These are the people paying for the reporting. Every one of them asked to be listed — nobody appears here because they paid, only because they said they wanted their name on it.
It does not mean any of these people saw a story before you did. It does not mean any of them has ever been able to stop one running, or start one. Patrons fund investigations; they are told which one their money went to, and that is the whole of the arrangement.
If a supporter ever becomes the subject of a story, we will report it and say on the page that they support us. That is the only way this works.