CalMatters, a nonprofit news organization covering California state politics and policies, launched in 2015. Founders cited the decline in coverage of state politics in the decade leading up to the founding of CalMatters as a major motivation.
As of 2017, it was becoming one of the largest nonprofit newsrooms in the country raising 90 percent of its funding from individuals with only some foundation support. It has also credited its partnership with the LA Times and Capitol Public Radio, among others, as helping to grow the organization quickly.
Upon Donald Trump taking office, the website launched a project called "Trump v. California" which highlighted the criticisms made by the president against the heavily Democratic state.
CalMatters launched a rebranded website in 2019.
In November 2023, Andrew Donohue was named investigative editor and has been hiring to grow the size of his investigative team to five reporters from three in 2023.
In 2024, nonprofit news outlet The Markup merged newsrooms with CalMatters, citing complementary funders and expertise, with The Markup having a more technical and narrower focus on national and global technology policy.
