Aspen Journalism programs, policies and procedures 
 
As of Sept. 4, 2019 
 
Programs 
 
Mission statement in bylaws: 
 
The mission of Aspen Journalism is to operate exclusively as a non-profit, taxexempt journalism organization dedicated to producing investigative journalism in 
the public interest for the region surrounding Aspen, the county seat of Pitkin 
County, Colorado, USA. 
 
Mission statement (in bold) and description on website: 
 
Aspen Journalism is a local, nonprofit, and investigative journalism organization in 
Aspen, Colorado. 
Our mission is to produce investigative journalism for the benefit of people 
with a stake in the Aspen region, as well-informed citizens make better 
decisions. 
Our area of interest radiates outward from Aspen to include Pitkin County, the 
Roaring Fork River watershed, the Western Slope, the state of Colorado, and the 
Colorado River basin. 
We take a shoe-leather approach to investigative reporting, with an emphasis on 
defining a beat and staying on it, so we can develop insights and have an impact. We 
place a high value on attending public meetings, sharing public documents and 
talking to public officials. And we seek to hold public institutions accountable by 
comparing their actions to applicable standards, policies and laws. 
While we are an independent news organization, we also work in collaboration with 
other news organizations, which helps us reach more citizens. After we publish our 
stories on the Aspen Journalism website, other news organizations are invited to 
publish them, without charge, under our Creative Commons guidelines. 
Founded in 2011, Aspen Journalism is a member of the Colorado Press Association 
and the Institute for Nonprofit News. 
Aspen Journalism is supported by people who appreciate the value of good local 
journalism and a free press. 

 

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 We’re proud to be a NewsMatch participant in 2019, for the third year in a row. 
NewsMatch is a national campaign that encourages grassroots support for nonprofit 
news organizations, and it does so by matching local donations between Nov. 1 and 
Dec. 31. 
Policies 
 
On journalism ethics and standards: 
 
We take journalistic guidance from the Society of Professional Journalists’ code of 
ethics, the Associated Press’ standards and practices, and The New York Times’ 
standards and ethics guidelines. We are a member of the Institute for Nonprofit 
News and the Colorado Press Association. 
 
On journalistic independence from financial supporters: 
We subscribe to standards of editorial independence adopted by the Institute for 
Nonprofit News. 
Aspen Journalism is an independent news organization and retains full authority 
over its editorial content. 
We are aware of the pitfalls that can arise when a news organization accepts any 
form of revenue, either in the nonprofit model in the form of donations, or in the 
commercial model in the form of advertising. As such, we diligently maintain a 
firewall between revenue and the newsroom. 
Our news judgments are made independently and are not based on or influenced by 
donors. 
Our organization accepts donations to support the coverage of particular beats, or 
broad coverage areas, but our organization maintains editorial control of all of the 
resulting coverage. 
We cede no right of review or influence of any of our editorial content. 
We do not accept anonymous donations. 
We disclose donations on our About & Contact page, and we list donations by name, 
date, and amount as soon as they come in. 
When we deem it necessary and appropriate we disclose our donors, and our key 
stakeholders, in our stories or in an editor’s note.  

 

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 Acceptance of financial support does not constitute implied or actual endorsement 
of donors or their products, services, actions, or opinions. 
We recognize, and appreciate, that our nonprofit model relies on donations, and that 
all of our donors expect us to retain our independent editorial judgement and 
scrupulous adherence to journalist standards. So we do. 
On collaboration with other news organizations: 
Our approach to producing journalism is collaborative. We work directly with other 
journalists when reporting our stories, without written agreements. We do not 
charge anything for our work, but we do highly value the editorial services our 
collaborative news partners provide. They work with us to develop, edit and publish 
our reporting, mainly on their website and newspapers, but also on their television 
and radio stations.  
We then publish the resulting stories on the Aspen Journalism website, often in 
expanded form with links to source documents and additional photos, graphs and 
maps. And once it is on our website, anyone else can publish the work, without 
charge (see guidelines below). It is an efficient and effective way to get reporting 
done and produce good stories. And at the core of the collaborations is trust 
between an editor and a reporter. 
On the use of Aspen Journalism’s content: 
Aspen Journalism’s work is available under a Creative Commons License and our 
guidelines. 
You can republish our articles and graphics for free (without any cost to you), but: 
You can’t edit our material, except to reflect relative changes in time, location, and 
editorial style; 
if you’re republishing online, you have to link to us and include all of the links in the 
story; 
you can’t sell our material separately; 
it’s fine to put our stories on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our 
stories; 
you can’t republish our material wholesale, or automatically; you need to select 
stories to be republished individually; 
you have to credit us – ideally in the byline. We prefer “Author Name, Aspen 
Journalism,” with a link to our homepage or the article; and 
 

