Name: A Talk with VPAP’s Founder David Poole on his book Trusted Source
Start: 2025-11-18T17:30:00-05:00
End: 2025-11-18T19:30:00-05:00
Location: The Rotunda

$A Talk with VPAP\u2019s Founder David Poole on his book Trusted Source$

Join the Sorensen Institute and David Poole in UVA’s Dome Room to discuss VPAP’s rise as a bipartisan trusted source. Book signing after.
About this Event

The Sorensen Institute will host David Poole for a conversation and book signing event at the Rotunda in Charlottesville on Tuesday, November 18th. Sorensen Director Larry Roberts will moderate the conversation with David and a segment with audience Q&A.

Join us in the Dome Room at the University of Virginia's iconic Rotunda.

Doors will open at 5:30 and the program will begin at 6:00.

Check back here for how you can order a copy ahead of the event for David to sign. You can read more about the book here:

How the Virginia Public Access Project revolutionized political transparency and won public trust

In 1997, journalist David Poole launched a one-employee nonprofit to shine light on a blind spot in Virginia’s lax campaign finance system. Over the next quarter century, the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP) assumed an increasingly larger role in state politics by addressing two crises in American democracy—the decline of newspapers and the tribalization of politics. VPAP built a sustainable business model that provided paywall-free insights into state politics. Most important, VPAP adhered to a fiercely independent, fact-based approach that won the trust of Republicans and Democrats alike.

Trusted Source, written by VPAP’s founder, tells the unlikely story of how his organization revolutionized political transparency in Virginia. It describes the precarious early days when VPAP was financially dependent upon the same powerful interests it was shining a light on. Reflecting on VPAP’s first twenty-five years, Poole brings a unique perspective to some of the most vexing issues of our time: money in politics, the crisis of American newspapers, the fracturing of information sources, and the precipitous erosion of confidence in our institutions. His account provides a blueprint for plucky nonprofits and offers hope that bipartisan trust is still possible, even in times as troubled as ours.

Book summary from: https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/10103/.