TRUTHOUT 2009 ANNUAL REPORT

A Letter From Our Executive DirectorMaya Schenwar, Executive DirectorI am honored to be writing the introduction to this year-longhistory of Truthout's transformation. In the pages that follow,you will find a portrait of an innovative, broad-reaching,growing news organization with a solid foundation and abright future. Amid an eroding media landscape plagued bydiminishing resources and lowered standards, Truthout isa powerful independent voice, combining groundbreakinginvestigative reporting with thoughtful analysis, free ofcorporate bias.Over the past year, we have managed to triple our originalcontent, moving from our previous role as primarily a newsaggregator to our current position as a daily platform fororiginal muckraking, breaking news and commentary,supplemented by pieces from a select group of partner sites.Along with our expanded vision, our real-world impact hasgrown substantially. In the past year, Truthout's investigativereports and analyses have prompted Congressional hearingson torture, spurred a rejection of absurd anti-educationpolicies in Florida and elsewhere and hastened the reversalof unfair decisions by the military regarding veterans andservice members. We have exposed the silencing of militarycontracting whistleblowers, delved into little-known aspects ofthe health care debate, shone light on the hidden expenses inwar spending bills and conducted on-camera interviews withpublic figures like Ralph Nader, ACORN CEO Bertha Lewisand former CIA agent John Kiriakou. After the earthquakein Haiti, we covered its devastating effects on people andfamilies on the ground—and didn't let up after the earthquakehad become "old news." We have also added an educationalcomponent: an internship and fellowship program designedto train the next generation of skilled, socially consciousinvestigative reporters.Readers have noticed Truthout's growth, and they arespreading the word. Our traffic doubled this fiscal year. Thesite currently receives approximately 1.2 million uniquevisitors per month. We also delved into social media full force,utilizing tools like Digg, Reddit and Facebook to reach newreaders and new populations. In six months, our Facebookgroup fan count increased from 1,200 to 17,500. Additionally,we've established new partnerships with other media outletsand nonprofit organizations, expanding our audience andmaximizing our impact.Truthout's ability to grow and innovate throughout this fiscalyear speaks to the unwavering dedication of its staff: a groupof intense, passionate people who have committed themselvesto serving the public good. Our staff believes in the power ofcourageous journalism to change hearts, minds and publicpolicy—and they prove it every day.I am incredibly grateful for your support in making this crucialwork possible, and look forward to many inspiring years tocome!Sincerely,Maya SchenwarExecutive Director, Truthout

Truthout's Growing ImpactGroundbreaking, OriginalReporting and AnalysisIn the latter eight months ofthe fiscal year, Truthoutunderwent a large-scalechange in its editorial framework,tripling original editorialcontent while slashingcosts. We began publishing awider variety of pieces fromrenowned contributing writers,and drew in some importantnew voices.Our top-notch reportersinclude Jason Leopold, GregPalast, Dahr Jamail, JohnPilger, Dina Rasor, AnneElizabeth Moore, DavidBacon and Art Levine, andwe feature such renownedopinion writers as WilliamRivers Pitt, Henry Giroux,Ellen Brown, Bill Moyers,Noam Chomsky, KathyKelly, Zygmunt Bauman andGeorge Lakoff.In the past year, we havewitnessed a true amplificationof our work's journalisticimpact. We have seen our storiesmake waves on a numberof different political fronts,helping to influence policyand promote social justice ona national scale.Lance Page, Truthout; Adapted from: US_Air_Force, pablosanzLance Page, Truthout; Adapted from: MikeLicht, NotionsCapital.comTruthout's Deputy Managing Editor JasonLeopold has been a vital part of the continuedinvestigation into US torture policy in thewar on terror.Just a few examples:A story Truthout reported in June 2009, based on a little-knowndocument that indicated George W. Bush had authorized the use ofdogs and other methods to intimidate prisoners in Iraq, was pickedup by MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" and led lawmakers,such as Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman CarlLevin, to begin making inquiries into these interrogation techniques.Investigative journalist and Truthout Board of Advisers MemberDina Rasor has done tremendous work exposing how the Departmentof Justice has failed to join with