Investing in Democracy by Reinventing Journalism
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Simone Otus Coxe
This story is part of the Architects of Impact series, highlighting stories of innovation that demonstrate how our Community is mobilizing to ensure a world that works for all people and the planet.
Journalism has transformed rapidly—and fundamentally—in the 21st century. With the shift from print to digital, loss of advertising revenue to social media, and corporate consolidation, news media reach wider audiences but increasingly exclude the informed local reporting that is so critical to civic life.
In California, public relations and media guru Simone Otus Coxe saw the news landscape change dramatically. As coverage of state-level politics in Sacramento collapsed, citizens received less information about public matters that would affect their daily lives. Simone saw a major issue emerging: the absence of reliable, explanatory reporting could not only hurt communities but weaken democracy writ large.
That insight led her to co-found CalMatters, a nonprofit newsroom launched in 2015 to restore high-quality, nonpartisan coverage of California’s state politics and policies. At a time when traditional outlets were downsizing or disappearing, CalMatters aimed to fill a critical gap by providing Californians with the information they need to understand how their government works and why it matters.
A Philanthropic Response to Crisis
The idea for CalMatters came well after Simone first stepped into the world of philanthropy. However, she says that its success doesn’t come from having a perfect plan. “There’s no grand theory,” Simone says. “You just have to try things. Take a step, see what you learn, and then take the next one.”
The path to CalMatters started when Simone sold her public relations firm in 2001 and joined the first West Coast cohort of Forward Global (then known as The Philanthropy Workshop) with a broad goal to explore global topics like democracy and media. Then, 9/11 happened, and her focus sharpened. She began working with others in our network to support civil society and pluralism, particularly in the Middle East, where transparent journalism and public media were still developing. Specifically, Simone’s funding collaborative, called The Pluralism Fund, supported training in Iran and Pakistan to counterbalance the rise of extremism while promoting civil society, independent journalism, and legal education.
Over time, Simone brought her experience to larger organizations. She joined the board of Internews, a global nonprofit that supports independent media worldwide.
Those early philanthropic investments cemented for Simone that the media is essential for pluralism. If people don’t have access to trusted information, they can’t participate fully in civic life. Over time, that insight turned her focus to her home state of California.
Journalism at Home
After more than a decade on the board of KQED, Simone saw how the erosion of state reporting was affecting California. As newsrooms shrank and legislative coverage disappeared, she realized how little information was reaching the public about key decisions regarding budgets, policies, and elections that shaped their lives.
The lack of serious, explanatory journalism made it harder for people to engage, and easier for misinformation to take root. She saw an opportunity to step in. Simone took the leap of founding CalMatters by using tools and lessons she’d learned over the years in discussions about democracy with the Forward Global community.
CalMatters launched with a clear focus: cover California state government with depth, clarity, and independence. It started with three reporters and an editor, distributing print and digital content to media partners across the state. From the beginning, the emphasis was on quality, not scale. Instead of trying to reach all 40 million Californians, the early strategy was to reach the right audiences—those most engaged in civic life, including lawmakers themselves.
Simone understood how influence works. CalMatters would deliver printed stories from local newspapers to legislative offices, knowing they would be read by the people who shape policy. “People behave better when they’re being watched,” she says. “If legislators know constituents are paying attention, that changes behavior.”
One of CalMatters’ signature tools is Digital Democracy, which helps users track legislative activity and campaign finance in real time. It’s part of a broader effort to make the machinery of state government more visible and more accountable.
CalMatters has since grown into a newsroom with more than 50 journalists and over 250 distribution partners, producing in-depth reporting on education, health, housing, climate, and more. Its impact is measured not just in readership but in how stories lead to policy change, increased scrutiny, and better-informed public debate.
Strategic Philanthropy in Action
Simone sees philanthropy as risk capital, or a way to fund necessary work that doesn’t yet have a market. “If you know something’s going to work, someone’s probably already done it,” she says. With journalism’s commercial model broken, nonprofit infrastructure was her best bet for the way forward.
Simone resisted the pressure to scale quickly. She focused on building a strong editorial team, delivering high-quality journalism, and letting the work speak for itself. The challenges, like fundraising, operations, and staffing, were real but manageable, thanks to a grounded, step-by-step approach. Forward Global also played a quiet but essential role in the early days of CalMatters, offering fiscal sponsorship at a rate that made initial fundraising possible. “When you’re raising a million dollars, a 10 percent fee is too much. That kind of support helped us get off the ground,” she says.
Simone’s advice to other funders is simple: focus on execution. Respond to what people are trying to build, not abstract ideals. “It’s better to have a clear ask you can say yes to than a bunch of theory.”
Looking back, she’s still guided by the same belief that shaped her path from business to global philanthropy to journalism: start where you are, act on what you see, and build what’s needed. That’s how CalMatters began—not as a sweeping vision, but as a clear response to a failing civic information system. “Philanthropy is about creating space for the new,” she says.
In a state as complex as California, CalMatters is reporting the news while reinforcing the very foundation of civic life. For Simone Otus Coxe, that’s the work that matters most.
