At The Audiencers festival held in Paris on Tuesday, September 29, [Médianescompany] unveiled Socle Dons, a donation collection and management solution designed for media organizations.
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.
With more than 150 editorial teams supported since 2020, the studio’s team also Médianeshas expertise in these areas related to donations: fundraising, management, marketing automation, API access, and payment processing.
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 and sovereign tools developed by Médianeswith and for the media. These tools can be self-hosted by media organizations or subscribed to directly through , whichMédianes handles the maintenance, security, and updates for these tools.
Learn more: socle.media/dons.
