Help Launch The 51st
D.C.'s new worker-led nonprofit newsroom
Campaign Ended
Organized by The 51st
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Campaign Ended
Campaign Update
7 months ago
Thanks to you and some 3,000+ other local news supporters, we’ve reached our fundraising goal of $250,000!!! We can really launch a worker-led outlet in D.C.! And it’s all because of your support, encouragement, and trust.
Over the course of our month-long campaign, 3,429 people donated an average amount of $64. (We agree, $51 would’ve been more poetic, but we’re not complaining!) A generous donation of $50,000 took us over the finish line to reach our goal. And although we’re journalists (wordsmiths by trade, you’d think!) we truly don’t have the words to describe how grateful we are.
Now it’s time for us to get to work. Raising the necessary $250,000 means we can sustain our operations for several months, with all of us, plus an additional core team member, working part-time. Our goal is to start publishing early this fall – stay tuned!
We’re working on getting our membership program set up, but in the meantime, we’ll leave our donation page up and active if you’d like to share it with anyone who hasn’t been able to donate and wants to.
And again, thank you, thank you, thank you. Every dollar, share, repost, and conversation made the 51st possible. And we’re so excited to build this with you!
With hearts full of gratitude,
- The 51st team
Anonymous 🎉
7 months ago
Campaign Update
8 months ago
Thank you for being a part of The 51st’s journey so far. Your early support has been invaluable, and together, we've already raised over $200,000 (!!!) for worker-led local journalism in D.C.!
But with just over 24 hours left, we’re still $47,000 away from our goal. This is our final push, and we need your help spreading the word to get there.
Why does this matter?
- More Local News, Powered by Us: If we reach our goal, we can launch The 51st, a worker-led newsroom that will bring you in-depth, reliable coverage of the stories that matter most.
- A Stronger, Representative Voice: Your support ensures that the content we produce is driven by the needs and voices of our community, not outside interests.
- Be Part of a Movement: This isn’t just about funding a newsroom; it’s about building a new model for local journalism—one that is worker-led and community-focused. By sharing our campaign, you’re helping to create a sustainable platform that will serve our community with integrity and accountability well into the future.
How you can make a difference:
- Spread the Word: Share our crowdfunding campaign with your networks. Every post, email, and conversation helps us reach more people.
- Encourage Others to Give: Let your friends, family, and colleagues know why you’ve supported The 51st and why they should too. A personal recommendation goes a long way.
- Get Creative: If you have unique ideas for spreading the word, we’d love to hear them (or see you doing them!)! You can tag us on Instagram or Twitter @51stnews. Every little bit helps!
Here’s the link to share: https://givebutter.com/The51st
We’re so close to making The 51st a reality. With your help in this final push, we can bring a new era of local news to our community.
Thank you for being a champion of local journalism!
-The 51st Team
Campaign Update
8 months ago
Somehow it’s been two weeks (!!!) since we launched our fundraiser! And thanks to your support, we’re at the halfway point, feeling more inspired and confident than ever.
In the past 14 days, we:
🤑 Raised $181,454 dollars from 2,897 community members
👋 Popped up at markets and community events in Congress Heights, Dupont, Petworth, Eastern Market, and Eckington.
🗣️ Told our story to many a local news outlet (including our alma mater) — and also, pretty much anyone else who will listen.
We are so deeply appreciative of the thoughtfulness, excitement, and insight of our community members. Your feedback and willingness to engage in conversations about improving our city’s local news has shown us just how critical this project is — and we’re committed to making this worker-led outlet a reality.
During our five community events, similar themes emerged from our conversations: residents want local news that not only holds local leaders accountable and solves the city’s problems (a certain mayor’s name came up quite frequently), but also news that makes living here easier. Whether that means demystifying city services or highlighting the vibrancy of our neighbors, D.C. residents told us they want information that is useful, informative, and rooted in D.C. pride.
Behind the scenes, we’ve been working hard to make sure that’s what we can do. That requires some pretty boring planning stuff (who knew starting a newsroom involved this much paperwork!) but also some pretty exciting stuff, too — like sketching out ideas for more listening sessions and figuring out how to use the money we raise to grow our team.
That brings us to our pitch: We’re trying to hit the $200,000 mark by the end of the week.
Given where we are now, we need to raise about $18,600 by Friday, and we believe we can get there with your help and enthusiasm.
Please share this link (the fundraiser) with five people: your coworker who read DCist’s overheads obsessively, your new neighbor who doesn’t know what an ANC is, your friend that’s always looking for cool events around the city. The more people supporting local journalism (and aware of their civic power), the merrier.
Stay tuned for more opportunities to meet us in person over the next two weeks. And if you have donated, come out to chat with us in person, or even just given us a trusted follow — thank you. We know we can build this thing, and we’re thrilled to be doing it with you.
-The 51st team
