Today, Giving Newsday, is the start of the 2024 #newsCOneeds Year-End Giving Campaign! By the end of December, 35 community newsrooms are engaged in a campaign to increase public awareness and grassroots support from individuals for the vital public service that journalism provides to our communities. They collectively aim to raise at least one million dollars to support local news - and they need your help!
These 35 newsrooms have been awarded $5,000 grants from Colorado Media Project aimed at inspiring community contributors to support long-term sustainability of public-service journalism. This means your donations will be doubled in a dollar-for-dollar match through the end of the year!
Want to shout out your favorite story or newsroom? Newsrooms, advocates and members of the public are encouraged to use a common hashtag (#newsCOneeds) to spotlight some of the amazing journalism produced by local newsrooms in 2024, and to encourage others to give generously.
Why Colorado's Local News Needs YOUR Support:
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Research shows that people need relevant, trustworthy, independent local news to stay safe and healthy, to be engaged in their communities, to hold the government accountable, and to create change on issues they care about. In communities without a reliable source of local news, fewer people vote or run for office, political polarization increases, elected officials are less accountable, and the local economy can suffer.
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Twenty years ago, local advertising sustained local news. Today, big tech companies gobble up to 85% of local digital ad revenue. Nearly one in five Colorado newspapers has closed since 2004 - and more are on the brink. The number of professional reporters covering critical information needs of Coloradans across all media formats declined by nearly 44% between 2010 and 2018 — from 1,010 to just 570 reporters statewide - while Colorado's population grew by over 600,000 people.
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Individuals like you can turn the tide. By subscribing, donating, or becoming a member of your favorite local newsroom/s, you are ensuring that important issues like education, the environment, health, housing, and economic opportunity are covered in ways that matter to your community.
Personal health and safety. Civic participation. Government accountability. It’s all at stake — please support local news today.
Since 2018, the #newsCOneeds Year-End Giving Challenge has helped local Colorado news outlets increase public awareness and grassroots support from individuals for the vital public service that journalism provides to our communities, and has helped over 50 newsrooms raise over $2.8 million dollars from over 28,000 donors. This year, Colorado Media Project has partnered with the Colorado Gives Foundation to connect local newsrooms with Colorado’s largest year-round nonprofit giving platform - ColoradoGives.org.
While applications for the matching grants have closed, any local Colorado newsroom can join the campaign, and run their own year-end fundraiser on the ColoradoGives.org platform. CMP has created a free campaign toolkit, which includes customizable graphics and collatoral, email and social messaging templates, a campaign roadmap, and ColoradoGives.org enrollment instructions.
Colorado Media Project supports the #newsCOneeds campaign with matching grants and capacity building via the LMA Colorado News Philanthropy Lab, and partners including the Colorado News Collaborative and TinyNews Collective have provided fiscal sponsorships to support locally-owned for-profit newsrooms in joining the campaign. The campaign is modeled after the national NewsMatch campaign that has helped nonprofit newsrooms across the country raise more than $277 million since 2017.
Colorado’s #newsCOneeds matching challenge is unique in the nation, in that any locally owned, locally operated Colorado news organization that is regularly publishing nonpartisan local news may apply — regardless of business model or distribution method. While newsrooms are encouraged to direct their readers or listeners to their own contribution pages, CMP’s campaign landing page provides a unifying message and local newsroom search - visit today to learn more about the campaign, and donate to your local newsroom!
Supporters and Partners
This year’s #newsCOneeds grant is a collaborative effort supported by Colorado Media Project and the Colorado Gives Foundation. Many thanks to our talented partners, trainers, and advisors for their support of Colorado’s newsrooms - and any more thanks to the newsrooms of Colorado, for their feedback that continues to inform the evolution of #newsCOneeds!
CMP’s 2024 #newsCOneeds Year-End Giving Challenge and Matching Grant is made possible through unrestricted support to CMP from Bohemian Foundation, Democracy Fund, Colorado Health Foundation, and Gates Family Foundation. CMP’s fiscal sponsor, Rose Community Foundation, provides oversight and administration for the funds. If you have any questions about the 2024 #newsCOneeds campaign, or would like to contribute to future campaigns, please contact Sam Moody, CMP Associate Director, at sam@coloradomediaproject.com.