Contributoria was an independent journalism network founded by Matt McAlister, Sarah Hartley and Dan Catt. [1] It operated as a division of Guardian Media Group, the company that owns British daily national newspaper The Guardian. [2] It launched on 6 January 2014, and published its final issue on 1 September 2015 after running for 21 issues in print and online. [3]
Sarah Hartley, editor and co-founder of the platform has said, [4] "Contributoria is designed to operate like a cooperative and inspire professional writers and journalists to support each other. Finding new ways to fund quality journalism for freelance writers will help keep a diversity of published voices online. I encourage all journalists and writers to join up and help shape what could be the future of writing." [5]
The platform was initially funded as a winner of the News Innovation Contest from the International Press Institute and sponsored by Google. [5]
In March 2015, Contributoria introduced a new feature called 'Topics' which allows NGOs, media outlets and commercial companies to commission stories through the platform. [6]