’s “Morning Edition” 2017 ANNUAL REPORT 7 EDITORIAL HIGHLIGHTS STATE GOVERNMENT In December, the Center, in collaboration with the Associated Press, published its Conflicted Interests investigation, which analyzed financial disclosure reports from 6,933 state legislators nationwide and unearthed countless examples of lawmakers who have introduced and supported legislation to boost their own interests rather than those of the public. The project, which included a searchable library of the disclosure reports, was printed on 12 front pages of papers across the country, including the Des Moines Register, The Olympian and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The library has now been accessed more than 100,000 times. Dark gray | rgb(50,50,50) State Delegate Dan Morhaim after the Maryland House of Delegates voted unanimously to reprimand him for using his position to advocate for changes to medical marijuana regulations that could have led to gains for a company he worked for. Americans have the right to know what’s going on in their legislatures. We at the Center do crucial work reporting what’s going on at the state level, connecting dots between states, revealing under-the-radar lobbying and influence schemes. The policy decisions we write about impact millions