I interviewed one of the founders of the Voice of San Diego last week. Buzz Woolley, a retired venture capitalist, became a venture philanthropist when he proposed starting an online news operation to recently fired veteran journalist Neil Morgan in 2004.
There are parallels between the beginnings of the Crier of Port Hope and the Voice of San Diego. Citizens concerned about the poor quality of the incumbent newspaper start a new news venture dedicated not to profit but to investigating and reporting news to the community.
“When they fired Neil Morgan, he was the last one at the newspaper (San Diego Union-Tribune) who would write anything critical about what was going on. He worked for them for 50 years or something, so it was not exactly someone who had been causing them trouble for a long time,” Woolley told me.
“So I invited Neil to lunch and the two of us talked about it and I suggested an answer to it would be to start an on-line newspaper because the cost of it is obviously significantly less.”
Woolley then went through a similar process to planning a tech startup. He hired a consultant to investigate how other on-line news operations worked and to test the need for news in the community. The answers came back that new websites didn’t make money and San Diegans wanted news, so they started Voice as a non-profit.
“We got pro bono writers in some cases that would not do it if it was for profit. They would say, ‘I want more money,’” Woolley said.
Their intention however was to pay professionals to dig deep and investigate news in a few key areas, but supplement with free lancers and volunteers. Woolley funded the first year of operations so they would have a product to show.
Now major donors giving thousands of dollars still make up the heft of the million dollar budget. Woolley says that roughly 10 per cent comes from members who donate under $1,000 and another 10 per cent is made up by advertising and sponsorship.
Woolley says he feels that Voice is at a critical mass and will attract more advertising this year.
Voice of San Diego is going strong with a new model for new publishing. Since it was founded, newer sites have begun with a similar approach in other cities, like Minneapolis and St. Louis. We can see the benefit of non-profit structure isn’t just the tax exemption but the willingness of people to contribute their donations and efforts to the news.