At The Audiencers festival held in Paris on Tuesday, September 29, Médianes presented Socle Dons, a donation collection and management solution designed for media outlets.
While donations to media organizations—particularly through tax-deduction programs—are steadily increasing, publishers point to various limitations to this growth. These limitations include inadequate tools, high costs, and a limited donor experience.
Having supported more than 150 newsrooms since 2020, the Médianes studio team also has expertise in these areas related to donations: fundraising, management, marketing automation, API access, and payment method management.
Drawing on all this experience, Socle Dons provides publishers with full, independent access to all their donations, automatic transmission of tax receipts, and a comprehensive API that allows them to build the entire donation process using their own tools.
The tool uses a fully European technical infrastructure—including hosting, payment gateway, and security—thereby avoiding the risks associated with the U.S. Cloud Act and external pressures. Tailoring the tool to the needs of media organizations also allows for a substantial reduction in management fees and commissions charged on donations.
Ensuring the technical security of these donations—which, for some media outlets, account for virtually all of their revenue—is of paramount importance.
Socle Dons can be used directly by media outlets that are able to issue their own tax receipts (direct mode) or that are not eligible for tax exemptions. For media outlets that cannot issue their own tax receipts, an endowment fund (soutenir.media) is currently being established and will use Socle Dons to collect and then distribute donations to the media outlets. By the end of 2026, 10 media organizations will be able to start using the tool.
Socle Dons is part of Socle, a suite of open-source, sovereign tools developed by Médianes with and for media outlets. These tools can be self-hosted by media organizations, or subscribed to directly through Médianes, which handles the maintenance, security, and updates of these tools.
Learn more: socle.media/dons.
Written by Médianes
Médianes supports independent media outlets by providing editorial consulting, training, and production services. This section brings together content published by the editorial team.