whistleblowers and holddefense contractors accountable for billions of dollars of fraud andwaste. Her investigation for Truthout shed light on the ways inwhich a system established by the Lincoln administration to preventwar profiteering has now fallen apart.Truthout has been a vital part of the continued investigation into UStorture policy in the "war on terror." In a report from March, Truthout'sJason Leopold was the first journalist to disclose the fact thatthe Department of Justice was backing away from claims that detaineeAbu Zubaydah, the first "war on terror" prisoner subjected towaterboarding, was the No. 3 official in al-Qaeda and that he helpedto plan the 9/11 attacks. This disclosure has already had far-reachingeffects, with Truthout's report being cited in multiple legal proceedings.Leopold has broken dozens of stories regarding torture, includinga recent video interview with former CIA agent John Kiriakou,who led the team which captured Zubaydah and was involved inZubaydah's torture.Lawyer, author and economist Ellen Brown has been at the forefrontof reporting on the formation of state-owned banks, which can functionin the interest of the population, instead of serving only WallStreet. Truthout features her work on a regular basis and has been animportant platform for discussion of this idea.Truthout reporter Dahr Jamail was the first to cover the story ofAlexis Hutchinson, a single mother in the Army who missed deploymentlast year when her childcare plans fell through at the last

Educational Impact / ArtisticAdditionsDeveloping PartnershipsThis year, Truthoutestablished collaborativeagreements with more thana dozen other publicationsand nonprofit organizations.Partners include In TheseTimes, Miller McCune,Council on HemisphericAffairs, TomDispatch,AlterNet, Yes! Magazine,GRITtv, Berrett-KoehlerPublishers and more. Wealso began syndicationrelationships with GlobalPost,the Washington Post WritersGroup, Creators Syndicate,Tom Tomorrow and TheChristian Science Monitor.These partnerships haveallowed us to broaden the scopeand depth of our coverage. Theyhave also helped us workwith other media organizationsto amplify their impact, throughpromoting and publicizingtheir most important stories.We believe firmly that, in thistough climate, independentmedia outlets must supporteach others' efforts, workingtogether to develop, share anddisseminate crucial stories.Beginning in October 2009,we began offering all ofour original content under aCreative Commons license.Jared Rodriguez, Truthout; Adapted from:Staff Sgt. Marelli, DVIDSHUB, designshardThis means that our originalreports, op-eds and imagescan now be reproduced byother organizations, as long asthe content is cited correctlyand not used for commercialpurposes. Since we incorporatedthis license, our originalimages have been picked upand reposted at least 80,000times across the Internet andour articles are reprinted on adaily basis by hundreds of blogsand small news sites acrossthe globe. To date, Google hasindexed nearly three millionpages with the quoted term,"Truthout" and Google Booksindicates over 6,000 booksand print publications whichreference Truthout.Educational ImpactIn October 2009, weestablished a Truthout reportinginternship program. It is atwo-phased endeavor: a threemonthinternship leading up toa six-month fellowship for topinterns. Our deputy managingeditor works directly with theinterns, guiding them in theproduction of short articles andshowing them the ropes of ourfast-paced online newsroom.Four interns have successfully"graduated" the program todate. At the fellowship level,trainees take on a supervised,long-term, investigative project.They spend time shadowingTruthout editors and writers,learning about varied aspects ofthe field and best practices fortruly independent journalism.It is a rigorous—and highlynecessary—training program.At a time when traditionalnews sources have largelyabandoned their role as a checkon power and corruption,there is a fresh hunger forincisive journalism—the typeof reporting that lives up to theideal of the "Fourth Estate."Our first Truthout Fellow,Yana Kunichoff, has had thechance to cover Arizona'scontroversial immigrationlegislation, the politics aroundchanges to the WhistleblowerProtection Act and the waysin which census policies fuelprison-based gerrymandering.Kunichoff is currently workingon a series about the daily livesof undocumented immigrants.She has developed an abilityto produce true journalisticimpact: In December, wepublished a report by Kunichoffabout a new Army policy, underwhich female soldiers servingin some parts of Iraq could facea court-martial for becomingpregnant.This report