(Last updated: February 2021)
PolitiFact is a nonpartisan fact-checking website to sort out the truth in American politics. PolitiFact was created by the Tampa Bay Times, a Florida newspaper, in 2007. In 2018, PolitiFact was acquired by the Poynter Institute, a nonprofit school for journalists.
You can view The Poynter Institute’s most-recent public financial disclosure form 990 here.
While PolitiFact relies on administrative support from the Poynter Institute, it is otherwise financially self-sustaining. It receives funding from online advertisements placed on the website. PolitiFact also receives compensation for selling its content to media publishers and companies. Organizations that contributed more than 5 percent of total PolitiFact revenues in the previous calendar year will be listed here:
• Facebook
• TikTok
PolitiFact also accepts grants, which are listed by calendar year below.
In 2017, PolitiFact launched a membership campaign called the Truth Squad to allow individual donations.
Accepting financial support does not mean PolitiFact endorses the products, services or opinions of its donors. Donors have no say in the ratings PolitiFact issues. PolitiFact does not give donors the right to review or edit content.
As part of PolitiFact’s mission to remain transparent and independent, PolitiFact will disclose on this page any individual donation in excess of $1,000. PolitiFact does not accept donations from anonymous sources, political parties, elected officials or candidates seeking public office, or any other source with a conflict of interest as determined by PolitiFact’s executive director.
See PolitiFact’s 2020 annual report.
Individual donations to the Truth Squad: $585,069
Truth Squad members: 4,207
Truth Squad donations in excess of $1,000: 8
Bessie Rattner Foundation: $5,000
Community Foundation of New Jersey: $5,000
The Stelter Foundation: $2,000
Grounds for Promotion LLC: $1,150
Pryor, Jack: $2,500
Arens, Edward: $2,000
Beason, William: $1,500
Koenig, Ethan: $1,500
Democracy Fund: $75,000 (For general operating support)
Craig Newmark Philanthropies: $100,000 (Misinformation coverage around COVID-19)
Newton & Rochelle Becker Charitable Trust: $73,000 (fact-checking of the 2020 eleections)
Google: $50,000 (fact-checking of coronavirus misinformation)
International Fact Checking Network: $39,319 (video fact-checking on coronavirus)
Individual donations to the Truth Squad: $235,930.23
Truth Squad members: $1,650
Truth Squad donations in excess of $1,000: 3
Dume Wolverine Foundation: $20,000
Bessie Rattner Foundation: $5,000
Lovestrand, Jennifer: $2,300
Democracy Fund: $200,000 (To expand fact-checking into new states and grow PolitiFact)
Craig Newmark Philanthropies: $99,500 (Misinformation coverage around the 2020 election) A previous version listed $99,5000 in error.
Newton & Rochelle Becker Charitable Trust: $25,000 (audience engagement funding)
Individual donations to the Truth Squad: $242,454.66
Truth Squad members: 1,628
Truth Squad donations in excess of $1,000: 3
Hamilton, Mary J.: $1,000
Chinn, Donna: $1,000
Bessie Rattner Foundation: $5,000
Democracy Fund: $200,000 (To expand fact-checking into new states and grow PolitiFact)
The Craig Newmark Foundation: $5,000 (Truth Squad matching donation)
Newton & Rochelle Becker Charitable Trust: $69,000 (toward fact-checking the 2018 midterms)
Individual donations to the Truth Squad: $206,143
Truth Squad members: 1,612
Truth Squad donations in excess of $1,000: 5
Wagner, Bill: $1,600
Kuzyk, Mark: $2,400
Collie, James: $1,500
Hutton, Marilyn: $1,100
Mahaffey, R. Ernest: $1,200
Reynolds Journalism Institute: $10,000 (To develop a new promise tracking tool)
Democracy Fund: $125,000 (To expand fact-checking into new states and grow PolitiFact)
Knight Foundation: $50,000 (To reach new audiences and address the spread of misinformation)
The Craig Newmark Foundation: $50,000 (General support)
Newton & Rochelle Becker Charitable Trust: $20,000 (toward the hiring of an audience engagement fellow)
Democracy Fund: $250,000 (To expand fact-checking into new states and grow PolitiFact)
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: $126,650 (To fact-check claims about global health and development in partnership with Africa Check)
Reynolds Journalism Institute: $10,000 (To develop a new promise tracking tool)
Democracy Fund: $125,000 (To expand fact-checking into new states and grow PolitiFact)
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: $70,000 (To fact-check claims about global health and development in partnership with Africa Check)
The Knight Foundation: $167,500 (To fact-check claims on Medium; support the creation of new technologies to assist fact-checking)
Democracy Fund: $162,500 (To develop PunditFact)
Ford Foundation: $150,000 (To develop PunditFact)
Democracy Fund: $162,500 (To develop PunditFact)
Ford Foundation: $150,000 (To develop PunditFact)
The Knight Foundation: $125,000 (To develop the Settle It! app)
craigconnects: $10,000 (Seed money to develop PunditFact)
The Knight Foundation: $200,000 (To train Florida news organizations how to use PolitiFact)
Collins Center for Public Policy: $15,000 (To fact-check proposed Florida constitutional amendments)
Craigslist Charitable Fund: Funding for the creation of PolitiFact Florida