OUR MISSION
The Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism supports the development and production of independent news. BINJ achieves its mission by: providing organizational support to community publications; running reporting collaborations and civic engagement initiatives; training promising journalists; and producing bold independent journalism.
OUR IMPACT
The Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism was founded in 2015 to fill gaps left by shrinking local newsrooms. Over the past decade it has become both a reporting engine in Massachusetts and a model for how small, community-based journalism can survive. BINJ has published major investigations into policing, surveillance, housing, public health, and other underreported issues. BINJ contracts with reporters of all types to produce multimedia projects and features. We operate with rigor and drill hard on difficult issues, relying on a vast network of independent media makers rooted in different communities, coming with various skill levels and bringing diverse interests.
Our publication is BINJ.News, a weekly independent digital magazine covering Boston and environs—run with strong support from our large and talented crew of reporting interns that join us from locales the world over.
Our reporting doesn’t just stay in Boston: BINJ has built a network of publishing partners throughout Massachusetts— from scrappy outer-borough weeklies to local blogs and podcasts. That collaborative model has also linked BINJ with national investigative organizations like the Invisible Institute in Chicago, and widely read platforms such as Alternet, In These Times, Salon, and MuckRock. At the same time, BINJ has co-published with independent and alternative weeklies across the United States, including Little Village in Iowa City, Boulder Weekly in Colorado, the Chico News & Review, and the Coachella Valley Independent. These partnerships have carried Boston-based investigations to readers nationwide while also providing a framework for how community outlets can pool resources and strengthen their own local coverage.
By pairing in-depth investigations with training for younger reporters and back-end support for partner outlets, BINJ has helped prove that nonprofit news can deliver accountability reporting at both the neighborhood and national level, and in the process it has given smaller outlets a way to sustain themselves in a fragile news economy. Our model is designed to yield projects that step back to glimpse the big picture. Resources are scant in the alternative and community press, but thanks to our supporters and reporters BINJ is able to help small and independent outlets make an impact on a landscape that is increasingly dominated by elite entities.
The BINJ model is currently being used in other cities including Little Rock and Santa Fe, and with help from the Reva and David Logan Foundation our crew has compiled something we call “BINJ-in-a-Box,” an instructive road map for those looking to incubate media in any town, city, or subject area where independent journalism is on life support.
Executive Director Jason Pramas is a longtime photojournalist, editor, and educator. He is editor-in-chief of BINJ’s news outlet BINJ.News. The institutional memory of our gang, Jason writes the award-winning column Apparent Horizon and has a CV that is several pages long with highlights that include his founding the nonprofit online metro newsweekly Open Media Boston and producing the massive 2004 Boston Social Forum. Formerly a labor and community activist, he holds an MFA in visual arts.
Editorial Director Chris Faraone is a longtime journalist and editor. He is editor-at-large of BINJ’s news outlet BINJ.News. A Boston Phoenix alumnus and native of Queens, he has dedicated his adult life to boosting the alternative media and has published several books as well as longform features in Buzzfeed, Columbia Journalism Review, and Esquire, among other notable outlets.
Operations Director John Loftus founded the online network UNregular Radio and later served as publisher of DigBoston. In addition to his role as Operations Director at the BINJ, he is the Fiscal Sponsorship Director of the Alternative Newsweekly Foundation, where he supports independent news outlets around the world by developing fundraising programs and providing essential administrative assistance. He has also built and managed numerous websites for BINJ and other organizations on multiple platforms, combining technical expertise with a long-standing commitment to sustaining independent journalism.
Development Director Linda Pinkow is a nonprofit communications strategist, a journalist, and a free press activist. She has done writing, editing, and fundraising for newspapers, magazines, book publishers, radio, and online media. She has also done research and teaching in the fields of comparative economic development, mass communication, and social change. MASTHEAD
Editor-in-Chief: Jason Pramas
Editor-at-Large: Chris Faraone
Reporters: Olivia Deng, Eliza Dewey, Jordan DelFiugo, Jacob Downey, Dana Forsythe, Jack Gorsline, Celine Hijazi, Nate Homan, Armaan Jetti, Mike Lehr, Mattea Ortiz, Mary Randoph, Lily Robinson, Jacob Schles, Jean Trounstine
Web Developer: John Loftus
Logo Design: Ella Nasca
Photographers: Charlotte Howard, Derek Kouyoumjian
Interns: Zoe Beketova, Jordan DelFiugo, Birdi Diehl, Celine Hijazi, Armaan Jetti, Kali Melone, Christopher Morris, Mattea Ortiz, Jacob Schles, Isabelle Zhang
