How can I contribute to From Day One as a writer or journalist?

From Day One, a web site and conference series on business and society, accepts story pitches from freelance journalists. Our editorial focus is on innovative ways for companies to forge stronger relationships with their employees, customers, and community.

You’ve read the headlines about businesses falling short of rising public expectations on diversity, responsibility, and transparency. Our aim is to help companies do better by identifying problems and exploring solutions.

We pay for stories, typically starting at $200 to $300 for a piece of 800 to 1,000 words, but we can negotiate further depending on such factors as the amount of reporting needed.

We want stories that dig into the human elements of how companies can build well-grounded values into their business and carry them out. For example, how do they motivate and listen to their employees? How do they find ways to have a social impact on their community? How do they build a bond of trust with their customers?

We’re looking to cover these issue from a specific perspective: people. Or more specifically, the complex and interesting interactions between businesses and their employees, customers, communities, and society at large. So we’re more interested in business values and ethics rather than green efforts or philanthropy. We’re open to anecdotal pieces or stories about niche efforts, especially if they show uniqueness or innovation, but we’re most excited by things that have the potential to help people make decisions that might influence the world of business and culture on a large scale.

Pitches will be considered, and assignments edited, by a team led by Steve Koepp, former executive editor of Time and Fortune.

Stories could follow several formats: a profile, a trend piece, an examination of a new concept. Please tell us in a few paragraphs why your idea is fresh, how you’ll report the story, and why you think it fits our mission. We’re eager to be surprised about something we didn’t know about. Ideas for series will also be considered.

What we don’t want: fiction, first-person narratives, breaking news, and event coverage.

Please send your pitches to editor@fromdayone.coand we’ll aim to give you a prompt reply.