The Trust Project
The Trust Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that operates a global transparency standard — the 8 Trust Indicators® — for news organizations, and works with Google, Facebook, and Bing to surface credibility signals across 300+ partner news sites worldwide.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersCalifornia City, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What The Trust Project does
The Trust Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit consortium founded in 2016 by award-winning journalist Sally Lehrman and headquartered in Pacifica, California. It operates a single-product transparency standard for the news industry — the 8 Trust Indicators® — which are disclosures covering best practices, journalist expertise, type of work, references, methods, local sourcing, diverse voices, and actionable feedback. News organizations apply to join, implement the indicators on their sites, and receive the Trust Mark certification. The indicators are encoded using Schema.org structured-data vocabulary so that machines — search engines, social platforms, and aggregators — can read and display them. Google, Facebook, and Bing have formally integrated the indicators into their products.
The organization is funded entirely by philanthropic contributions and does not charge news organizations for participation. Documented gifts total roughly $3.0M since 2017, with Craig Newmark Philanthropies as the original and continuing anchor donor, alongside Democracy Fund, Facebook, the Knight Foundation, and Google. The network includes 300+ news partner sites across 20+ countries and claims to help 3+ billion people assess news integrity, though that figure reflects platform-level reach via Google and Facebook rather than direct audience.
Distribution is primarily through technology platform partners (Google, Facebook, Bing) that surface the indicators, supplemented by a WordPress plugin maintained by INN Labs and third-party implementers such as NewsGuard, Nuzzel, and PEN America. The Trust Project was incubated at Santa Clara University's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics and spun off as an independent nonprofit in May 2019. It is led by founder Sally Lehrman with 11–50 employees.
The Trust Project firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- The Trust Project
- Legal name
- The Trust Project
- Website
- https://thetrustproject.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- The Trust Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that operates a global transparency standard — the 8 Trust Indicators® — for news organizations, and works with Google, Facebook, and Bing to surface credibility signals across 300+ partner news sites worldwide.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
The Trust Project industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Journalism Transparency Standards
- NAICS
- Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813)
- SIC
- Services-Membership Organizations (8600)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Government Accountability, Ethics & Anti-Corruption Advocacy (BPAGAFAN)
Keywords
Where The Trust Project is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- California City
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
The Trust Project business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Donations and Philanthropic Contributions: The Trust Project operates as a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Revenue comes from donations and grants from individuals and foundations committed to trustworthy journalism. Major funders include Craig Newmark Philanthropies, Google, Democracy Fund, Knight Foundation, and Facebook.
- Not Applicable - No Commercial Revenue: The organization does not charge news organizations to join or implement the Trust Indicators. Services are provided free to partners as part of the nonprofit's mission to promote journalism transparency.
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels8 records
The Trust Project product offering
Product offeringCore offering
The Trust Project operates a global consortium that provides the 8 Trust Indicators®, a standardized set of transparency disclosures news organizations implement on their websites so readers can assess the integrity and credibility of journalism. News organizations apply to join, implement the indicators using Schema.org structured data, and, upon meeting the Trust Project's standards, earn the Trust Mark verification badge. Technology partners including Google, Facebook/Meta, and Bing use these indicators in their products to surface and label trustworthy news.
Product overview
The Trust Project is a global consortium of news organizations that offers a single core transparency standard called the Trust Indicators® (8 disclosures), along with a Trust Mark certification for verified partners. The product suite centers on helping people assess the integrity of news through disclosures about best practices, journalist expertise, work type/labels, references, methods, local sourcing, diverse voices, and actionable feedback. Technical implementation uses Schema.org vocabulary for machine-readable markup, enabling search engines and platforms to surface and display Trust Indicator metadata. The Trust Mark serves as the verification badge for compliant news organizations.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Trust Indicators: The 8 Trust Indicators are the organization's core transparency standard for journalism, helping people assess the integrity and credibility of news. The indicators include Best Practices, Journalist Expertise, Labels (Type of Work), References, Methods, Locally Sourced, Diverse Voices, and Actionable Feedback.
