Non-Profit in New York

Gotham Gazette, a local-news portal backed by the Citizens Union Foundation, has been serving up five-borough-centric news and commentary for a decade. The site, which relies on foundations and individual contributions for funding, tries to interpret serious policy issues for those of us who are not policy wonks, editor Gail Robinson tells Gelf. It focuses on specific issues, such as foreclosures and reckless driving, while running a blog that covers a wide variety of local issues and even coming up with web-based games that "let you—the reader—make policy."

In the following interview, conducted via phone and edited for length and clarity, Robinson discusses Gotham Gazette's mission, its business model, and whether nonprofit can sustain larger news organizations.