On November 17 2008 ancient centrist blowhard David Brewster announced that his web only news site for "Cascadia" would become a non-profit.

Transforming a business from which you and your cronies draw a paycheck into a tax-avoiding non-profit organization works great for many Seattleites - but Brewster is no Bill Gates - and Crosscut is far from profitable.

Crosscut came from out of nowhere to become the tenth most popular Seattle media website, according to the Downtown Dispatch. They had a staff of journalists who were actually getting paid to write very good stories about Cascadia. That lack of focus - to aspire to cover all of Washington, Idaho and Oregon - didn't help ad sales at Crosscut.

The site was partially bankrolled by trillionaire Seattle tech investor Tom Alberg, but maybe those funds have run out. Even those with nine figure fortunes need to reconsider their charitable donations during these chaotic times.

Crosscut will need another angel investor if it wants to survive as a money-burning "non-profit." Asking for small individual donations from folks (like NPR does) over and over again, year after year, is not a sustainable business model.

Developing story.

Letter from the Publisher
Crosscut is exploring a shift to a nonprofit model. Here's why.
By David Brewster - November 17, 2008

See also:

Local Seattle News Site, Crosscut, May Switch to Nonprofit Model To Pay the Bills
"Crosscut got off to a promising start last year, with $500,000 in seed capital from a group of 25 prominent people in Seattle, including Alberg, former Environmental Protection Agency director William Ruckelshaus, former Mayor Paul Schell, University of Washington computer science professor Ed Lazowska, and ex-city council member Jim Compton."
Luke Timmerman 11/19/08 - xconomy.com

Web Sites That Dig for News Rise as Watchdogs
"As America’s newspapers shrink and shed staff, and broadcast news outlets sink in the ratings, a new kind of Web-based news operation has arisen in several cities, forcing the papers to follow the stories they uncover."
By RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA

Online news site Crosscut poised to switch to nonprofit
"Pacific Northwest regional news Web site Crosscut.com, founded by David Brewster, likely will morph into a nonprofit, as online advertising revenue has fallen short of projections."

"National Public Radio proves a nonprofit model can work for news and information, said Mitzman, a former producer and program host on KCTS Channel 9."
-By Stuart Eskenazi - Seattle Times staff reporter - Originally published Tuesday, November 18, 2008 at 12:00 AM

Chuck Taylor Leaving Crosscut
"This is an exciting change that we think will make for a stronger platform for both professional and amateur local journalism. But it's a legally complicated one that briefly interrupts cash flow, so I'm going to bow out, at least for a while."

Posted Nov. 16 at 2:35 pm by Mike Seely - blogs.seattleweekly.com

The case for independent news sites as profit-makers: 'I think there's a great business model here'
"Only today, a seemingly promising startup in Seattle, Crosscut, announced it was transitioning from a for-profit site to nonprofit status.

The day of online profits is coming, they say, and for-profit news sites will be best positioned to thrive."

By David Westphal - ojr.org - Posted: 2008-11-17