- Trust Mark
- Trustworthy Journalism Partnership
Products and services
- Trust Indicators® (8 Trust Indicators) Eight standardized transparency disclosures (Best Practices, Journalist Expertise, Type of Work/Labels, References, Methods, Locally Sourced, Diverse Voices, Actionable Feedback) that news organizations implement on their websites to help readers assess the integrity and credibility of journalism. Encoded using Schema.org vocabulary for machine readability, allowing search engines and social platforms to surface the indicators.
- Trust Mark A visual verification badge awarded to news organizations that have implemented the 8 Trust Indicators and met the Trust Project's application review and standards for transparency, accuracy, and accountability. Displayed on partner news sites to signal credible journalism to readers.
Quantifiable outcome
- Trust increased by 8% for Reach Plc's Mirror publication after implementing Trust Indicators
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use The Trust Project
Customer profileNamed customers18 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
The Trust Project technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
The Trust Project partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
21 partnerships are on record, tiered core and secondary.
- MediahuiscoreMediahuis Luxembourg group earned the Trust Mark for five of its titles. New Mediahuis titles from Europe and Canada also joined the Trust Project in December 2025.
- MicrosoftcoreMicrosoft supported the #TrustedJournalism Partnership campaign and displayed ads on Microsoft News and Outlook surfaces reminding people about trustworthy news standards.
- Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara UniversitycoreThe Trust Project was incubated at Santa Clara University's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics and continues to be hosted by the center. The center provides administrative and ethical oversight.
- INN Labs (Institute for Nonprofit News)coreINN Labs built and maintains a WordPress VIP-accepted plugin to help validated Trust Project participants implement Trust Indicators on their sites.
- Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA)coreRTDNA co-founded the nonpartisan #TrustedJournalism Partnership campaign with the Trust Project, University of Washington's Accelerating Social Transformation program, and UW Center for an Informed Public.
- University of Washington's Center for an Informed PubliccoreUW Center for an Informed Public co-founded the #TrustedJournalism Partnership campaign to empower news users and strengthen democracy.
- University of Washington's Accelerating Social TransformationcoreUW's Accelerating Social Transformation leadership program co-founded the #TrustedJournalism Partnership campaign.
- GooglecoreGoogle uses Trust Indicators in its products to highlight credible journalism. Richard Gingras, VP of News at Google, has been an early supporter. Google provided financial support and uses the 'Type of Work' indicator to determine whether to show articles as news, opinion, or analysis.
- BingcoreMicrosoft Bing uses the 'Type of Work' Trust Indicator to display whether an article is news, opinion or analysis, providing context for users.
- NewsGuardsecondaryNewsGuard uses Trust Indicators as a source for rating the transparency and accountability of participating news and information sites.
- NuzzelsecondaryNuzzel uses Trust Indicators in its new NuzzelRank platform, which ranks the level of authority of a publication.
- PEN AmericasecondaryPEN America partnered with the Trust Project to produce a new digital resource that uses Trust Indicators to assess the transparency of leading national and regional news organizations.
- dpa (Deutsche Presse-Agentur)coreGerman press agency dpa was among the founding news partners at the official November 2017 launch, implementing Trust Indicators on its news service.
- The Washington PostcoreThe Washington Post was among the founding news partners at the official November 2017 launch, implementing Trust Indicators.
- The EconomistcoreThe Economist was among the founding news partners at the official November 2017 launch, implementing Trust Indicators.
- The Globe and MailcoreThe Globe and Mail was among the founding news partners at the official November 2017 launch, implementing Trust Indicators. Devin Slater from The Globe and Mail collaborated on the West Coast launch panel.
- La RepubblicacoreItaly's La Repubblica was among the founding news partners at the official November 2017 launch.
- La StampacoreItaly's La Stampa was among the founding news partners at the official November 2017 launch.
- MiccoreMic was among the founding news partners at the official November 2017 launch. Publisher Cory Haik discussed trust-building efforts on AirTalk.
- Trinity Mirror (now Reach Plc)coreTrinity Mirror (now Reach Plc) was among the founding news partners. Research by Reach Plc found that Trust Indicators increased readers' trust by 8% for The Mirror.
