Future of Good’s editorial ethics and standards

Equity

Future of Good is committed to including the perspectives of as many identities as possible in our stories. Our goals as of now include never publishing a story that includes only white or only male voices, and including voices from outside of central Canada in every story. We are working toward a wider diversity of sources when it comes to ability, LGBTQ2S+ identity, lived experience with subject matter, and more. While leadership in the social impact world is overwhelmingly diverse, we are committed to platforming underrepresented voices and stories. 

 

Truth

Future of Good makes every effort possible to ensure the information in our stories is factual. We also take care to distinguish between the opinions of our sources and verifiable facts. We correct any errors in stories as soon as we learn of them. 

We value truth over balance. We will not include perspectives or viewpoints that are factually incorrect in our stories for the sake of balance. For instance, in a story about the climate crisis, we will not include the perspective of someone who denies that climate change is caused by humans. 

 

Independence 

Future of Good’s current revenue model relies on content partnerships and membership subscriptions. While we sometimes cover the work our members and partners do outside of any agreement, we take care to make sure these organizations or individuals are not given editorial priority. As a small team, our editor oversees both sponsored and non-sponsored stories and is committed to covering any organization we are affiliated with in an impartial manner (outside of paid content). Future of Good does not have any special reporting obligations to any organization outside of paid partnerships. Future of Good does not advocate for or do any lobbying on behalf of any organization or sector.

Our writers do not cover an organization or person with whom they have a personal relationship. Staff writers are not permitted to accept employment from organizations that Future of Good covers or is likely to cover. All Future of Good writers are free to express their opinions on political matters, matters of the social impact world, and other subjects on social media, so long as their work does not show bias.

Future of Good as an organization does not subscribe to any particular political ideology. 

 

Transparency 

All stories paid for by a partner organization are labelled as such upfront. 

 

Editorial process

Story ideas are either pitched by writers (staff or freelance) to Future of Good’s editor, or they’re assigned by the editor to the writer. Future of Good’s managing editor and editor-in-chief vet every story idea through the lens of how much it aligns with our editorial direction. Once the story is accepted, it goes through an editing process during which both the editor and the publisher review the story, checking for accuracy, editing for style, and more substantive content editing.

Future of Good also accepts thought leadership or opinion piece pitches from social impact professionals. These pieces go through the same vetting process as reported stories. 

News coverage of active wars and humanitarian crises draws intense scrutiny as those who empathize with the suffering seek to ensure their voices are heard and shared. Those working in the world of social purpose are highly impacted and deeply empathetic to these causes.

Social media posting and online commentary on recent world conflicts have proven explosive and divisive.

At Future of Good, we have been intentionally selective about the way we cover active conflicts, working to ensure we can serve our audience with the insights and knowledge they seek in a productive and helpful approach.

Future of Good focuses on social impact journalism in Canada for Canadian changemakers. While we often cover breaking news in this space, we are not a traditional general news website. Like other news organizations, we must always apply rigour when reviewing coverage plans, and we use an additional lens of our niche, audience, capacity and coverage.

Each story idea or pitch is measured against our key questions: Why does it matter to our audience? What is the story’s crux? What will our audience learn? Will it make our audience smarter about that topic?

Our online story pitch form is available 24/7 to those wishing to send us op-ed submissions. We strongly encourage diverse voices and opinions to submit.

An important point to note is that all newsrooms weigh all news tips and pitches on their own merits. Some stories make it through the pitch stage but are killed/spiked once the initial reporting determines there is not enough for a story. Some stories are held until details can be substantiated through further reporting, evidence, freedom of information (FOI) requests or new quotes.

Sometimes, editors decide to run stories or op-eds and pursue follow-up stories or additional op-eds to broaden the coverage scope.

Our newsroom is committed to upholding the tenets of journalism while providing our audience with actionable and relevant social impact news.  

 

Compensation 

All writers of reported stories are paid by Future of Good. Our freelance rates vary depending on how much reporting is involved but start at 50 cents per word. Thought leaders are not paid for their pieces. 

 

Distribution and sharing

Future of Good stories are not under a Creative Commons license. Our content is sometimes republished with written permission from a member of the Future of Good staff.