What Searchlight New Mexico does

Searchlight New Mexico is an independent, nonpartisan nonprofit investigative news organization founded in 2018 and headquartered at 150 Washington Ave., Suite 205, Santa Fe, New Mexico. It publishes original investigative reporting on state-level issues including child and family welfare, criminal justice, education, environment, health, housing, immigration, government accountability, nuclear legacy, and tribal affairs, organized into nine topical archives and eight named editorial series such as "Secrecy and Sacred Cows: Turmoil at CYFD" and "The Atomic Hereafter." Its audience is the New Mexico general public and civic stakeholders; content is distributed free of charge via the searchlightnm.org website, a Mailchimp newsletter, social channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), and a Creative Commons republishing arrangement that allows partner outlets to reuse its reporting.

The organization operates on a Newspack-based WordPress publishing platform with no proprietary technology, public API, or mobile application. Its business model is philanthropic: Searchlight is an initiative of The New Mexican Public Service Journalism Fund, a fiscally sponsored project of the New Mexico Community Foundation (a 501(c)(3)), and is funded entirely through reader donations and grants solicited via its website and newsletter. There is no paywall, no subscription revenue, and no pricing model. The staff is described as small, with founding editor Ray Rivera and co-founder Scott Armstrong referenced historically; long-tenured executive editor Sara Solovitch departed in June 2024. Notable staff include investigative reporter Ed Williams, a 2022 ProPublica Local Reporting Network fellow and recipient of News Leaders Association awards in 2022 and 2019. There are no funding rounds, M&A activity, subsidiaries, or disclosed financials in the input data.

Name

Searchlight New Mexico

Legal name

Searchlight New Mexico

Website

https://searchlightnm.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Searchlight New Mexico is a nonprofit investigative newsroom founded in 2018 that publishes nonpartisan accountability reporting for New Mexico residents. Funded by donations under the fiscal sponsorship of the New Mexico Community Foundation, it distributes free content via its website, newsletter, and social channels.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Investigative Journalism

NAICS

Broadcasting and Content Providers (516)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711)

akta.pro primary industry

Investigative & Nonprofit News Organizations (MPAJADAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Local & Regional Newspapers (Print & Digital) (MPAJADAB)

Keywords

• Investigative journalism
• Nonprofit newsroom
• Public service reporting
• Government accountability reporting
• Independent journalism

Headquarters

HQ city

Santa Fe

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Philanthropic Donations: The organization is funded through donations from readers and supporters. It operates as a nonprofit initiative under The New Mexican Public Service Journalism Fund, a project of the New Mexico Community Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Searchlight New Mexico produces and publishes original investigative and public service journalism focused on New Mexico government, institutions, and communities. Content is delivered free of charge through a news website, email newsletter, and social media, organized into topical archives (child welfare, criminal justice, education, environment, health, housing, immigration, government, nuclear, tribal affairs) and named editorial investigation series. The organization is philanthropically funded through reader donations and operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit initiative.

Product overview

Searchlight New Mexico is a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative journalism organization built on Newspack (a WordPress-based publishing platform). The core product is its news website delivering investigative reporting on New Mexico issues. Supporting offerings include an email newsletter subscription service (via Mailchimp), a donation/publishing platform for reader support, topic-based article archives covering 9 subject areas, and 8 named editorial investigation series. The organization operates as a single unified digital publication without modular add-on products.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Searchlight New Mexico investigative journalism website Free online publication delivering investigative and accountability reporting on New Mexico government, institutions, and communities, accessible to the general public without a paywall.
• Email newsletter subscription Free email newsletter delivered via Mailchimp that sends stories to subscribers as soon as they are published, available through eepurl.com/g5V5NL.
• Reader donation program Philanthropic support mechanism enabling readers to donate to fund Searchlight New Mexico's nonprofit investigative journalism operations, accessed via searchlightnm.fundjournalism.org.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• The Markup: Nonprofit investigative newsroom focused on how technology affects society, funded by donations and foundations. Shares the nonprofit, nonpartisan, investigative, free-content model with Searchlight, with comparable production scale and editorial intensity.
• New Mexico In Depth: Nonprofit investigative news organization also based in New Mexico, focused on accountability and investigative reporting about state government and institutions. Operates the same beat as Searchlight in the same geography with a similar small-team, donation-supported, free-content model, making it the closest direct peer.
• ProPublica: National nonprofit investigative newsroom that runs the Local Reporting Network in which Searchlight New Mexico participates. Both organizations are 501(c)(3)-structured, nonpartisan investigative outlets that publish free content and rely on philanthropic funding; Searchlight is a direct peer through ProPublica's local-network program and shares editorial methodology.
• Source New Mexico: Nonprofit state-focused news outlet covering New Mexico government, policy, and accountability. Targets the same NM-based reader and donor base with a similar donation-supported model and overlapping topics (politics, environment, health), making it a direct peer despite a different funding structure.
• The Marshall Project: National nonprofit news organization dedicated to investigative and accountability reporting on the U.S. criminal justice system. Comparable as a topic-driven, nonpartisan, philanthropic-funded investigative newsroom; Searchlight's criminal-justice and CYFD coverage overlaps directly with The Marshall Project's beat.
• Type Investigations: Nonprofit investigative journalism organization producing deep-dive accountability reporting supported by foundations and donations. Highly comparable in mission (nonprofit, investigative, free-content, donor-funded) and operational model to Searchlight, though national rather than state-focused in geographic scope.
• MinnPost: Nonprofit, reader-supported online news organization covering Minnesota government, politics, and civic affairs. Operates the same nonprofit state-accountability model as Searchlight with a small staff, donation/membership revenue, and an editorial focus on government transparency.
• The Connecticut Mirror: Nonprofit, nonpartisan digital news outlet covering Connecticut state government and policy. Highly comparable to Searchlight in mission, revenue model (donations and philanthropic support), format (free digital content), and operational scale as a small regional investigative newsroom.

Broad incumbents

• The Texas Tribune: Larger nonprofit statehouse-focused news organization that pioneered the model of nonprofit, donation- and membership-supported state accountability journalism. Comparable to Searchlight in editorial focus on state government accountability and reader-supported nonprofit structure, but at materially greater scale and a different state.
• CalMatters: Nonprofit statewide news organization covering California policy, government, and accountability with donation and membership support. Operates the same nonprofit state-accountability beat as Searchlight but at a larger scale and broader topic footprint, making it a comparable incumbent in the category.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/SearchlightNM
• Facebookfacebook.com/SearchlightNewMexico
• Instagraminstagram.com/searchlightnm
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/searchlight-new-mexico

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 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 Searchlight New Mexico