Beyond the Paywall: How one newsroom raised $36,000 in 36 hours

We are so excited to meet some of y’all in Austin next week!

Organizing the Independent News Sustainability Summit alongside LION Publishers and RevLab at The Texas Tribune was a labor of love for each of our staffs, and it’s gratifying to receive so much community support.

If you haven’t already signed up for the conference, hurry! There are less than 15 tickets left. 

Here are a few panels you can look forward to featuring Hub newsrooms and staff:

My first five hires: How growing news organizations expand their team featuring Lila Mills of Signal Cleveland, Chris Cobler of the Fort Worth Report, and Mazin Sidahmed of Documented.

Growing advertising/sponsorships revenue: Leveling up your earned revenue strategy featuring David Yoder of the Richland Source, Sally Waterman of Sahan Journal, and Sky Barsch of Chalkbeat and Votebeat.

Remote & distributed work: Effective workflows and structures for distributed teams featuring Joanna Zuckerman Bernstein of Spotlight PA, Paul Cheung of The Center for Public Integrity, and Rachel Glickhouse of News Revenue Hub.

And now onto our latest case study!

Stacy Fernández
Marketing & Communications Manager

Each year, as the Connecticut legislative session comes to a close, The Connecticut Mirror kicks off one of its biggest annual fundraisers: The Gavel Give.

The Gavel Give is a two-day, or roughly 36-hour-long, fundraising event that coincides with the end of the state’s legislative session. During even-numbered years, the state legislature is in session from February to May. On odd-numbered years, when the state budget is completed, the session lasts from January to June.

Although the timing of The Gavel Give changes slightly each year, the concept stays the same. The CT Mirror, with a 20-person staff dedicated to reporting on public policy, government and politics, uses the opportunity to remind readers about the value of their work and asks them to support future reporting.

The nonprofit newsroom first introduced the Gavel Give in 2021. Their goal was to raise $30,000; by the end of the campaign, they’d raised $32,339. This year, CT Mirror increased their goal to $36,000. By the end of their fundraiser, they’d amassed $39,186 in donations.

Read the full case study

Our job board is sponsored by The Diversity Pledge Institute, which helps newsrooms achieve outstanding results in diversity, inclusion and retention. Need help finding the right candidates? Contact DPI today.

Job listings accompanied by the 💸 emoji offer salary transparency — a necessary step towards salary equity.

• Wisconsin Watch is hiring an Audience Director. [Ideally Wisconsin, remote possible] 💸

• The Hechinger Report is hiring an Audience Engagement Editor. [NYC or Remote] 💸

• CT Mirror is hiring an Enterprise Editor and an Education Reporter. [Hartford, CT] 💸

• CalMatters is hiring a California Divide Reporter, Fresno and Senior Investigative Reporter. [California] 💸