La Conner Community News operates through contributions from the community we serve, foundations, and sponsors, but those donors do not have influence on our reporting any more than other members of our community.

We accept — and require — gifts, grants, and sponsorships from individuals and organizations for the general support of our activities. Our editorial decisions are driven by listening to our community about what they want from local news and within the expertise of our newsroom. We know that one thing the communities we serve value is our editorial independence.

We maintain a firewall between news coverage decisions and all sources of revenue, including content that might be sponsored and labeled clearly. When we accept donations, sponsorships, grants, or any kind of financial support, we do not imply endorsement or endorse donors, their products, services, or opinions.

We cede no right of review or influence of editorial content.

We will accept anonymous donations for general support only if it is clear that decisions about how those donations are spent are made independently by our organization and are in compliance with INN’s Membership Standards. We are also members of Society of Professional Journalists, Online News Association, and Washington Newspaper Publishers Association.

Conflicts of Interest

We all live together in the communities we cover and are connected in many ways, through schools, employment, family, and friends. La Conner Community News does its best to prevent or be transparent about conflicts of interest in our reporting, particularly when reporters, editors, or the organization have financial interests in coverage areas. We are part of this community and encourage our staff and contributors to be involved in the causes and organizations they care about; our commitment to readers is that we will disclose that involvement when it is directly relevant to the reporting.

Many people support our work with small and large donations; we do not disclose in articles who is and isn’t a financial supporter unless they give more than $4,999 in the current year.