- Independent Journal ReviewcoreThe Independent Journal Review was among the founding news partners at the official November 2017 launch.
Scale indicators10 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights5 records
The Trust Project competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- NewsGuard: NewsGuard is a paid news credibility rating service that journalists and platforms use to assess transparency and reliability of news sources. It directly partners with The Trust Project as a third-party implementer of Trust Indicators, making it the closest direct peer in the news transparency space.
- Ad Fontes Media: Ad Fontes Media rates the bias and reliability of news outlets using a proprietary methodology. It is comparable because it provides structured, comparable trust signals about news organizations that consumers and platforms can use, similar to the Trust Project's Trust Indicators.
- AllSides: AllSides rates media bias and provides balanced news perspectives, focusing on political bias ratings across outlets. It is comparable because it provides third-party transparency assessments of news sources that consumers and platforms can use to evaluate credibility.
- International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN): IFCN is a Poynter-operated global network that certifies fact-checking organizations via a code of principles. It is comparable because it sets independent journalistic standards and certifies compliance, paralleling The Trust Project's Trust Mark certification model.
Broad incumbents
- Poynter Institute: Poynter is a major journalism education and standards institution that runs IFCN and MediaWise. It is comparable because it operates journalistic ethics and credibility programs that compete for funder mindshare and influence over global journalism standards.
Emerging players
- Credibility Coalition: The Credibility Coalition develops standards for assessing the credibility of online information, including indicators similar to Trust Project's framework. It is comparable as a parallel standards-development effort focused on signaling source trustworthiness.
- First Draft / Information Futures Lab: First Draft, now Information Futures Lab at Brown University, was an early leader in misinformation verification and source transparency. It is comparable because it builds standards and training for journalists and platforms on source credibility.
- Media Bias Fact Check: Media Bias Fact Check is an independent organization that rates the bias and credibility of media outlets. It is comparable as an independent third party providing structured assessments of news source credibility.
Others
- Reporters Lab (Duke University): Duke Reporters Lab tracks fact-checking initiatives globally and develops tools for journalists. It is comparable as a research-driven, nonprofit organization working on journalism transparency and source credibility infrastructure.
- Bipartisan Policy Center: Bipartisan Policy Center runs media and democracy programs that overlap with Trust Project's mission of journalism transparency. It is comparable as a nonprofit think tank working at the intersection of media credibility and democratic accountability.
Market position
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
The Trust Project social profiles
Digital presenceThe Trust Project financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
The Trust Project leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
The Trust Project funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors3 records
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The Trust Project M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about The Trust Project
What does The Trust Project do?
The Trust Project operates a global consortium that provides the 8 Trust Indicators®, a standardized set of transparency disclosures news organizations implement on their websites so readers can assess the integrity and credibility of journalism. News organizations apply to join, implement the indicators using Schema.org structured data, and, upon meeting the Trust Project's standards, earn the Trust Mark verification badge. Technology partners including Google, Facebook/Meta, and Bing use these indicators in their products to surface and label trustworthy news.
Is The Trust Project a public or private company?
The Trust Project is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was The Trust Project founded?
The Trust Project was founded in 2017. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is The Trust Project based?
The Trust Project is headquartered in California City, United States, in the North America region.
How does The Trust Project make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Donations and Philanthropic Contributions are the primary driver. The others are not Applicable - No Commercial Revenue.
Who are The Trust Project's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are NewsGuard, Ad Fontes Media, AllSides and International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). Poynter Institute is listed as a broad incumbent. Emerging players are Credibility Coalition, First Draft / Information Futures Lab and Media Bias Fact Check. Others are Reporters Lab (Duke University) and Bipartisan Policy Center.
Does The Trust Project have an API?
No public API is recorded for The Trust Project.
What industry is The Trust Project in?
The Trust Project's product category is Journalism Transparency Standards. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAGAFAN, Government Accountability, Ethics & Anti-Corruption Advocacy. Its NAICS code is 813 and its SIC code is 8600.