Funding

UPDATE: In May 2012 we found out that the cosmetics retailer Lush was giving us £8,800!!

Money is not the most important thing in this. Our printing and distribution costs are low. We have the basic kit we need (naturally, we wouldn’t turn down an Android phone etc etc). The key thing is being able to attract and keep talent, especially given that we will not be able to pay at all in the beginning, or very much, even if we get dosh.

8.1 Who we would take money from
We will bid for money from other organisations, including Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust, Artists Project Earth, Lush, Network for Social Change and the like. We will announce that we have bid, what we have bid for, and whether we were successful or not.

8.1.2 Who pays the piper does not get to call the tune
Obviously, if any funder ever tries to influence what we cover or how we cover it, we will immediately pop a cheque for their unspent money in the post, first class. And blog about it.

8.2 Who we won’t take money from – and why
We will never bid for or accept any money from Manchester City Council, other local authorities in Greater Manchester, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority or bodies controlled by those organisations.
We will never bid for or accept money from the Co-operative Bank, Unicorn Grocery or any other business or organisation we could reasonably expect to report on.
If we do take money from an organisation and then end up reporting on something they are doing, should be doing or should not be doing, we will publish a disclaimer/conflict of interest statement at the top of the article, rather than the end of it.

Why? Because, like Caesar’s wife, we must be above suspicion.

In the extremely unlikely event that we ever win money in any competition that is controlled by Manchester City Council or any of the other organisations listed, we will donate the money to the other finalists in that competition. If this is not possible, we will publicly distribute the money to organisations that we feel deserve it, with an explanation of where the money has come from.

8.3 What we would do with the money
We think our major costs would be
a) printing (which will be done in an environmentally and socially friendly way as possible. The most environmentally-friendly printing is, of course, not printing at all
b) payment of expenses and fees to writers and other contributors (cartoonists, illustrators, website designers)
c) occasional weekend getaways to Prague, Talinn and Barcelona, with a shopping expedition at Airport City before or after.

8.4 How we’d talk about the money
If we do get money, we will announce the amount and source, and every month we will publish accounts of what we have been spending it on.

8.5 What we won’t spend money on
MCFly will never pay sources for information. We don’t have the money, and it’s a slippery slope to “cheque-book journalism” anyhows.