WisconsinEye shut down its website on Monday due to a lack of funding. Emilie Amundson, secretary of the Department of Children and Families at the time, testifies during a hearing in the state Capitol in October 2023 as a WisEye microphone and camera record the session.(Screenshot/WisEye)

WisconsinEye, the independent, nonprofit service that provides video coverage of legislative hearings, floor sessions and Wisconsin state government business similar to C-Span, shut down its website on Monday due to a lack of funding. 

The organization, which launched in 2007, first warned in November it was at risk of halting live coverage as well as pulling its video archive of more than 30,000 hours of state government proceedings, candidate interviews and other programming offline. 

“Due to extreme competition and a complete collapse in private funding — marked by donor fatigue, competing nonprofit campaigns, record-breaking political fundraising and economic uncertainty — WisconsinEye’s website is unavailable,” a message on the WisEye website states. “Without consistent annual funding…. citizens, legislators, legislative staff, the governor’s administration, agency leadership and staff, trade associations, attorneys and the courts, local government officials, journalists and all print, cable, television and radio news outlets, businesses, nonprofit organizations — all lose the only reliable and proven source of unfiltered State Capitol news and state government proceedings.”

Jon Henkes, the president of WisconsinEye, told the Examiner last month that, similar to other nonprofits, the organization has faced a tough fundraising environment since the COVID-19 pandemic. He said then that the organization has made “well qualified, well cultivated” donation requests totaling more than $9 million with none of those requests leading to donations.

Henkes said that the organization was still making donor inquiries and that raising at least $250,000 could get the organization through the first quarter of 2026. 

WisconsinEye has also turned its attention to the state Legislature for help, sending a letter to lawmakers in November asking them to make state funds available for its operational costs. 

The Wisconsin Legislature and Gov. Tony Evers set aside $10 million in matching funds in the 2023-25 state budget to help WisconsinEye build a permanent endowment. After the organization failed to raise sufficient funds to access that money, the current state budget changed provisions so that $250,000 of the $10 million was available with no match, which helped cover expenses through Dec. 15. The rest of the funding was made to be available on a dollar-by-dollar match basis, meaning as WisconsinEye raises its own funds it would be able to get an equivalent amount of state funds. The opportunity for the organization to access the funds expires in June 2026.

The organization is asking for the state to modify the match requirement and make funds available.

“We’re simply asking for release of those funds, or part of those funds, in a way different from the endowment,” Henkes told the Examiner in November. “The best case scenario would be if the Legislature would release a minimum of one year, so $1 million, essentially to carry us forward, and we can focus 100% over the next several months through June, to really hammer down and see if we can’t raise some endowment dollars. We think that’s a very viable option, and we’re hopeful.”