New York, February 22, 2023—Following a determination made by the Committee to Protect Journalists’ board, CPJ President Jodie Ginsberg today informed staff as follows:
Dear Colleagues,
I am writing to let you know that in response to recent developments
involving the cryptocurrency company FTX and its founder Sam Bankman-Fried, the board and executive team have decided to set aside a donation CPJ received early last year.
In March 2022, CPJ received a gift equivalent to $418,000 in crypto currency, via a crypto donation platform, which CPJ was told was donated on behalf of a family foundation affiliated with Sam and Gabe Bankman-Fried. The gift was immediately converted into dollars as per CPJ’s gift acceptance guidelines and put into our endowment.
Given recent developments involving FTX and Bankman-Fried, CPJ’s board, in consultation with the executive team, has agreed to set aside the donation pending the outcome of investigations into FTX and related entities.
CPJ has not been asked to return the donated funds. We nonetheless wanted to inform you of the steps we have taken in keeping with CPJ’s values and will keep staff posted about significant developments related to this matter.
Regards,
Jodie
As a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, CPJ relies on contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations to carry out our work. In order to preserve our independence, we do not accept any government grants or support of any kind. Please click here for our latest annual report.
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