FAQs

We subscribe to standards of independence adopted by the Institute for Nonprofit News: The Austin Bulldog retains full authority over editorial content to protect the best journalistic and business interests of our organization. We maintain a firewall between news coverage decisions and all sources of revenue. Acceptance of financial support does not constitute implied or actual endorsement of donors or their products, services, or opinions.

We accept gifts, grants and sponsorships from individuals and organizations for the general support of our activities but our news judgments are made independently and not on the basis of donor support.

The Austin Bulldog may consider accepting donations to support the coverage of particular topics but our organization maintains editorial control over the coverage. We will cede no right of review or influence of editorial content, nor of unauthorized distribution of editorial content.

Our organization makes public the names of all donors and the amounts given by listing them on the Be a Bulldog Supporter page of this website.

We will accept anonymous donations for general support only if it is clear that sufficient safeguards have been put into place that the expenditure of that donation is made independently by our organization and in compliance with the INN’s Membership Standards.

By operating as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity, we are dedicated solely to serving the public interest.

We view journalism as a public service that is essential to democracy and a free society.

Accordingly, all of our work is published on this website, available free to anyone with access to the Internet.

The Investigative Reporter’s Handbook, published by Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc., defines investigative reporting as the reporting, through one’s own initiative and work product, of matters of importance to readers. In many cases, the subjects of the reporting wish the matters under scrutiny to remain undisclosed.

Some journalists have described investigative reporting as journalism that "engages the public to come to judgment," and "reporting with a sense of outrage."

The investigation must be the work of the reporter, not a report of an investigation made by someone else.

This is the kind of reporting for which The Austin Bulldog was founded. We’ve got a fire in the belly and a passion for investigative reporting.

The Austin Bulldog is published by the Austin Investigative Reporting Project, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity. Contributions to The Austin Bulldog are tax-deductible.

Startup funding was provided in 2009 by a New Voices $25,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, administered by J-Lab, The Institute for Interactive Journalism at American University.

We have sought other grants without success and concluded that grants are an uncertain source for ongoing funding.

Continued reporting operations must therefore depend entirely on gaining community support through tax-deductible donations.

The Austin Bulldog has no hidden agendas, no invisible men or women behind the curtain to influence what we do or do not investigate. To that end, the names of all contributors are gratefully acknowledged and permanently recognized on this website.

While contributors may request anonymity, we much prefer to list our donors by name so that there can be no question of the source of funds that make our work possible, or how our coverage may have been influenced.

We expect government and corporations to be open to public scrutiny, and we expect no less of ourselves. The Austin Bulldog will operate with complete transparency. To that end, the following documents are available for your inspection by clicking on the links provided:

Austin Investigative Reporting Project's Certificate of Formation as a Texas Nonprofit Corporation

Bylaws of the Austin Investigative Reporting Project

IRS Form 1023 Application for Recognition of Exemption Under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code for the Austin Investigative Reporting Project

IRS Form 1023 Attachment providing supplemental information

The IRS determination letter that approved the Austin Investigative Reporting Project as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charity, for which contributions are tax-deductible

IRS Form 990-N for 2009, Electronic Notice (e-Postcard) for Tax-Exempt Organizations not Required to File Form 990 or 990-EZ

IRS Form 990-N for 2010, Electronic Notice (e-Postcard) for Tax-Exempt Organizations not Required to File Form 990 or 990-EZ

2011 U.S. Exempt Organization Tax Return (Form 990-EZ)

IRS Form 990-N for 2012, Electronic Notice (e-Postcard) for Tax-Exempt Organizations not Required to File Form 990 or 990-EZ

IRS Form 990-N for 2013, Electronic Notice (e-Postcard) for Tax-Exempt Organizations not Required to File Form 990 or 990-EZ

IRS Form 990-N for 2014, Electronic Notice (e-Postcard) for Tax-Exempt Organizations not Required to File Form 990 or 990-EZ

IRS Form 990-N for 2015, Electronic Notice (e-Postcard) for Tax-Exempt Organizations not Required to File Form 990 or 990-EZ

IRS Form 990-N for 2016, Electronic Notice (e-Postcard) for Tax-Exempt Organizations not Required to File Form 990 or 990-EZ

IRS Form 990-N for 2017, Electronic Notice (e-Postcard) for Tax Exempt Organizations Not Required to File Form 990 or 990-EZ.

IRS Form 990-N for 2018, Electronic Notice (e-Postcard) for Tax Exempt Organizations Not Required to File Form 990 or 990-EZ.

IRS Form 990-N for 2019, Electronic Notice (e-Postcard) for Tax Exempt Organizations Not Required to File Form 990 or 990-EZ.

IRS Form 990-N for 2020, Electronic Notice (e-Postcard) for Tax Exempt Organizations Not Required to File Form 990 or 990-EZ.

IRS Form 990-EZ for 2021, Short Form Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax.

Future tax returns for the Austin Investigative Reporting Project will be posted on this website and linked at such times as they are completed and filed in accordance with federal law.

You may also request copies of the exemption application or annual returns by calling the IRS Exempt Organizations Customer Account Services at 877-829-5500.

Our readers have the priceless opportunity to support the important work of investigative reporting for stories that matter in the Austin, Texas, community.

This website makes it easy. Please go to the Contribute page for details.

We believe that in many cases our collective audience knows more about the topics we cover than we do, and we want our readers to actively participate in focusing and refining our coverage.

We want interaction, lots of it.

This website provides an easy way for you to blow the whistle about something we should investigate.

We may on occasion use Facebook or Twitter to announce the broad topic of a story we’re working on and ask for your ideas on how it should be covered, angles that should not be overlooked, sources of information that might be helpful. We may post documents on the site that we need your help in analyzing and understanding.

This method of enlisting the community's help is called “crowdsourcing,” a term coined by author Jeff Howe. We think it’s a great way for readers--as beneficiaries of this nonprofit organization’s work--to volunteer information and actively participate in the news-gathering process.

We want to create an active, ongoing dialog with readers about anything and everything we publish. We want you to add your knowledge to amplify, clarify, or criticize what you read on this site, or correct the record if we get something wrong.

The goal of this approach is to involve our readers to fill gaps and plug holes in our stories, to in essence become co-creators who expand everyone’s knowledge of the topics we cover.

To that end, the site has been constructed to publish your comments on the stories we publish. We will be reading your comments and we will be active in the ongoing conversation by responding with our own comments as we learn from your feedback.

We want to facilitate a community conversation and to that end we ask that comments be confined to the topic addressed in the story where you are commenting and that commenters refrain from personal attacks.

To prevent being inundated by spam we require that you register before being able to comment.

Comments for a given story will be accepted for 45 days after the publication date.