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Dear Readers,

It’s been three and a half years since the Declaration was founded. Over the past six months, we have been working hard to restructure our operations in order to become more sustainable.

To that end, we have incorporated as a limited liability company in Pennsylvania and opened accounts with a local financial institution. We have clarified our leadership structure and drawn up contracts to pay our writers. All of our corporate officers are volunteers and we are not seeking to make a profit.

These changes allow us to better accomplish our mission of covering stories which fly below the radar of Philadelphia’s larger media. Now, we’re asking for your support in that mission.

We have already received two thousand dollars to begin our operations and your donations will only add to that strong base. Every additional dollar enables us to shine more light on important stories in our city and region.

You can choose to donate using PayPal or any major credit card, either to our general fund, or to specific projects. If you choose one of the specific projects listed below, please write that project into the “Purpose” line of the donation screen. Any money donated for a specific project will be reserved specifically for that purpose. Every dollar you donate will be used to pay our writers.

Our specific ongoing projects include:

Coverage of the Democratic National Convention. Just yesterday, the state Office of Open Records ordered a city agency to disclose the records of DNC fundraising to our co-editor Dustin Slaughter. We will also be covering the security apparatus and protests surrounding the convention.
Criminal justice. In recent months, the Declaration broke two major criminal justice stories: the misuse of Tasers by the Philadelphia Police Department and the continuing careless attitude of the District Attorney’s Office about perjury. We are currently working on several new criminal justice stories, including investigations into bias in the state parole system and flaws in the city jury selection system.
Civil liberties. The Declaration has been one of the few news outlets closely covering the ongoing case against Keonna Thomas, who allegedly planned to join the Islamic State. We have been focusing closely on the privacy and civil liberties implications of the case and will continue to do so as her trial date approaches. We are also continuing our investigation into the city’s Automatic License Plate Reader system.
Government transparency. One of our long-running themes has been the need for transparency in local, state and federal government in Philadelphia. In the coming months, our transparency projects will include a review of the records of no-show state legislators and the compliance of city charter schools with open records laws. We will also be partnering with the Philadelphia Sunshine Project to advocate for more transparency in city government.