This is how we invested your membership fees in year three of De Correspondent

As a member of De Correspondent, you can read and share as many stories as you like, enter into discussion with correspondents, contribute your expertise, follow along in the Project 101 series, get discounts on our events, and personalize your reading settings. Those are benefits you get in exchange for your membership fees.

But how exactly do we spend those fees?

In this financial report, we give you the answers to that question – because we are glad to report to you, our 47,000 members. Here you can find out how we invest your 60 or 6 euros.

Read more: Annual editorial report In our third year we really wanted to expand our horizons – to achieve greater variation in our stories by presenting new voices and stories told in new ways. Now, it’s time for more depth. What will we be doing to strengthen our journalism? Read our annual editorial report here (in Dutch only)

Our expenditures

Our financial reports are based on the previous calendar year. In this case, on 2015; in September 2017 we will use 2016, and so on. The breakdown of our expenditures is as follows:

• 53.2 % Salaries for​ editorial staff and freelance writers
  We spend more than half of membership payments on writing and recording journalistic work. In 2015, for example, we asked 150 guest correspondents to write stories for us. At this point we have 19 staff correspondents All our correspondents are listed here. and 16 freelancers who write for us on a regular basis.

• 17.3 % Sales tax​
  We have to pay 21% sales tax on membership fees, which works out to 17.3% of our membership receipts. Unfairly, we believe, Jesse Frederik once wrote about this oddity in our tax system (in Dutch only). as a paper journalistic medium pays 6% sales tax: a bizarre consequence of outdated legislation.

• 8.3 % Salaries for our image editing and design staff and fees for photographers and illustrators​
  At De Correspondent images play an important role in the stories we publish, and we believe the combination of text and image creates more effective, richer journalism. We also want to provide a platform for many different kinds of image makers, and we are as series-oriented Like the series of illustrations for our book club. as possible. Our image director and her staff is always looking for innovative imagery as well as new talent to work with; the portfolio days we organize help us to discover new image makers. Another advance has been the launch of Project 101, Take a look at the first two crash courses of Project 101 here. further expanding possibilities for working with moving images. Like this video above the Self-Improvement theme (in Dutch only).
  • Expansion of our editorial design staff has allowed us to work even more with image makers and to produce images ourselves, like our great journalistic infographics Like the infographics in this story about jellyfish. and the design of our other endeavors, such as books and events.
  • Up to now, 75 different illustrators have created original work for De Correspondent. They made cartoons and illustrations for 210 stories.
  • We have worked with 71 different photographers, who shot photo series for 189 stories.
  • Linking art projects to our journalism work is also a priority for us. Last year we published an art project with a story 81 times.

• 4.2 % The technical development of our platform
  Our site is never finished. Our team of five developers, along with project leader René Clerc and CTO Sebastian Kersten, continues to develop functions that enrich our journalism. This year, for instance, we built thematic story collections. Take a look at Project 101 here. A couple of them are available in English as Project 101. By the way: we are looking for developers to join our team! View our job openings here (in Dutch only)

• 3.8 % Events
  A few times each year our events producer, Machteld Vinkenborg, and the correspondents bring our journalism to the stage. Examples? The festival celebrating our second year, the Festival of Progress, See the site of the Festival of Progress here (in Dutch only). and our live talk show on art, Artfest. Or look back on the last Artfest. Ticket sales for these evenings cover some, though not all of the costs.

• 3 % Editorial expenses
  Included here are things like lunch and coffee as well as laptops, monitors, train tickets, travel by car, journalistic trips, books, and training.

• 2.5 % Marketing​
  Most of our advertising is on Facebook, where we encourage our 160,000 likers to become members. Other methods include bookmarks with trial memberships in our books, and promotional videos.

• 1.9 % Office space​
  Our editorial staff works at Weesperzijde 94 in Amsterdam. An enthusiastic member offered to rent us the lower floors of his house, a marvellous space where correspondents can write and exchange ideas.

• 1.2 % Translations and English editing
  Many of our stories are about global developments, which makes them perfect for an international audience. Translating these pieces is congruent with our ambition to be a medium without borders, including sources and contributions from around the world. What’s more, many of you members have asked if we could translate pieces for family, colleagues, and friends abroad.
  • Our translations editor, Erica Moore, heads up a team of freelance translators.
  • Our international engagement editor, Travis Mushett, in New York, makes sure the articles get out there to actually be read.
  • Utopia for Realists, the translation of Rutger Bregman’s book, Here’s more about Rutger’s book. has now sold nearly 5,000 copies.

• 4.6 % Other expenses​
  These include the costs of business operation, insurance, legal services, financing, and banking. About 50 cents out of your membership fee goes to transaction costs. Notaries, legal advisors, accountants and insurers don’t volunteer their services.

Our income

Besides our income from membership fees (nearly 85% of the total), we have other sources. Our statutes dictate that a minimum of 95% of our turnover always goes back into the business. Up till now that’s been 100%, since the shareholders are invested in the journalism. Here is the breakdown of our 2015 receipts:

• 84.7 % Membership fees
  As you can see: no members would mean no Correspondent!

• 7.6 % Speakers’ bureau
  Correspondents are regularly asked to give talks for organizations and at conferences. The speaker’s bureau Visit here the site of the speakers’ bureau. – under the direction of Floor Milar – arranges the business and practical side of things for the correspondents. This activity increases our journalistic impact and at the same time brings in new income. Most of the remuneration goes to the speaker, and the rest goes into the editorial budget.

• 3.4 % Book publishing​
  When an author wants to capture the reader’s attention for hours at a time, a book is still the best medium. That’s why we see books as a logical step in the journalistic process. This year the publishing department, led by Milou Klein Langhorst, released Je hebt wél iets te verbergen (Yes, you do have something to hide) by Maurits Martijn and Dimitri Tokmetzis. Profits from publishing go back into journalism. In 2017 there will be books by Market Forces Correspondent Sander Heijne, and Arnon Grunberg.

• 1.8 % Subsidies
  In the past year, critics have occasionally stated that De Correspondent could not survive without subsidies. The balance sheets tell us that’s not true: in 2015 subsidies represented less than 2% of our income. We apply for these for very specific journalistic projects, like building Project 101, or for expensive investigative trips out of the country – for which editorial independence is an unconditional requirement.

• 1.7 % Donations
  Many members donate a sum over and above their membership fee. We are extremely grateful to them!

• 0.8 % Events​
  This is income from ticket sales for our Correspondent evenings.

Not yet a member of De Correspondent?

Do you think we do a good job investing membership money, and do you want to make new stories possible? Then don’t wait – become a member of De Correspondent today and support our new form of journalism. We, and all members with us, thank you!

Become a member Do you enjoy reading our stories, and do you want to make new articles possible? Join us as a member of De Correspondent, for only 60 euros a year or 6 euros a month. Please note: The vast majority of our work is currently in Dutch only. Yes – count me in!

The editorial annual report

Curious about the highlights of our past year, and our plans for the coming year of journalism? Then read our editorial annual report.

Read more: Annual editorial report In our third year we really wanted to expand our horizons – to achieve greater variation in our stories by presenting new voices and stories told in new ways. Now, it’s time for more depth. What will we be doing to strengthen our journalism? Read our annual editorial report here.

—Translated from Dutch by Diane Schaap