本研究針對近年來美國出現的非營利網路新創調查報導機制進行探討，發現非營利經營模式確已成為報業衰退下，調查報導類新聞業的重要生力軍。不過，從分別代表慈善捐助與群眾資助兩類型調查報導網站－ProPublica與Spot.Us－的個案研究顯示，它們仍都致力開發或實驗新的營收來源，藉以面對難以完全掌握的未來。此外，非營利網路新聞組織將受到不同政策思維的影響，而可能呈現相異的發展面貌。同樣面臨調查報導失落的臺灣新聞業，應可借鑑國外經驗，積極思考非營利經營模式的發展可能性。

The purpose of this study is to examine the mechanisms of investigative reporting newly created by non-profit Internet news enterprises that have emerged in the United States over recent years. The study finds that, following the decline of traditional newspapers, the non-profit business model has indeed become an important force for the investigative reporting genre. However, based on case studies of ProPublica and Spot.Us, which represent two types of investigative reporting Websites—philanthropic support and crowd-funding respectively—the study shows that these non-profit news enterprises are still at the stage of solely devoting their efforts to developing or experimenting with new revenue sources in order to deal with the ever-changing media environment. In addition, non-profit news organizations are at the same time influenced by a variety of policy ideologies. These organizations therefore demonstrate quite different developmental features. Facing a similar situation with the role of investigative reporting being either ignored or reduced, Taiwan's news industry should be able to take advantage of the experiences of other countries to seriously consider the possibilities for developing a non-profit news organizations business model.