New York Times journalist and former executive director Bill Keller is leaving the company next month, according to the Times. Keller will move to a nonprofit news startup, The Marshall Project, as editor-in-chief, wrote Poynter.

According to its profile on its website, The Marshall Project is a "not-for-profit, non-partisan journalism organization dedicated to covering the US criminal justice system," the report stated.

The news startup was founded by Wall Street Journal reporter and hedge fund manager Neil Barsky. Keller will begin his post at The Marshall Project on March 1. Barsky, on the other hand, will be the startup's publisher. The firm will start publishing by 2014's second quarter, the report detailed.

Keller explained his reason for this move: "It's a chance to build something from scratch, which I've never done before and to use all the tools that digital technology offers journalists in terms of ways to investigate and to present on a subject that really matters personally."

The Marshall Project's website says it will have a yearly budget that runs between $4 million and $5 million. The firm will also employ 20 to 25 full-time reporters. The media firm will be backed by foundations and individual investors, Poynter reported.