Outrider.org

What Outrider.org does

Outrider Foundation is a non-political, nonpartisan 501c3 nonprofit organization headquartered at 834 E. Washington Ave., Suite 333, Madison, Wisconsin. Its functional purpose is to produce and support multimedia journalism and educational content at the intersection of nuclear weapons policy and climate change—two issues it explicitly frames as interconnected existential threats. The organization does not operate a software platform or sell products; its core offerings are articles, podcasts, videos, and interactive educational resources published on Outrider.org, supplemented by an events program that includes the Outrider Nuclear Reporting Summit and Nobel Laureate Assembly discussions.

Underlying delivery relies on a fellowship model in which Outrider places paid journalists inside partner newsrooms, including CNN, Vox, USA TODAY, the Associated Press, TIME, Inside Climate News, Complexly's SciShow, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Distribution is therefore not captive to the foundation's own website but extends across the audiences of established national outlets. Content is segmented across topical tags covering Culture, Health, History, Justice, News, Opinion, Policy, Security, and Artificial Intelligence, with dedicated climate-change and nuclear-weapons editorial verticals.

As a 501c3, Outrider has no commercial pricing model and generates no product revenue. Its operating model is funded through charitable donations and grants from philanthropic partners, with named institutional funders including Carnegie Corporation of New York, Journalism Funding Partners, and Burroughs Wellcome Fund. The end "customer" is the general public, served free of charge; the counterparties that sustain the organization are grant-making institutions and partner newsrooms. The foundation is led by President and CEO Robert K. Elder and operates as an active 501c3 entity with no parent company, no subsidiaries, and no disclosed commercial ownership structure.

Name

Outrider.org

Legal name

Outrider Foundation

Website

https://outrider.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Outrider Foundation is a Madison, Wisconsin-based 501c3 nonprofit that produces and funds multimedia journalism at the intersection of nuclear weapons policy and climate change, placing paid fellows inside major partner newsrooms and distributing free educational content to the general public.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nonprofit Journalism

NAICS

Environment, Conservation and Wildlife Organizations (813312), Social Advocacy Organizations (8133)

akta.pro primary industry

Climate Change Mitigation & Adaptation (BPAGAGAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Environmental, Climate & Sustainability Standards & Reporting Cooperation (BPADANAI)

Keywords

• Nuclear security journalism
• Climate policy reporting
• Nonprofit journalism
• Nonpartisan media
• Foundation reporting

Headquarters

HQ city

Madison

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. Donations and Grants: As a 501c3 nonprofit organization, Outrider Foundation operates primarily through charitable donations, grants, and philanthropic partnerships to fund journalism fellowships and educational content production on nuclear security and climate issues.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Outrider.org is a nonprofit journalism foundation that produces and publishes original, nonpartisan reporting on nuclear security and climate change. The organization operates topic-dedicated educational resource hubs (Nuclear Weapons and Climate Change), distributes a newsletter, runs events and fellowships, and partners with newsrooms to amplify its reporting reach.

Product overview

Outrider.org is a non-political, nonpartisan 501c3 organization that operates as a journalism and multimedia storytelling platform focused on nuclear security threats and climate change issues. The organization does not offer a traditional software product or technology platform. Its offerings consist of news articles, educational resources, events, and journalism fellowships that support multimedia storytelling about nuclear weapons and climate change topics.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Nuclear Weapons Educational Resources A topic-dedicated educational resource hub on the Outrider.org website that curates articles, explainers, and analyses on nuclear weapons and nuclear security policy for general public readers and policy-interested audiences.
• Climate Change Educational Resources
• Outrider Newsletter
• Newsroom Partnership Program

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• TIMEcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on fellowship program supporting nuclear security reporting. TIME and Outrider Foundation announced a fellowship program supporting critical nuclear security reporting.
• Associated PresscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNuclear security reporting initiative in collaboration with the Associated Press and Carnegie Corporation of New York to support journalism on nuclear weapons and security issues.
• Carnegie Corporation of New YorkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-funder of the nuclear security reporting initiative with Associated Press and Outrider to support journalism on nuclear weapons and security issues.
• Journalism Funding PartnersmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Journalism Funding Partners for the fellowship program supporting critical nuclear security reporting, placing journalists in major newsrooms.
• USA TODAYmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFellowship partnership with USA TODAY placing a journalist to cover nuclear security and climate issues through the newsroom.
• Complexly's SciShowmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFellowship placing a journalist to create science communication content about nuclear weapons and climate for SciShow's audience.
• VoxmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAI and Nuclear Weapons Fellow placement at Vox to cover the intersection of artificial intelligence and nuclear weapons policy.
• CNNmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerOutrider Fellow placement at CNN to cover nuclear security and defense policy issues.
• Burroughs Wellcome FundmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFellowship collaboration supporting science journalism, with Rasha Aridi selected as an Outrider Fellow through the Burroughs Wellcome Fund partnership.
• Inside Climate NewsmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFellowship program supporting emerging journalists at Inside Climate News to cover climate and environmental issues.
• Milwaukee Journal SentinelmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerGreat Lakes and Environmental Reporting Fellowship placing a journalist to cover environmental issues in the Great Lakes region.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Ploughshares Fund: Philanthropy that funds work to reduce nuclear threats. Comparable to Outrider in mission focus (nuclear security) and nonprofit grantmaking/funding model supporting the field.
• The Marshall Project: Nonprofit investigative journalism organization covering criminal justice. Comparable model — foundation-funded nonprofit producing journalism via editorial staff and partnerships — applied to a different beat.
• Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting: Nonprofit that funds independent international journalism and places journalists in partner newsrooms. Highly comparable operational model — grants and fellowships to journalists — applied to global crisis topics rather than nuclear/climate.
• Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: Nonprofit media organization focused on nuclear risk, climate change, and disruptive technologies. Operates the Doomsday Clock. Most direct comparable given the shared mission around nuclear threats and climate change journalism.
• Inside Climate News: Nonprofit newsroom dedicated exclusively to climate and energy journalism. Outrider places fellows there, signaling strong programmatic overlap in climate-focused investigative reporting.
• Climate Central: Nonprofit that communicates climate science to the public and journalists. Comparable nonprofit journalism and education model focused on climate change public understanding.
• Arms Control Association: Nonpartisan membership organization providing policy analysis on arms control and nuclear nonproliferation. Comparable as a US-based nonprofit producing analysis and education on nuclear policy issues.
• Nuclear Age Peace Foundation: Nonprofit dedicated to nuclear disarmament education and advocacy. Comparable in mission scope and nonprofit advocacy model, though more advocacy-oriented than journalism-focused.

Others

• Carnegie Corporation of New York: Major foundation funding Outrider's nuclear security reporting initiative. Not a peer but a direct funder — included to reflect the institutional funding relationship rather than market overlap.

Broad incumbents

• ProPublica: Major investigative journalism nonprofit with established climate and energy coverage. Comparable as a foundation-funded nonprofit newsroom producing long-form investigative journalism, though much larger and broader in scope.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/outriderfdn
• Facebookfacebook.com/outriderfdn
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/outriderfdn
• Instagraminstagram.com/outriderfdn

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

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 Outrider.org