Add to the growing collection Investigate West, a "nonprofit news organization" that launched today, is focused on investigative journalism, and is run by two ex-Seattle-Post-Intelligencer staffers: Rita Hibbard and Robert McClure.

How's this venture making ends meet in tough media times?

InvestigateWest has received a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism, in-kind contributions from major firms, including the K&L Gates law firm and Point B Solutions Group in Seattle, and donations from individual donors, and is actively fundraising from individuals and foundations.

The plan is to preserve the kind of investigative journalism that used to exist only at newspapers (a kind of journalism that is expensive to produce, episodic in its content generation, and therefore endangered by the current contraction in the newspaper market), and to "tell the story of the West for the 21st century." They have a number of accomplished journalists on staff, as well as a plan to market their investigative work to print, radio, and TV stations. It's a model that could succeed—and free journalists from the scary world of trying to translate web hits into advertising revenue.

But... wouldn't it have been a good idea to launch a new investigative news site with the release of a big, splashy piece of investigative journalism?

Instead, Investigate West offers two new blogs.

Hibbard's explanation, via e-mail:

We're launching with the two daily blogs, and are in the process of working several stories. The stories will be distributed to media partners (online, print and broadcast), and also showcased on our Web site. First story will be produced late summer or early fall, with schedule of one per month after that.

Okay.

And P.S.: For a potential late-summer blockbuster of an investigation by Investigate West, may we at The Stranger humbly recommend this shady character?