prompted animmediate response from Gen.Anthony Cucolo, the generalwho instated the policy. Wepublished his response onTruthout, and the two piecesprovoked an outpouring ofcomments and ideas fromour readers. The story beganappearing in other publications,and soon after, the policy wasretracted. Kunichoff will be onassignment at the US SocialForum in Detroit from June 22-26, 2010. Truthout's summerinterns are already hard at workcovering the BP oil disaster andthe upcoming campaign season.Artistic AdditionsIn 2009, our on-staffdesigners began creatingoriginal artwork to accompanymany of our featured stories.These images add depth andcharacter to our journalism,and highlight aspects of crucialissues that sometimes cannotbe captured in words. Wehave found Truthout's imagerydistributed widely across theInternet and featured by manyreputable publications.See our Flickr stream at:http://www.flickr.com/truthoutLance Page, Truthout; Adapted from: World Economic Forum, vladstudio, GrungeTextures

Expanded CommunityBeginning in early October, we launched a comprehensiveeffort to expand our presence acrossthe Internet to attract new readers and begin breakinginto new demographics. Part of the missionof independent new media organizations must beto attract young readers, who are currently underservedby the atrophying traditional media and thehollow 24-7 television news cycle.On Facebook, we grew from 1,200 fans in October2009 to more than 21,000 as of May 2010.We also added 4,000 new followers on Twitter inthat same period. By targeting the social medianetworks Facebook and Twitter, we have seenexplosive growth in readership and in the potentialfor our articles to "go viral," extending their lifeand impact across the Internet. Google News hasbegun syndicating our articles, exposing a massivenew audience to our work and has additionallyfeatured our content in their coveted Spolight sectionreserved exclusively for "news and in-depthpieces of lasting value." Our stories have frequentlyhit the "Top in All Categories" area of thepopular Digg.com social aggregator web site.Truthout has seen a very healthy growth in readershipover the past year. According to Quantcast,our baseline daily traffic has nearly doubled, catapultingTruthout to the top 6,000 web sites on theInternet. Traffic from social media sources like Facebook,Twitter, Digg and Reddit has skyrocketed.Facebook-generated traffic has increased by 600percent, while Digg-generated traffic has increasedby 10,700 percent. Our SEO (Search Engine Optimization)presence has also grown substantially,with an improvement of 91 percent for organicGoogle searches and an increase in GooglePageRank score to an exceptional rating of 7.A chart of all fans of Truthout from the Truthout Facebook Page.Currently, our fan growth is over 1,000 new fans per week.A chart of all page views via the Truthout Facebook Page. Thisnumber has grown dramatically in line with our fan base.Demographic statistics from our Facebook Page that demonstratethe increase in diversity that the social media campaign has achieved.This Quantcast graph demonstrates Truthout's explosive growth over the last year, via a rolling monthly graph of unique visitors to the web site.Unlike many other web sites which are overestimated by Quantcast, Truthout is a verified "Quantified" web site ensuring more accurate results.This is a graph by Alexa that demonstrates Truthout's daily reach as expressed as the percentage of all Internet users who visit the web site. Inmany respects this number is of greater important than site traffic because it is a relative estimate to a holistic system of users.

Behind the Scenes -Truthout's GovernanceTruthout added three members to our board of directors in 2009,bringing in new, innovative voices:Henry A. Giroux currently holds the global TV network chairprofessorship at McMaster University in the English and culturalstudies department. His primary research areas are: cultural studies,youth studies, critical pedagogy, popular culture, media studies,social theory and the politics of higher and public education. In2002, he was named as one of the top 50 educational thinkers ofthe modern period in Fifty Modern Thinkers on Education: FromPiaget to the Present as part of Routledge’s Key Guides PublicationSeries. In 2005, he received an honorary doctorate from MemorialUniversity in Canada. He is on the editorial and advisory boardsof numerous national and international scholarly journals, and heserves as the editor or co-editor of three scholarly book series. Hehas published numerous books and articles.Robert Naiman is policy director at Just Foreign Policy. Naimanedits the Just Foreign Policy