Aspen Journalism
Aspen Journalism
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About this organization
Mission
Our mission is to produce excellent journalism, because well-informed citizens make better decisions and journalism is key to a functioning democracy.
About
Aspen Journalism is an independent nonprofit journalism organization, founded in 2011, and based in Aspen,Colorado. Our mission is to produce quality journalism, as well-informed citizens make better decisions. Our approach is both investigative and collaborative. Our coverage area radiates outward from Aspen to Snowmass Village, Pitkin, Eagle, Garfield, and Summit counties, the Western Slope, Colorado, and the West. Since 2011, we'vecovered water, education, land-use, local government, housing, transportation, energy, wealth, real estate, the ski industry, and development. In 2018, we published 74 in-depth stories, 70 of them about water issues in the Colorado River basin, which includes the Roaring Fork River basin. To inform our reporting, we attended 54 water meetings and events around Colorado. We produced sustained and impactful reporting on potential dams on Maroon Creek and Castle Creek tied to conditional water-storage reservoir rights, and we also continued in-depth coverage of key Colorado River issues, including statewide and regional response to ongoing severe drought conditions. Aspen Journalism in 2018 staffed one primary "desk" the "water desk." Brent Gardner-Smith served as the reporter, editor and photographer for the desk, covering rivers and water in the Roaring Fork and Colorado river basins.Also in 2018, freelance reporters Heather Sackett, Lindsay Fendt and Sarah Tory wrote stories about water and rivers for Aspen Journalism. Our stories on water were published via our ongoing collaboration with the newspapers of Swift Communications in The Aspen Times, the Glenwood Springs Post Independent, the Vail Daily, the Summit Daily, the Steamboat Pilot and the Greeley Tribune. We also began a collaboration with The Colorado Sun and its reporter Jason Blevins, who is covering regional mountain biking and recreation trails, including the potential trail from Carbondale to Crested Butte. Jason wrote two stories for us about the trail, and they appeared in The Aspen Times and The Colorado Sun. We asked freelance writer and reporter Ali Margo to collaborate with Aspen Sojourner magazine and write about what it is like working as an undocumented worker in Aspen's resort economy during the Trump administration. And Tim Cooney, a local freelance writer, wrote an in-depth piece, in collaboration with the Aspen Daily News, on the fatal 1984 avalanche in Highland Bowl. The article, which included historical photos, was also published in The Avalanche Review, the journal of the American Avalanche Association. In our annual reports, we attempt to measure and review our performance. We look at our: financial capacity (revenue from over 100 donations: approximately $200,000 in 2018); reporting capacity (number of reporters and editors we deployed: 1.5 full-time equivalents); our approach to reporting (investigative, collaborative, beat- and document-driven, freelance-assisted); our newsgathering efforts (attending a lot of water meetings, visiting a lot of physical locations); our productivity (how many stories we produced: 74 in 2018, including 70 on water and rivers); our reach (how many people may have read our work: potentially about 10,000 people per story, or 740,000). our impact (what we may have changed or influenced: city of Aspen's decisions on water rights, awareness of looming potential water-use cuts); the response to our work (based on unsolicited feedback: very good).
Interesting data from their 2020 990 filing
The filing clearly states the mission of the non-profit as “To produce investigative journalism, as well-informed citizens make better decisions.”.
When outlining its functions, they were explained as: “Our mission is to produce excellent journalism, because well-informed citizens make better decisions and journalism is key to a functioning democracy.”.
- In compliance with legal regulations, the non-profit has reported their state of operation as CO.
- The filing records the non-profit's address for 2020 as PO Box 10101, Aspen, CO, 81612.
- As of 2020, the non-profit's form reports a total of 0 employees.
- Is not a private foundation.
- Expenses are less than $100,000.
- Revenue is between $100,000 and $250,000.
- Revenue less expenses is $6,649.
- The organization has 0 independent voting members.
- The organization was formed in 2011.
- The organization pays $96,059 in salary, compensation, and benefits to its employees.
- The organization pays $17,263 in fundraising expenses.
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