Sludge is a daily newsletter that strives to give our readers urgent, accurate, in-depth information about how moneyed interests are shaping politics. We don’t accept the narratives that are put forward by establishment media or political parties, we dig into the primary sources, disclosures, and data to give you the important facts that illuminate the real story behind the headlines.
Sludge is a nonprofit project, supported by our readers’ subscriptions and the occasional small charitable gifts. We’re a tiny, two-person operation, so we have virtually no overhead and any support we receive from our readers goes directly back into our reporting.
Founded in 2018, Sludge has published thousands of reports and has been featured in top-tier newspapers, on cable news programs, and in countless podcasts.
Our nonpartisan reporting doesn’t shy away from covering the entire political spectrum. We report critically on Democrats, Republicans, progressives, libertarians, billionaire philanthropists, D.C. think tanks, corporate lobbyists, dark money funnelers, astroturf advocacy groups, trade associations, and more.
Sludge’s reporting has been cited by The Guardian, NPR, Politico, CNN, The Intercept, Newsweek, The Daily Beast, New York Post, Slate, HuffPost, The Appeal, Jewish Insider, Right Wing Watch, Motherboard, Washington Examiner, Gizmodo, The New Republic, AdWeek, the Chronicle of Philanthropy, The Advocate, Rewire News, The Washington Post, and many state and local newsrooms.
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Staff
Donald Shaw is based in rural Western Massachusetts, where he enjoys mountain biking, running fast in the woods, observing plants and animals, fixing things, and creating art. In addition to his journalistic work, Donald is a musician who has toured the world in multiple ensembles. He previously worked as a reporter at OpenCongress and MapLight, and has had freelance work in outlets like The American Prospect, Ars Technica, The Hill, The Lever, The Daily Beast, and more. Shaw studied comparative literature at UMass Amherst and music at The New School. You can follow him on X here.
David Moore is based in Brooklyn, New York, where he enjoys biking and seeing art. He has been covering money in politics with co-founder Donald Shaw since 2007, when they launched OpenCongress, which became the most-visited nonprofit website for tracking bills and campaign contributions in the U.S. Congress. As executive director of the nonprofit Participatory Politics Foundation (PPF), David has developed open tech tools for political participation, like the Contact-Congress engine, used by tens of millions of people. Later PPF projects—the question-and-answer platform AskThem, and the city government transparency app Councilmatic—brought civic engagement resources to the state and local levels. He studied philosophy and English at Brown University. You can follow him on X here.
Funding
From January 2018 through March 2019, Sludge was supported by grants from the Civil Media Company and Civil Foundation.
Since April 2019, Sludge has operated with the largest share of its funding coming from readers' subscription payments, and from the NewsMatch drive of the Institute for Nonprofit News. Sludge is project of its affiliate 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, the Participatory Politics Foundation.
Sludge held a successful Kickstarter in 2019 and raised money on IndieGoGo that same year. Sludge has received gifts of $5,000 and less from several family foundations.
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Contact
Get in touch with feedback, thoughts, or news tips:
David Moore: [email protected]
Donald Shaw: [email protected]