Fair point, they won't be perfect for everyone and they may rightly or wrongly ding organizations that people hold in high esteem (e.g. when they displayed the rank incompetence of the Red Cross a few years ago).
I'd argue that funding ProPublica and then funding an outfit who takes a contrary position on whatever issue is important to you is a better solution though. We need more journalism not less.
That's a useful concept. Sort of like a free speech hedge, or like buying carbon offsets. Could be gamed, though -- start an extreme paper to pump donations to your centrist paper ;)
I'd argue that funding ProPublica and then funding an outfit who takes a contrary position on whatever issue is important to you is a better solution though. We need more journalism not less.