I might be crazy...

I am asking for $40,000; let me explain.

The Raincross Gazette is at a crossroads.

We will celebrate our third anniversary in just six weeks, and much has changed since we launched in 2021. We migrated from email-only delivery to a complete web presence, overhauled our business model, introduced advertisements in our email edition, and earlier this year, I left a business I co-founded to make publishing this newsletter my full-time job. One thing hasn’t changed: The Gazette is still an entirely independent community-driven newsroom.

For most of modern history, the news industry succeeded financially by cultivating geographic monopolies that bundled journalism with advertising. This structure allowed publishers to “both price aggressively and be managed loosely,” Warren Buffet argued in 1991. Buffet continued, “A few years ago the conventional wisdom held that a newspaper... would forever increase its earnings at 6% or so annually and would do so without the employment of additional capital.” The internet changed all that by exponentially increasing the supply of consumable content and, by extension, breaking local publishers' grip on their audiences. Publishers that built large teams to serve their communities, print a daily paper, and deliver it to driveways every morning found themselves with ever-dwindling budgets as advertisers found new options for reaching consumers. The changing landscape led many independent local publishers to consolidate their teams to cut costs. For residents of Riverside, these changes meant ever-decreasing quality local news.

Just last month, The Washington Post published a piece that argued, “You’ve heard local news is dying. In fact, it might just be evolving.” I believe this to be true. The Raincross Gazette is a member of LION Publishers, a network of locally owned independent online newsrooms. Through my involvement in that network, I have seen dozens of local newsrooms achieve financial sustainability in this new information economy – here’s how they do it:

Provide quality coverage of local news and events for free and build a large, engaged audience.
Invite subscribers to support the newsroom financially.
Once you have a large enough audience, sell advertising.

I have been running “rinse and repeat” on this process all year, and the efforts have worked. Throughout 2023:

Our audience has grown just over 400%.
Paid supporters (Members) have increased by 60%.
Commercial ad inventory for next year is already 50% sold out!

What is happening here at The Raincross Gazette is working – there’s just one problem. We’re not yet a financially sustainable business, but we’re so close, and now I am asking for your help.

Earlier this month, The Gazette was awarded a $20,000 grant from LION Publishers; that money is sitting in an account with other money I’ve been saving all year to hire the first new reporter exclusively dedicated to covering Riverside in nearly a decade.

Next year is a big year for Riverside. We will see at least two new members on City Council, City management may need to reduce its budget by $40 million, and our community will continue to do incredible things you deserve to know about. Every week, I receive at least a dozen ideas for stories that should be investigated and reported on that I don’t have the capacity to cover —topics like economic development, homelessness, crime, and corruption. By investing in the Gazette’s vision, here’s what you can expect, here’s what you can expect:

Drastically improved reporting from a trained journalist.
Increased delivery from three days weekly to at least four.
An actual presence on social media – keeping you informed and connected between our email editions.

That is why I’m asking you to help The Raincross Gazette reach a fundraising goal of $40,000, not only to hire a reporter to speed our growth but to improve the quality of our reporting and to provide increased coverage to subjects and stories important to Riversiders.

I always wrestle with how much I should share with you in these emails, and every time I err on the side of increased vulnerability, I get such incredible personal responses. So, I’ll go for it again with this promise: not a penny of this money raised will end up in my pocket. In the three years I’ve been publishing The Gazette, I have taken $0 from it – every dollar earned goes into its content and growth. I am committed to not paying myself until we have our first reporter on staff and The Gazette has the revenue to begin paying me as well – I believe that level of financial sustainability will be a reality in the first few months of 2024.

As I have said, I am asking for your help raising $40,000.

The Gazette has 3,750+ free subscribers; we will hit that goal easily if everyone kicks in just $10. I know not all of you can contribute even $10, and I am committed to keeping The Gazette free forever. Some of you can contribute a lot more than $10, and I am personally asking you to help me build the newsroom Riverside deserves. Here’s how you can help:

If you’re not yet a paid member, consider becoming one for as little as $5 monthly.
Please give to our year-end giving campaign.

If you are unable to contribute financially, would you please text or email 5 neighbors and encourage them to subscribe to The Gazette for free at raincrossgazette.com?

If you have any questions, I will be at Condron Coffee on Sunnyside Dr. from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. every Monday until Christmas and would love to meet you face to face.

Thank you for everything,

Justin Pardee

Hire Our First Reporter

By The Raincross Gazette

Hire Our First Reporter

2023 Year-End Campaign