Interns Emeriti: Paige Albright, Yaakov Aldrich (Reporter), Avary Amaral (Reporter), Rachel Andriacchi, Omotoyosi Ajisafe, Kristin Barrett, Ava Belchez (Reporter), Ben Bienstock (Assistant Editor), Kelly Broder, Taylor Brokesh (Associate Editor and Reporter), Kalina Brookfield, Sebastian Castro, Frank Chen (Reporter), Amil Coutinho Amada, ZhaoZhou Dai, Niya Doyle (Reporter), Claire Dunham (Reporter), Alyssa Enright, Avery Fitzgerald, Rónán Fitzgerald, Parker Garlough, Cohavit Gil (Reporter), Elizabeth Gilbert, Jack Gorsline (Reporter), Michelle Grullon, Alexandra Hill, Charlotte Howard (Reporter), Danielle Howe, Brooke Huffman (Reporter), Jared Jacob, Spencer Jacques, Anika Jain, Shawna James, Margaux Jubin, Isabella Lapriore, Ponette Kim, Cecilia Larson, Madison Law, Rachel Ledoux (Reporter), Julia Levine, Ana Lindo, Jamie Long, Bryan Liu (Assistant Editor and Reporter), Madison Lucchesi (Reporter), Christian Maitre, Gabriel Martins (Reporter), Christina McCabe, Abigail Meyers, Aashna Miharia (Reporter), Izzy Mitchell (Reporter), Ellie Montemayor, Eden Mor, Toby Moses, Aranya Mukerji, Ella Nasca (Designer), Julia Norkus (Reporter), Sabine Ollivier-Yamin (Associate Editor and Reporter), Alexis Park (Marketer), Camila Peña (Reporter), Jacob Posner, Erineah Quan, Elliot Russo (Reporter), Matthew Sage, Billy Sanders, Emma Siebold (Reporter), Luis Santos (Assistant Editor), Lindsay Shachnow (Reporter), Sam Shipman, Milagros Smith, Lucy Spangler (Reporter), Lea Tran (Reporter), Sofia Waldron (Reporter), Toby Winick, Barrett Walsh, Madla Walsh, Gracie Warda, Ryan Yau, Yoko Zhu (Reporter)
Notice
BINJ.News is published weekly by Massachusetts Media Fund, Inc. d/b/a Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism (BINJ), an IRS 501(c)(3) tax-deductible nonprofit corporation. All rights to HorizonMass content—other than works made for hire by BINJ staff, first global web rights to display HorizonMass works published by contract creators (also known as freelancers) on BINJ websites and store them on BINJ servers and staff computers, and first global syndication rights to distribute HorizonMass works published by contract creators via BINJ’s news service MassWire, unless otherwise specified on a work-by-work basis—are held by their creators. All works made for hire by BINJ staff are: Copyright Massachusetts Media Fund, Inc. d/b/a Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism (BINJ).
Contact BINJ.News at: 1-617-209-9511 or info@binj.news.
Mailing Address
BINJ.News, 519 Somerville Ave. #206, Somerville MA 02143, USA.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
2025 Massachusetts Media Fund, Inc. Board of Directors
Felicia Sullivan, Ph.D. (Board Chair). Director of Research and Evaluation at Jobs for the Future.
Zakiya Alake. Community activist and small business owner based in Roxbury.
Gregory V. Ball. Director of Digital Strategy & Production at Embrace Boston.
Garrett Quinn. Associate in the Providence, RI office of Boyle | Shaughnessy Law.
Kristine Palmero. English Department faculty member at Milton Academy.
Saul Tannenbaum. Retired computer programmer, former community journalist, and current telecom policy activist.
Chris Faraone. BINJ editorial director and co-founder.
John Loftus. BINJ operations director and co-founder.
Jason Pramas. BINJ executive director and co-founder.
TRANSPARENCY
Editorial Independence Policy
We subscribe to standards of editorial independence adopted by the Institute for Nonprofit News:
Our organization 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 sources of all 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.
Our organization may consider donations to support the coverage of particular topics, but our organization maintains editorial control of the coverage. We will cede no right of review or influence of editorial content, nor of unauthorized distribution of editorial content.
Our organization will make public all donors who give a total of $5,000 or more per year. 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 INN’s Membership Standards.
Donor & Financial Transparency
We are committed to transparency in every aspect of funding our organization.
Accepting financial support does not mean we endorse donors or their products, services or opinions.
We accept gifts, grants and sponsorships from individuals, organizations and foundations to help with our general operations, coverage of specific topics and special projects. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that operates as a public trust, we do not pay certain taxes. We may receive funds from standard government programs offered to nonprofits or similar businesses.
Our news judgments are made independently – not based on or influenced by donors or any revenue source. We do not give supporters the rights to assign, review or edit content.
We make public all revenue sources and donors who give $5,000 or more per year. As a news nonprofit, we avoid accepting charitable donations from anonymous sources, government entities, political parties, elected officials or candidates seeking public office. 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.
Ethics Policy
The Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism abides by the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics in all the journalism we produce.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Statement
The Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism is committed to building a news organization that is as diverse as the broad array of communities we serve with our professionally-produced reporting. We strive to center the values of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in everything we do.
OUR WRITERS
BINJ is proud of the many writers who have contributed work over our 10+ years.
Donors Over $5,000 (FY 2022 and FY 2023)
In the interest of keeping our funding transparent to the public we serve as journalists, Massachusetts Media Fund, Inc. d/b/a Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism lists all donations over $5,000.
Reva & David Logan Foundation, $115,000
INN NewsMatch/Miami Foundation, $29,000
Bil Lewis, $25,000
T. Finn, $20,000
Gardiner Howland Shaw Foundation, $10,000
David Halstead, $6,000
Evan Falchuk, $5,000