A New Direction: A Personal Message From OptOut Executive Director Alex Kotch

Dear OptOut Subscribers,

We have some significant changes underway that we have been teasing for months. As we approach our organizational pivot, I wanted to take a moment to update you all.

Almost five years ago, during the COVID quarantine of early 2020 in Brooklyn, NY, Walker Bragman and I had many phone calls and Zooms about the state of our country, and where the news business fit in. We were concerned about the direction things were headed, but were energized by the new possibilities that could come out of a global crisis.

Over a number of these conversations, we dreamed up a news app that curated journalism produced by financially independent news sources, like the ones we worked for. Unlike the dominant, corporate news apps, we'd pull from news outlets and independent writers that the mainstream overlooked—and put facts and positive social change before profits, access, and status. And, unlike the prominent apps at the time, we'd include podcasts and videos. We'd give news outlets and their journalists the credit they deserved by way of detailed profiles that app users could follow. If we could make this concept a reality and market it adequately, we'd change the national conversation and combat rampant disinformation and the radicalizing effects of social media. Perhaps we could move the needle just a tiny bit towards justice for all people.

A few months later, we pitched the idea to a cohort of activist tech developers, the Progressive Coders Network, and more than a dozen people were interested in helping create the app. We had no money, but everyone involved was passionate about our mission—we were all volunteers. We worked with the devs to build a cutting-edge news app and had a working prototype by early 2021. It was an exciting time. We were meeting with scores of independent news outlets, large and small. We were aggregating Substack before Substack made its own app!

Meanwhile, we started a newsletter and founded a nonprofit charity, the OptOut Media Foundation, and began meeting with foundations and individuals about potential donations to our cause. We were able to score three years of modest seed funding and rope in a few hundred small donors. It wasn't a lot, but it was a start.

Over the next few years, we sent hundreds of newsletters and created programs focused on climate, LGBTQ+ issues, and New York news. We put together a social media team, hired a fundraiser, and got several small grants from foundations. We perfected our v. 1 of the app and launched it on the Apple and Google Play stores. The app was downloaded over 15,000 times.

But we hit a roadblock. Aside from our main seed funder, we weren't able to secure any other substantial grants. We didn't have enough money to truly market the app and newsletters so we could grow the way we wanted. Fundraising stagnated. Our biggest annual budget wasn't much more than $100,000. Still, we continued improving the app, sending out newsletters, and began publishing original investigative reporting. We did a heck of a lot of quality work on a shoestring budget.

Last year it became clear that we couldn't afford to maintain the app without a significant amount of new funding. Despite our efforts, most foundations that funded journalism said no. Most weren't willing to take a risk with a new tech product. They seemed to stick mostly to funding news production and education directly.

We had a fantastic tech product, but we failed to adequately fund it. Therefore, we decided to shut down the app as of Jan. 1 of this year. ProgCode has taken over stewardship of the tech, which is offline as they figure out its next incarnation. But that doesn't mean we're going anywhere. Instead, we are shifting our resources to where they are needed most in this vital moment for the country. 

As our core mission—to educate the public about current events and advance democracy and social justice—remains the same, the OptOut Media Foundation is becoming the Accountability Journalism Institute (AJI), focused on producing hard-hitting investigative reporting to combat misinformation and dark money influence. As such, all further newsletters and other correspondences from our organization will be under the banner of the AJI.  Our newsroom, Important Context, has already broken critical, impactful stories related to business-backed efforts to undermine public health. We will still send out a newsletter, but it will largely pull from our own work.

The name and shift of focus are not the only changes. I am stepping down as executive director. I’ll remain on the board, which we’ve expanded (announcement coming soon). My co-founder Walker Bragman is taking my place, heading up the organization. We are also pleased to welcome Olivia Riggio, who has been our fundraising consultant, as deputy director.

I have a lot of thank you’s to make. First, I can’t thank the OptOut team over the last five years enough: the original volunteer tech team from ProgCode and the more recent additions; our editorial squad, both past and present; our administrative, fundraising, and social media staff. After our initial volunteer phase, we couldn’t have grown OptOut into what it became without our donors, both large and small. And we wouldn’t be anything without the incredible reporting from the more than 200 independent news outlets that joined our news network. Thank you so much to everyone who has been a part, even a very small one, of our work since 2020.

We’ll have some exciting announcements over the coming weeks about our new direction. I want to emphasize that we are continuing our work, and I encourage you to remain a tax-deductible donor to our organization. You’ll be getting a lot more original reporting, as the new administration viciously attacks our health care system, the environment, LGBTQ+ rights, and press freedom. We would be ever grateful if you stick with us during this transition.

It’s going to be a tough year in the U.S., and, as a result, around the world. If you’re reading this, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that fact-based journalism that’s free from conflicts of interest couldn’t be more important. Thank you for supporting independent media, and I hope you’ll continue doing so.

All my best,

Alex Kotch

Co-Founder and former Executive Director of the OptOut Media Foundation (Accountability Journalism Institute)