daily news summary and writesregularly for Truthout, Huffington Post and Common Dreams.Recent writing by Naiman has appeared in Extra! and NACLAReport. He is a frequent commentator on radio, including recentlyon NPR and the BBC. Naiman has worked as a policy analyst andresearcher at the Center for Economic and Policy Research andPublic Citizen's Global Trade Watch. He has master's degrees ineconomics and mathematics from the University of Illinois, and hasstudied and worked in the Middle East.Melinda Carmack has more than 30 years experience insuccessfully building fundraising programs in the San FranciscoBay Area to support higher education, the arts, internationalrelations, social services and the environment. She joined the staffof Earthjustice as vice president for development in September2005. There, she is responsible for the day-to-day operations ofall fundraising activities and developing a long-term strategythat ensures the organization’s sustained growth. Prior to joiningEarthjustice, Melinda served as a fundraising and campaignconsultant and taught workshops for fundraising professionalson such topics as “Capital Campaigns: Strategies for Success,”“Advanced Major Gifts Programs” and “Identifying and BuildingRelationships with Major Donors.” She honed her major giftsand campaign skills as assistant dean for development andalumni relations for the Haas School of Business and Director ofDevelopment for International House at the University of Californiaat Berkeley.They join board members Steven Sugarman, Leonore A. Herzenbergand Arlene Ash:Steven Sugarman has an MA in research psychology and isexecutive director of the International Humanities Center. Heis the former executive director of the Social & EnvironmentalEntrepreneurs (SEE) and co-founder of the Bolsa Chica StewardshipGroup. Steve is also the author of The Blueprint for PlanetaryEvolution, as well as an avid creator of conceptual statistical modelsthat are translated into games of strategy and probability.Leonore A. Herzenberg is a professor of genetics at StanfordUniversity and a leading AIDS researcher. She is the recipient of theAmerican Cancer Society's Eleanor Roosevelt Cancer Fellowship,the ComputerWorld Smithsonian Award, and numerous other prizes.Arlene Ash is a professor and division chief in the department ofquantitative health sciences at the University of MassachusettsMedical School in Worcester, Masachusetts. She is a mathematicianand biostatistician with special expertise in payment systems andvalue assessment in health care. More generally, she has providedstatistical advice and testimony on public issues for 30 years,focusing on the integrity of US elections since December 2000,when she testified in the Martin County, Florida, absentee ballotfraud trial. She is currently working with colleagues in the AmericanStatistical Association and "good government" groups to developand disseminate guidelines for best practices in election audits.

Behind the Scenes -Strengthened Financial PictureTruthout's 2009Donor Honor RollJared Rodriguez, Truthout / Adapted from:sbluerock, borman818Since Truthout's leadership change in September 2009, ourmanagers and staff have worked to streamline our productionprocess and business model. Faced with the challenge of keepingthe organization from overspending, everyone on ourdedicated team collaborated to make our time at work moreproductive and efficient.We have worked to reconnect with organizations from acrossthe nonprofit sector to build our network and find mutuallybeneficial partnerships. We re-established connections with thephilanthropic community and made our organization moretransparent and responsive to donors.To make the most of our limited funds, we substantially reducedcompensation for the role of executive director, reducedour in-house staff, renegotiated service contracts, cut out unnecessaryexpenses and invested in high-quality contentfrom our team of contributing writers.These efforts paid off. In just the final six months of the fiscalyear, we were able to turn the organization's financialoutlook around. We took an organization which lost $239,000in FY2008 and turned it into an organization which livedwithin its means, finishing FY2009 $8,000 in the black.This success is a testament to the hard work of our staff and,importantly, the deep connection our readers have with ourorganization. Despite a declining economy, our fundraising appealsto our roughly one million monthly readers weresuccessful. We make the case for Truthout on a monthly basisand our readers respond. When we ask them why theychoose to donate, the most common responses are, "we trustyou," "we need you" and "we don't want you to go away."We take our role as a nonprofit charity as a great responsibility.Our staff and our board are honored to be entrusted withthe resources to make this media model a thriving success.Good information is essential for democracy and on a dailybasis, we hear from readers who view our service as one of thelast bastions of reliable and useful news and information.We are committed to the cause of responsive, responsible governancewithin our organization, within our nationalborders and across the planet.We are deeply thankful for the foundations and individuals that support our work. In recognitionof their support, we have listed major donors from calendar year 2009 who have given uspermission to use their names.Supporting FoundationsThe Park FoundationThe Denver Area EducationalTelecommunicationsConsortiumThe Susan and FordSchumann FoundationThe William B. Weiner, Jr.FoundationThe Wilcox FamilyFoundationThe Bill Muster FoundationThe Brightwater FundThe Litowitz FoundationThe Omega Point InstituteThe Harold & MarionGordon FoundationThomas Paine Donor Circle($10,000+)Yoko OnoNellie Bly Donor Circle($1,000-9,999)Sue KingDianne WilkerClive M. AnsleyStan CrapoKen GordonI.F. Stone Donor Circle($500-999)Philip PerlmanGraham RyanHeather ShankJoan WrightTed CurranJudith ThompsonFrank RacetteLeslie GriffithRobert FrieseDean EliasJana CytrynbaumJohn CernyWilliam BreerScott BlauCarol BiernatRichard RePassGretchen & Leland JamiesonPeter JosephAlbert HookShannon ConnallLinda S. EllisJames MurphyPeter Van NessWilliam von HagenAnna ToewsPaul KrehbielBruce KennedyBetty DodsonJean ConverseGeraldine BucklesThe Rutherford InstituteRobert del TufoPatricia RollinsFrances MillerEllen BakerStirling ScruggsDonald MoldeGail CorbettJack McNamaraRichard PennockMarvin KayEdith SimpsonLaoni Davis

Profit and Loss StandardMay 2009 - April 2010Profit and Loss StandardMay 2008 - April 2009IncomeGrantsDonationsCheck DonationsElectronic DonationsPaypalLarge DonationsTotal DonationsTotal IncomeCosts of Goods SoldFellowshipDevelopment ConsultantAdvertisingIntern ProgramFundraising ExpenseSyndication ExpenseCredit Card CostsEquipment ExpensePayroll ExpenseOutside ContributorsInternetIT ContractorInternet HostingMedia ProductionProgram ExpensesTravelTotal COGSGross Profit50,000.00211,413.94827,931.2557,807.0897,506.001,194,658.271,244,658.275,000.005,100.00756.706,200.003,382.198,116.9546,625.06262.40794,484.40122,659.002,893.293,703.3956,401.81862.25633.541,510.971,058,591.95186,066.32ExpenseBank Service ChargesComputer ExpenseSalary of Executive DirectorCurrent Director Oct-Apr '10Former Director May-Sept '09Dues and SubscriptionsFiling FeesInsuranceHealth InsuranceLiability InsuranceWorkers' CompensationTotal InsuranceFinance ChargeMeetings/MealsOffice ExpensePostage and DeliveryPrintingProfessional FeesRentEquipment RepairsOffice SuppliesTelephone & FaxTotal ExpenseNet Ordinary IncomeOther Income/ExpenseInterest IncomeNet Other Income153.00871.1328,919.0967,790.92222.95168.0020,423.682,017.003,945.3926,386.071.06121.02514.006,396.181,409.1913,177.608,000.001,200.311,044.7521,657.74178,033.018,033.31293.17293.17Ordinary Income/ExpenseIncomeDonationsCheck DonationsElectronic DonationsPaypalLarge DonationsTotal DonationsTotal IncomeCosts of Goods SoldCredit Card CostsCredit Card FeesEntango Processing FeesAuthnet Processing FeesTotal Credit Card CostsPayPal FeesEquipment ExpensePayroll ExpenseStaff ServicesSalaryPayroll TaxesADP FeesMatching Coelect IRATotal Payroll ExpenseOutside ContributorsInternetIT ContractorInternet HostingProgram ExpensesTechnical SupportTravelTotal COGSGross Profit276,199,32993,226.2975,389.4532,000.001,376,815.061,376,815.0647,612.2326,054.721,470.7075,137.653,038.96225.62433,173.33530,542.5255,535.053,996.2110,187.971,033,435.0865,950.002,721.641,200.0056,257.87951.4713,207.5016,109.551,268,235.34108,579.72ExpenseAmortization ExpenseAutomobile ExpenseBank Service ChargesComputer ExpenseDepreciation ExpenseSalary of Former ExecutiveDirectorDues and SubscriptionsFiling FeesInsuranceHealth InsuranceWorkers CompensationTotal InsuranceInterest ExpenseMeetings/MealsOffice expensePostage and DeliveryPrintingProfessional FeesAccountingLegal FeesTotal Professional FeesRentRepairs & MaintenanceComputer RepairsEquipment RepairsTotal Repairs & Maint.SuppliesOffice SuppliesTotal SuppliesTelephone & FaxVoided checksTotal ExpenseNet OrdinaryOther Income390.0059.17185.003,114.2733,386.00212,354.0559.45180.0022,396.114,399.4926,795.605.891,667.7040.916,858.993,174.742,088.001,220.003,308.0028,819.00707.2020.00727.201,131.361,131.3629,244.660.00351,501.99-242,922.273,387.68Net Income8,326.48Net Income-239,534.59