When Michael First approached me about his idea for @trustfnd.com, I immediately saw the potential. This is the platform we've all been looking for to collaborate with other independent journalists.
Thank you for this shoutout!
You should meet more of the amazing journalists already collaborating on @trustfnd.com, so let me introduce you.
Starting with one of my favorite people: @katelynburns.com
On journalism bundles...
The question I got most often since launching @trustfnd.com two weeks ago: You make it easy to bundle newsletters, but what about paid subscriptions?
It's what we're currently building. We've set ourselves a few guardrails and I'm curious to hear what you think.
Independent journalists have shaken up the media industry.
Now, imagine what they could achieve if they bundled their power.
We're live! @trustfnd.com is now in public beta.
Newsletter bundles for independent journalists!
Help us spread the word by giving this a repost, a like, or a comment 💙
To all independent journalists: Stay independent, unite in growth.
Combine separate newsletters on single sign-up pages. Grow separately, together.
We're a week out from public beta launch.Grab your username to get early access at trustfnd.com
Next week, we'll launch our public beta. But you can already reserve a username at trustfnd.com
And there's more friendly nudging on your behalf: When you organize a growth collaboration, we’ll help you onboard your collaborators faster. Now, they're getting smarter, clearer, and more effective notifications when you send an invitation.
Also included: Easier creation. Organizing a collaboration is now more than twice as quickly done. With your newsletter connected, you can now create a growth collaboration in just 2 steps instead of 5.
Introducing analytics: You can see the number of new sign-ups to your newsletter and how many were driven by you and your collaborators, respectively.
Independent journalists need a boost, and with Trustfund you can get one (and give one).
Today, we're launching an all new experience to create, manage, and track newsletter growth collaborations.
With this release, we're introducing Analytics.
Trustfund card, with a red logo and the copy: "Multiply your growth. Fund your independence."
Tomorrow, we'll launch an all new experience to make collaborative growth a breeze for independent journalists.
Next week, we'll launch the public beta.
Join us in breaking the isolation hostile platforms have created. Reserve your username: trustfnd.com
Storytime: @trustfnd.com started because of trans journalists.
When unprecedented attacks on trans people escalated last year, I felt like I saw into the future of community-driven journalism—but also saw one big problem: fragmentation.
I wanted to build something to fix that.
Here's what you can do now: Think of 2-3 journalists that complement you well. Send them trustfnd.com to show them how it works. When your invitations arrive, you'll be ready to go.
(Also, if you're read until here: RT this thread to help us spread the word.)
In our private beta, a small group of amazing journalists tested Trustfund and saw their newsletters grow faster than they have in years.
Trustfund powers collaborative growth for independent journalists. Combine separate newsletters on a single sign-up page. Get a link to promote it on all your channels. Now, whenever one of you turns a follower into an email subscriber, all of you win.
Trustfund website teaser in two-panel layout. Left panel features the Trustfund logo in red, main headline 'Collaborative growth for independent journalists' in bold black text, followed by 'Combine separate newsletters on a single sign-up page. Multiply your growth.' Below is a 'Reserve your username' button and three circular profile photos of three journalists with icons for Beehiiv, Mailchimpg, and Ghost with a combined 'Subscribe' button underneath. Right panel displays three stacked lines of text: 'Break the isolation. Multiply your growth. Fund your independence.'
If you reserved your Trustfund username, the wait is almost over. In about two weeks, you’ll receive an invitation to join Trustfund and multiply your newsletter growth. If you don’t have a username reserved, there’s still time.
We're on a mission to power collaborative growth for trustworthy creators.
Join us, we're getting ready to expand our private beta in a few weeks. Reserve your collaboration handle here: trustfnd.com
Mobile screenshot of a Trustfund creator profile for @carmen.davis, showing a collaboration-focused link-in-bio interface. The main section shows a newsletter signup card for three publications: Newsbeat (by carmen.davis), The Culture Yap (by jean.wood), and Politics Broadly (by blake.smith), with checkboxes and an email subscription field. At the bottom, enlarged for emphasis and highlighted with a dark red border, is the Trust Promises feature displaying a burgundy badge icon with a checkmark, alongside the text "Trust Promises" and "Read my ethics statement" with an external link arrow.
In crowded spaces like Tiktok, Youtube, and social networks, standards are a powerful differentiator.
This is why we built Trust Promises—a feature that lets you highlight your editorial standards right where audiences consider supporting you.
Indie journalists have made trustworthy information flourish in more spaces than ever.
In 2026, we'll keep building the collaboration layer so they're united unrestricted by the tools and platforms they use.