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 you have to tag our work with an editor’s note, as in, “Aspen Journalism is an 
independent nonprofit news organization. See www.aspenjournalism.org for more.” 
And please include a link to our site. 
Procedures 
 
Aspen Journalism’s procedures, or governing practices, are based on our bylaws, 
which are reviewed annually by our board of directors. 
 
Board meeting dates and location: 
 
The second Tuesday of February, March, July, August, November and December 
from 3 to 5 p.m. in the conference room at the Benedict Building, 1280 Ute Avenue, 
Suite 4, Aspen, CO. 
 
Annual meeting date: 
 
Second Tuesday of December. 
 
Election of officers: 
 
Officers elected at each annual meeting, by a majority vote, to terms of one year 
 
There are currently two officers elected: 
 
One office combines the duties of president, chair of the board, and secretary. 
 
The second office is treasurer.  
 
The executive director assists the board members in the duties of secretary and 
treasury, including taking and producing of minutes, preparing meeting agendas 
and packets, and preparing regular financial statements, and IRS Form 990. 
 
Honorary directors on the board: 
 
The bylaws allow for honorary board members. They are welcome to attend board 
meetings but cannot vote.  
 
Members of the Aspen Journalism Publisher’s Circle are considered honorary 
directors. 
 
Consensus voting: 
 
The board of directors have agreed to vote by consensus, which means that all 
directors present at which there is a quorum must agree upon the action to be 

 

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 taken. If consensus cannot be reached, the action must be postponed until the next 
meeting. Meetings can be called at any time by a majority vote and proper notice. 
Notice of meetings: 
 
Notice of meetings requires at least 24 hours.  
 
Meeting materials schedule: 
 
Agendas and packet materials will be distributed to board members on the Tuesday 
before the next regularly scheduled board meeting. 
 
Meeting materials, content: 
 
The executive director will prepare for each board meeting an agenda, minutes from 
the last meeting, financial reports, including a YTD revenue and expenses report 
compared to an approved annual budget, and a profit and loss report. 
 
The secretary will review the meeting materials and the treasurer will review the 
financial reports prior to their distribution to the board members.  
 
On committees: 
 
The board may designate committees. See bylaws for details. 
 
On nominating new board members: 
 
The bylaws state that “ Any vacancy occurring in the Board of Directors may be filled by
the majority vote of the remaining directors. A director elected to fill a vacancy shall be
elected for the unexpired term of his or her predecessor. (Note, current bylaws do not
establish the length of term for board members.”
Duties of executive director: 
 
The executive director serves at the pleasure of the board. 
 
Per the bylaws, the ED "shall design, fund and implement ... the policies, programs, 
and procedures of Aspen Journalism, established and approved from time to time by 
the board of directors." 
 
The executive director is also responsible for presenting a draft next-year budget to 
the board at the November meeting. 
 
Executive director spending limit: 
 

 

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 The executive director needs permission from the board chair to spend more than 
$3,000.  
 
Approval of policies, programs and procedures: 
 
The board shall review and approve the organization’s policies, programs and 
procedures at its annual meeting. 
 
Board member conflicts of interest: 
 
Board member must disclose conflicts of interest in meetings, and must sign annual 
statements regarding the conflict of interest policy. See bylaws for additional details. 
 
Retention of records: 
 
The secretary, through the executive director, is responsible for retention of records 
as specified in the bylaws. 
 
 

 

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