About Us - San José Spotlight

Publisher of the Year 2020, Local Independent Online News Publishers

“The writing is crisp, love the diversity of coverage, translation of English into Spanish and Vietnamese to reach their readers… that two-way conversation with their community is so very important, something that a lot of publications have lost sight of.”

Our Mission

San José Spotlight is the city’s first nonprofit news organization dedicated to independent political and business reporting. Our mission is to change the face of local journalism by building a community-supported newsroom that ignites civic engagement, educates citizens and strengthens our democracy.

Our community needs another voice, an alternate source for high-quality, independent local news. Our stories will search for truth, shed light on wrongdoing and hold the powerful accountable. We are the community’s newsroom and we’re powered by your support and donations.

San José Spotlight is a project of the San José News Bureau, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization | Tax ID: 82-5355128. All donations are tax deductible.

Awards

San José Spotlight nets 8 wins in annual California Journalism Awards from the California News Publishers Association.

San José Spotlight wins James Madison Freedom of Information award from the Society of Professional Journalists – Northern California

San José Spotlight wins national Publisher of the Year award from the Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers.

Finalist for two national journalism awards from the Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers, including Publisher of the Year.

Four California Journalism Awards in the 2019 competition sponsored by the California News Publishers Association.

Editorial Independence Policy

We adhere to the editorial independence policy adopted by the Institute for Nonprofit News.

San José Spotlight relies on donations and memberships to power our nonprofit newsroom, but our organization maintains editorial control of the coverage. Donors and sponsors have no influence over our content. Donors have no involvement in news decisions and we do not give supporters the rights to assign, review or edit content.

News judgments are made independently and not on the basis of donor support. Your trust is the cornerstone of San José Spotlight’s success. We’ll always maintain a firewall between news coverage decisions and sources of all revenue.

Donor Transparency

We are committed to transparency in every aspect of funding our organization. That’s why we disclose every penny donated to San José Spotlight.

We accept gifts, grants and sponsorships from individuals, organizations and foundations to support our work. Accepting financial support does not mean we endorse donors or their products, services or opinions.

We will not accept donations from sources who, deemed by our Board of Directors, present a conflict of interest with our work or compromise our independence.

San José Spotlight Donors

More than $100,000

American Journalism Project

California Waste Solutions

Facebook Journalism Project

$99,999-$25,000

Silicon Valley Community Foundation

Knight Foundation

Phil Koen

The Davidson Family Foundation

Santa Clara Valley Water District

Local Independent Online News (LION) Publishers

The Miami Foundation

Google News Initiative

LIUNA Laborers Local 270

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 332

Heising-Simons Foundation

$24,999-$10,000

Willco Property Management

UA Local 393

County of Santa Clara

Jackson and Main

Voler Strategic Advisors

Destination: Home

eBay Foundation

IFPTE Local 21

Pacific Gas & Electric Company

Republic Urban

Comcast

Sheet Metal Workers Local 104

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265

AFSCME Local 1587

The GroundTruth Project

Jenny Wolfes

AFSCME Local 101

Eddie D. Truong

Sean and Nicole Morley

$9,999-$5,000

Nunez Family Foundation

Excite Credit Union

San Jose Water Company

Sprinkler Fitters Local 483

Urban Catalyst

Working Partnerships USA

Kaiser Permanente

AARP California

Gary Kremen

The Schoennauer Company

MEPS Silicon Valley

Pat Waite

Marquis Advisory Group

David E. and Barbara Cohen

Society of Professional Journalists

Rod Diridon, Sr.

Google News Initiative

San Jose Police Officers Association

Sobrato Family Foundation

$4,999-$1,000

Ron Gonzales and Guisselle Nunez

McManis Faulkner

IUPAT District Council 16

Brian Bumb

Larry Stone

Sam Singer

San Jose Firefighters Local 230

SWENSON

Meri Maben

Dominic and Suzanne Cortese

Santa Clara County Building Trades Council

San Jose/Silicon Valley NAACP

Vijay Sammeta

Allan and Judy Thompson

Bill Roth

Carpenters Local 405

Housing Authority of Santa Clara County

SPUR

Gail Bautista

Rob Bettencourt

Law Foundation of Silicon Valley

Ted Smith and Amanda Hawes

Norm Kline

John Morgridge

United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 5

Renaissance Journalism

Tom Saggau

Art Amirkhas

Sprinkler Fitters Local 480

Stephen Wright

Cisco Systems

Dustin DeRollo

Rich Robinson

Rick Callender

Jesus Flores

Al and Carmen Castellano

Geoff and Andrea Ralston

CEMA

Abode Services

Karla Albright

Jamshid Mahdavi and Karen Fabrizius

Cafe Stritch

PATH

Maria Fuentes

Terry Christensen

Housing Trust Silicon Valley

John and Barbara Comiskey

Ash and Bianca Pirayou

The Lenfest Institute for Journalism

Bob Staedler

San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce

Ro Khanna

Reginald Swilley

Sacred Heart Community Service

Minority Business Consortium

The Core Companies

Gloria Hoo

Nuria Fernandez

Harmeet Dhillon

Shiloh Ballard

Erik Schoennauer

Joe Head

June Tran

David and Elisa Ginsborg

Patricia Gardner

Rich De La Rosa

Thao Tran

Castellano Family Foundation

Richard Lowenthal

Chris Platten

San Jose Sharks

Nhan Nguyen

[email protected] Action Fund

Sand Hill Property Company

Kevin Jensen

Bob Nunez

Chris Hickstein

Louis Rocha

Christopher Thompson

Privacy Policy

We will not release your name, email address or any other personal information to anyone outside San José Spotlight without your consent, unless we are under a legal order to do so, or there is an emergency involving danger to a person or property.