Governance

Board of directors

Current status: Board formation in progress. No directors have been formally appointed.

Target board composition (subject to revision before formation):

• Independent chair — Public-interest or civic-tech background; no financial interest in VigilData operations.
• Legal / compliance director — Nonprofit governance, election law, or media law experience.
• Editorial / research director — Investigative journalism, public-policy research, or academic research background.
• Technology / data director — Civic-tech, open-data, or responsible-AI experience.
• Community / equitable-access director — Background serving under-resourced newsrooms, community organizations, or civic education.

Names, affiliations, and disclosed conflicts will be published here as appointments are finalized. We will not list names of people who have not been formally appointed and have not signed conflict-of-interest disclosures.

Advisory board

VigilData is in the process of forming an advisory board with practitioners from investigative journalism, civic tech, academic research, and community organizations. Advisor names will be published here only once formally onboarded.

Fiscal sponsor oversight

No fiscal sponsor is currently configured. Fiscal-sponsor oversight is therefore not in effect at this time. Should VigilData engage a fiscal sponsor, oversight terms will be disclosed here, including who has authority over restricted funds and reporting obligations.

Conflict-of-interest policy (summary)

Directors, advisors, and staff disclose material financial interests, outside employment, and political activity. They recuse from decisions in which they have a personal or financial interest and from coverage decisions touching their disclosed relationships. The full conflict-of-interest policy will be published once adopted by the formed board.

Whistleblower protection

Internal reports of fraud, harm, or significant ethical concerns may be made confidentially to governance@vigildata.org. Retaliation against reporters acting in good faith is prohibited. A finalized whistleblower policy will be linked here once adopted.

Document retention

Organizational records — including bylaws, financial statements, minutes, methodology change logs, and correction logs — are retained per the retention schedule in our forthcoming governance documents.

Compensation review

Compensation, where present, is reviewed against comparable nonprofit roles and disclosed in line with the level required of our organizational form. While VigilData remains pre-conversion, no compensation outside of pass-through engineering and infrastructure costs is paid.

Donor independence

VigilData declines donations that come with conditions on coverage, priorities, or conclusions. VigilData's policy is to not rely on any single funder for more than one-third of its operating budget where feasible. Significant donors will be disclosed in line with the donor disclosure threshold in our financial transparency policy.

Governance contact

For governance, compliance, or whistleblower matters, contact governance@vigildata.org.