Texas Watchdog is grateful for the support of The Sam Adams Alliance, which funded Texas Watchdog's start-up phase. This Chicago-based group has taken on government transparency as a major focus, launching projects such as ballotpedia.org, judgepedia.org and sunshinereview.org. (These projects are now sponsored by the Lucy Burns Institute in Wisconsin.)

This focus on transparency fits perfectly into the mission of Texas Watchdog, which seeks open government at all levels and wishes to arm citizen-journalists with journalistic tools to keep City Hall honest.

Texas Watchdog also gets support via its reporter/blogger/citizen-journalist training program. We teach journalism skills: crafting a public records request, effective interviewing, using and presenting multimedia, and other skills. Clients include the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, Civitas and Missouri News Horizon.

If you're interested in hiring Texas Watchdog to conduct a training for your organization, call Deputy Editor Lee Ann O'Neal at 713-980-9777 or e-mail leeann@texaswatchdog.org. Note: This is a service we provide free in Texas.

In addition, Texas Watchdog seeks revenue through partnerships with other media oranizations. A recent collaboration includes one with the Center for Public Integrity on a series about sexual assault on college campuses.

In addition, we are grateful for many individual donors who have contributed to Texas Watchdog, as well as to foundations and groups such as the Philip L. Graham Fund, Investigative Reporters & Editors and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund who have provided Texas Watchdog staffers with scholarships and travel related to professional development and networking.

Texas Watchdog is a 501(c)(3) exempt organization, and donations to Texas Watchdog are tax-exempt.