David Brewster, who founded the Seattle Weekly in 1976, started  <a href="http://crosscut.com/" target="_blank">Crosscut</a>, whose motto is “News of the Great Nearby,” in April 2007. It  began as a for-profit entity, but closed and reopened with nonprofit  status in December 2008.

Crosscut.com says it is “a daily guide to local and Northwest news,  and a forum where writers and citizens with many points of view can  report and discuss local news.… Crosscut is a general-interest news  site, with coverage ranging over politics, business, arts and lifestyle,  and the world of ideas. It does thoughtful and fresh analysis of the  important issues of the day, not routine breaking news.”

In addition to aggregating links to local news sites, Crosscut  publishes its own stories and has 40 contract writers and freelancers.  It has posted openings for a CEO to work with Brewster and an editor.

In June 2010, the Seattle Foundation was awarded an $185,500 Knight  Foundation Challenge Grant “to expand in-depth and explanatory coverage”  on Crosscut.com.

Brewster said in an e-mail, “I think our model, with six revenue  streams (ads, sponsorships, members, major donors and foundations,  events and syndication) is working, though it is tougher by being  general interest and nonpartisan. My sense is that investigative sites  and initiatives will capture foundation and individual donations, since  that is fading away so completely (except for the dailies).”