The Trust Project

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.

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

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

• Journalism transparency standards
• News credibility framework
• Trust indicators for media
• Media literacy certification
• News consortium standards

Headquarters

HQ city

California City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. 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.
2. 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

Core 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

Named customers18 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

21 partnerships are on record, tiered core and secondary.

• MediahuiscoreOthers · 2 December 2025Mediahuis 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.
• MicrosoftcoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 20 September 2022Microsoft 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 UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 9 October 2018The 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)coreImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 9 October 2018INN 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)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018RTDNA 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 PubliccoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018UW Center for an Informed Public co-founded the #TrustedJournalism Partnership campaign to empower news users and strengthen democracy.
• University of Washington's Accelerating Social TransformationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018UW's Accelerating Social Transformation leadership program co-founded the #TrustedJournalism Partnership campaign.
• GooglecoreTechnology or Integration · 16 November 2017Google 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.
• BingcoreTechnology or Integration · 16 November 2017Microsoft Bing uses the 'Type of Work' Trust Indicator to display whether an article is news, opinion or analysis, providing context for users.
• NewsGuardsecondaryTechnology or Integration · 16 November 2017NewsGuard uses Trust Indicators as a source for rating the transparency and accountability of participating news and information sites.
• NuzzelsecondaryTechnology or Integration · 16 November 2017Nuzzel uses Trust Indicators in its new NuzzelRank platform, which ranks the level of authority of a publication.
• PEN AmericasecondaryStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 November 2017PEN 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)coreOthers · 16 November 2017German press agency dpa was among the founding news partners at the official November 2017 launch, implementing Trust Indicators on its news service.
• The Washington PostcoreOthers · 16 November 2017The Washington Post was among the founding news partners at the official November 2017 launch, implementing Trust Indicators.
• The EconomistcoreOthers · 16 November 2017The Economist was among the founding news partners at the official November 2017 launch, implementing Trust Indicators.
• The Globe and MailcoreOthers · 16 November 2017The 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 RepubblicacoreOthers · 16 November 2017Italy's La Repubblica was among the founding news partners at the official November 2017 launch.
• La StampacoreOthers · 16 November 2017Italy's La Stampa was among the founding news partners at the official November 2017 launch.
• MiccoreOthers · 16 November 2017Mic 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)coreOthers · 16 November 2017Trinity 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 ReviewcoreOthers · 16 November 2017The Independent Journal Review was among the founding news partners at the official November 2017 launch.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct 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

• Xx.com/_trustproject
• Facebookfacebook.com/TheTrustProject.org
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/thetrustproject
• Instagraminstagram.com/_trustproject

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors3 records

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about The Trust Project