A card showing a signup form for three newsletters. "A collaborative widget to spin up newsletter bundles. Whenever opportunity arises, bundle with any other journalist that also has an email list connected."
A card showing to landing pages, one centering a single creator and another centering a bundle page. "Add widgets to landing pages to promote your bundle anywhere. Get simple links to share in show notes, group chats, and social media posts. Now, your viewers, readers, and listeners can sign up to all of you in one go."
A card showing confetti: "When one of you wins, all of you win. In our first experiments, 97% of users signed up to the whole bundle, multiplying each conversion."
In 2026, break the isolation.
Growing your newsletter is faster and easier if you don't have to do it alone.
We're getting ready to expand our beta. Reserve your collaboration handle at trustfnd.com
We are joining other newsrooms in the Climate News Task Force to provide a single hub for signing up for all our newsletters.
It’s a simple way to access climate coverage — and to support reporting that keeps powerful industries accountable.
trustfnd.com/collaboratio...
A product feature slide showing a mobile profile screen for @carmen.davis on the left, displaying their collaboration details and a newsletter signup section with three newsletter options (Newsbeat, The Good News, and Broadly Speaking). The right side shows a heading and explanatory text about bundling and growth, with the Trustfund logo in red at the bottom right. The text says: "Bundle up. Grow faster, together. Converting followers into subscribers is hard. With Trustfund, when one of you succeeds, you all win. Works with all newsletter platforms."
A product feature slide showing two link preview card examples on the left - one for a solo creator with an image at the center, and another for "Follow experts on global queer rights" with 5 collaborators. The right side displays a heading "Link previews" with explanatory text and the Trustfund logo in red at the bottom right. "The text says: Link previews. Look great in posts, no matter whether you share a link to your own Trustfund page or a Collaboration page."
A product feature slide showing three mobile phone screens on the left displaying different Collaborations: "The news about the news" with three collaborators, "Support local news for New York" with multiple collaborators, and "Feminist pop culture criticism" with several collaborators. The right side shows a heading "Links for each Collaboration" with explanatory text and the Trustfund logo in red at the bottom right. The text says: "Links for each Collaboration. Create separate links for each Collaboration to share in show notes, group chats, and paid campaigns."
A product feature slide showing a success screen on the left with confetti animation, a checkmark, and a "Copy & Share" button. The right side displays a heading "Share prompts" with explanatory text and the Trustfund logo in red at the bottom right. The text says: ""You're subscribed. Share the word? Post this link on your feeds and in group chats. Copy & Share"
Design review time. What do you think of these design details?
Just about to ship this for @trustfnd.com beta users
A pull quote from a Substack post: "A creator becomes a founder, then a network, then an institution"
Amazing post by Substack's departing COO.
Without necessarily aiming to, she's describing what is happening in journalism. Creators become founders, become networks, become institutions.
At @trustfnd.com we're building the network piece for trustworthy creators.
fiona.substack.com/p/the-new-fo...
A card showing the Trustfund logo and a tagline: "Collaboration tools for the world's trustworthy creators. Earn more and grow faster, together." Below: "Works anywhere journalism is consumed with the logos of Bluesky, Patreon, Youtube, Tiktok, Threads, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Substack"
A Trustfund profile showing a creator image at the top surrounded by other creators. The profile tag says "@carmen.davis, Author of 'Newsbeat' and Podcaster" Below there's a widget to donate money to the Carmen Davis with a note "10% got to my 11 collaborators"
The same profile, this time with a newsletter sign up and fewer collaborators. Users can tap on a checkbox to select newsletters they'd like to sign up to"
Trust in news is at an all time low. But it's too hard to support creators we *do* trust.
@trustfnd.com makes it easy for trustworthy creators to enter into Collaborations so audiences can support multiple creators in one go.
If you post to inform, not to sell, claim your username: trustfnd.com
We’re tiny, just at the start, and we want to build with you. So if anything of this sounds interesting to you, reserve your username and answer some questions or reach out to @jarjour.bsky.social directly.
We envision a world where trusted sources use their collective power to help each other grow and keep more money in the ecosystem of trustworthy sources.
Work with others for a one-off collab to promote each other, a forever collective that shares expenses, or anything in between.
You’re always in control. You choose who to work with. You choose when to leave.
Trustfund makes it easy to grow each other’s email lists, run pledge drives together, and sell subscriptions in a bundle. Across platforms, across formats, wherever journalism is published.
Pick a goal, set the terms, invite others. Get a beautiful page to promote it.
What if independent journalists could support each other to earn more and grow faster?
Introducing Trustfund, collaboration tools for the world's trustworthy creators. If you post to inform, not to sell, Trustfund is made for you.
We’re in private beta now. Reserve your username at trustfnd.com
