Company Profile

Company Description:

Our Mission

First Draft’s mission is to empower societies with accurate information in critical moments. We work to ensure the integrity of the world’s information ecosystem, developing and delivering pioneering techniques, tools and training for how information is discovered, shared and presented to the public.

Our Values

Our core values underline the work we do. Our work is pioneering, and conducted with rigor, empowerment, empathy and integrity.

History

First Draft formed as a nonprofit coalition with nine Founding Partners in June 2015, providing practical and ethical guidance in how to find, verify and publish content sourced from the social web. In September 2016, our original coalition expanded to become an international Partner Network of newsrooms, universities, platforms and civil society organizations.

In October 2017, First Draft was invited to join the Shorenstein Center for Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School. During this time, we inspired and coordinated the development of the Information Disorder Lab and expanded the scope of our research to explore the spread and threat of information disorder on closed messaging apps.

With thanks to ongoing support from key funders, First Draft is now administered as a company limited by guarantee in the UK, with headquarters in London. It does not have any shares or shareholders, and all revenues are re-invested into the company.

First Draft’s US subsidiary is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, with offices at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. It is operated exclusively for charitable and educational purposes, and raises its own funding for its work in the US.

In 2019, First Draft opened a Sydney bureau to serve the needs of the APAC region. The bureau is affiliated with the University of Technology Sydney’s Centre for Media Transition. Funding for our Sydney bureau is currently sponsored by the London company.

Our London, New York and Sydney offices share a common purpose and strategy, collaborating on global projects such as the CrossCheck initiative and First Draft’s coronavirus resources hub for reporters.