The Trust Project

The Trust Project operates as an independent nonprofit that creates value by defining and maintaining a common transparency standard for digital news and helping publishers implement it. Its main value propositions are (1) the “Trust Indicators” framework that structures disclosures about journalistic practices, (2) a technical protocol and schema for embedding these indicators in machine-readable form on content pages, and (3) an accreditation-style process that grants a visible trustmark to compliant news organisations. This combination aims to help publishers communicate integrity and editorial practices to audiences and platforms, and to provide platforms with structured signals for ranking and labelling news content.

Revenue is not generated through commercial product sales but via philanthropic funding and donations. Grants and gifts from philanthropies, foundations, technology companies and other donors cover organisational costs, staff, training programmes, standards development and technical documentation. Consortium participation and implementation support for news partners appear to be delivered within this nonprofit, grant-funded model rather than via standardised commercial fees.

The Trust Project is a small, United States–based nonprofit consortium of news organisations that develops and maintains transparency standards for digital journalism. Its core outputs are a set of eight “Trust Indicators”, a machine-readable protocol for embedding these indicators into news pages, and a verification process that allows compliant publishers to display a trustmark. It works with newsrooms globally to implement these standards and support content discovery on digital platforms.

The organisation funds its activities primarily through philanthropic grants and fundraising from foundations, technology companies and individual donors, rather than through commercial software licensing or subscriptions. Its direct “customers” are news publishers and news organisations that wish to signal editorial transparency and credibility; readers and platforms benefit indirectly through more structured, machine-readable information about news provenance and practices.