How much do you think it costs to employ 30-40 of the following people for 5 or 10 years?
“reporters and junior reporters, data journalists, researchers, copy editors, line editors, and an assistant managing editor. Graphics editors and designers, a social media editor, a reach/engagement editor, a partnerships lead, developers, and an analytics lead. A Chief Revenue Officer, a Chief of Finance and Administration, and a person to lead business development.”
And during that time there's no revenue? I'm not sure why I'm being downvoted: as a publisher of multiple online and offline projects it seems an extravagant amount for a publication that has a very narrow scope.
It's a non-profit, so probably not much if any advertising, and they'll likely be drawing a lot from ProPublica's model in terms of organization, impact, and growth. ProPublica's annual expenses were over $12 million in 2016, and if you're interested you can get a rough breakdown of where that goes in their 990:
ProPublica has a much, much wider brief, which should translate into why it receives $16 million in annual contributions. OTOH, I can't see how a site that covers a technology niche can support that level of ongoing contributions.
My 'affiliation' with NewsBlocks (I'm the founder and CEO actually) has zero to do with this topic. Are you suggesting that you would add another downvote simply because it is an ICO?
“reporters and junior reporters, data journalists, researchers, copy editors, line editors, and an assistant managing editor. Graphics editors and designers, a social media editor, a reach/engagement editor, a partnerships lead, developers, and an analytics lead. A Chief Revenue Officer, a Chief of Finance and Administration, and a person to lead business development.”
https://themarkup.org/jobs.html