FILTER

What FILTER does

Filter is a nonprofit digital journalism publication focused on drug policy, harm reduction, and the social and legal intersections of drug use. It is operated by The Influence Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2017 in New York, and was launched in September 2018. The publication produces original editorial content across five established beats: Politics + Legalization, Use + Harm Reduction, Intersections + Injustice, Drugs + Money, and Media + Culture, with a global readership distributed through its website and social channels.

Filter's core product is editorial journalism: long-form articles, reporting, and analysis produced by an editorial team of approximately 20 people, including subject-matter specialists with lived experience in drug use and harm reduction. The publication supports specialized reporting programs such as the Kiran Sidhu fellowship in tobacco harm reduction, in partnership with Knowledge-Action-Change. As a media outlet, its underlying technology is a standard content publishing platform with no disclosed proprietary tooling.

As a nonprofit, Filter's business model is donation- and grant-driven rather than revenue-generating in a commercial sense. Funding comes from a diversified but ideologically aligned set of donors, including tobacco companies (Altria, Juul Labs, Philip Morris International, Reynolds American), harm reduction and tobacco advocacy organizations (Global Action to End Smoking, GFN Ltd., R Street Institute, Knowledge-Action-Change, American Vaping Association, Taxpayers Protection Alliance), foundations (Open Society Foundations), and academic institutions (University of Virginia). The publication operates without a paywall and does not sell advertising or subscription products, instead relying on these contributions to sustain editorial operations.

Name

FILTER

Legal name

The Influence Foundation Inc.

Website

https://filtermag.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Filter is a nonprofit digital journalism outlet covering drug policy, harm reduction, and drug-related social issues. Operated by The Influence Foundation, it publishes original editorial content for a global readership and is funded by donations and grants from tobacco companies, harm reduction advocates, and foundations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

New York City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Donations and Grants: As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Filter is funded entirely by donations and grants from individuals and organizations. The publication receives funding from various supporters including Altria Client Services, Juul Labs, Philip Morris International, Reynolds American, and others. Funding sources span tobacco harm reduction advocates, pharmaceutical companies, foundations, and individual donors.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Filter is a nonprofit online journalism publication that produces and distributes free editorial content focused on harm reduction, drug policy reform, and human rights. It publishes articles, investigations, and personal narratives organized into themed categories (Politics + Legalization, Use + Harm Reduction, Intersections + Injustice, Drugs + Money, Media + Culture) for general readers, policymakers, and harm reduction advocates.

Product overview

Filter is a single nonprofit journalism publication focused on harm reduction. The publication operates as one unified offering from The Influence Foundation (a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in New York in 2017), covering topics related to drug policy, harm reduction, and human rights through investigative reporting, analysis, and personal narratives.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Filter Magazine Nonprofit harm reduction journalism publication covering drug use, drug policy, and human rights. Organized into five content categories (Politics + Legalization, Use + Harm Reduction, Intersections + Injustice, Drugs + Money, Media + Culture) and distributed free of charge via filtermag.org to general readers, policymakers, and harm reduction advocates.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered notable and core.

• Reform ConferencenotableStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Filter was an official media partner of the 2019 Reform conference in St. Louis, covering drug policy reform topics.
• Global Forum on NicotinenotableStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Filter has been an official partner of the Global Forum on Nicotine in Warsaw, Poland for several years, covering tobacco harm reduction topics.
• Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017The Influence Foundation was previously fiscally sponsored by LEAP (formerly Law Enforcement Against Prohibition). In May 2020, after achieving independent 501(c)(3) status, the fiscal sponsorship relationship concluded.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Emerging players

• Leafly: A cannabis-focused digital publication covering drug policy from a consumer and reform angle. It overlaps with Filter's cannabis and drug-policy coverage but is commercially oriented and broader in scope.
• Psychedelic Science Review: A digital publication covering psychedelic research and policy, intersecting with Filter's emerging coverage of psychedelic-assisted therapy pilots. Comparable as a niche, digitally-distributed specialist publication.

Direct peers

• The Appeal: A nonprofit digital journalism publication focused on criminal justice, policing, and drug policy reform. The Appeal shares Filter's nonprofit, advocacy-journalism model and overlapping coverage of drug enforcement and harm reduction topics.
• The Marshall Project: A nonprofit newsroom covering criminal justice, including intersections with drug policy and addiction. It is comparable to Filter as a similarly sized nonprofit journalism outlet covering adjacent criminal-justice and drug-policy issues.
• Talking Points Memo: An independent digital news outlet that, like Filter, operates with a small editorial team focused on policy and justice reporting. Comparable as a similarly structured, mission-driven independent digital publication.

Broad incumbents

• Reason Magazine: A libertarian-leaning publication covering drug policy and harm reduction from a reform perspective. Reason covers similar topics but at much larger scale and broader editorial scope, making it a broad-incumbent peer.
• The Intercept: A larger investigative journalism outlet that reports on drug policy, criminal justice, and civil liberties. It is comparable to Filter on topical coverage but at significantly larger scale and broader editorial mandate.
• ProPublica: A major nonprofit investigative newsroom whose coverage of opioid addiction, criminal justice, and public health policy overlaps with Filter's beat. ProPublica is far larger but comparable in its nonprofit, donor-funded editorial model.

Others

• Drug Policy Alliance: The leading U.S. drug policy reform advocacy organization, whose staff and board members overlap with Filter's leadership. While not a journalism outlet, it is the primary advocacy counterpart Filter covers and whose personnel contribute to Filter's editorial direction.
• Filter (previous editorial predecessor, The Influence): Founded by Will Godfrey prior to Filter, The Influence covered related drug-policy topics. It is an antecedent publication rather than a current competitor but reflects the same editorial lineage and beat.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/filtermag_org
• Facebookfacebook.com/filtermag.org
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/filtermag

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about FILTER