The New York Times is partnering with Knight grantees recognized as innovators in developing new economic models for journalism.

In Sunday’s Public Editor Column, Clark Hoyt said The Times is working with Spot.Us to pay for Lindsey Hoshaw’s proposed report on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

The NYT mention has gotten Lindsey, Spot.Us, and crowdfunded journalism attention from all over the web, including the Huffington Post, Poynter Online’s NewsPay blog, and Econsultancy’s blog. The percentage of visitors to the site who became donors increased to 10 percent from 1 percent. New contributors to the Garbage Patch pitch include Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, Craig Newmark of Craigslist, and Knight Foundation President and CEO Alberto Ibarügen.

Hoyt also said The Times works with ProPublica on some investigative stories, and that editors and executives at the paper were in discussions about seeking out foundations to underwrite news sections or categories like the Science Times.

For more on new economic models, check out the City University of New York’s New Business Models for News Project.