Become a Bureau Insider

For more than a decade, TBIJ’s journalism has exposed injustice and sparked change.

In the past year alone our dogged, in-depth investigations have revealed how Qatar hacked the World Cup; uncovered rogue businessmen taking millions from ordinary taxpayers; and exposed useless child cancer drugs spreading across the globe.

Our reporting has prompted criminal investigations. We’ve driven changes in the law, transformed damaging business practices, and prompted much more real-world change. Through it all, we’ve empowered communities to tell their own stories.

But right now, we face a harsh reality: TBIJ will struggle to keep going in 2024 and beyond if we don’t find new funding. To keep exposing injustice and sparking change, we need more people to pay to support the work we do.

That’s why today, we’re launching Bureau Insiders – a membership community that believes investigative journalism is vital to keep democracy alive.

Through a monthly donation (you choose how much), Bureau Insiders will make game-changing investigations possible for years to come.

Will you help?

Wait. Why do you need my money now?

TBIJ was founded in 2010 by the pioneering journalist Elaine Potter, and got its start thanks to funding from the David & Elaine Potter Foundation. Since then, our work has been paid for largely by philanthropic trusts and foundations around the world. 95% of our income has come from these grant-giving organisations, with about 5% coming from smaller individual donations.

But things are changing in a big way:

• Brexit has made the UK less attractive to foundations giving money from other parts of the world, and made it harder to access funds focused on supporting EU initiatives.

• Covid led many organisations to reevaluate the projects they give cash to.

• Inflation and the cost of living crisis mean many foundations are giving less, while more organisations looking for investment has created a very competitive market.

All this means TBIJ is seeing a sizable drop in the amount of cash we get from trusts and foundations, and we now face a funding shortfall. It costs about £2.7 million a year to run TBIJ. To keep going in 2024, we currently need to find £450,000.

We can’t do that alone.

Ok. So what exactly is Bureau Insiders?

It’s TBIJ’s new membership community. Each Bureau Insider:

• Believes the hard pursuit of truth is more important than ever

• Gives a monthly donation to TBIJ (you choose how much)

• Will be offered a unique window into how TBIJ’s work gets done, such as Insiders events and newsletters. Watch this space.

And because we’re not-for-profit, every single pound or dollar you give will be ploughed back into producing unique, independent journalism that has real-world impact.

We don’t just want TBIJ to survive. We want it to thrive. Our future plans include investigating even more subjects, in even more countries, and sharing our findings with you in exciting ways that bring you into the very heart of the stories.

But we can’t do this without you. We hope you’ll join us today.