Invest in independent community news

Over the past five years, The Red & Black has increased its coverage of issues in the community as well as on campus. We reach staff, faculty and students at the University of Georgia, but we also reach residents of Athens, our hometown. We publish year-round on redandblack.com and provide reliable news for the community — with no paywall.

Our goal of $20,000 is ambitious. If we reach this goal, we will fund two important initiatives:

Complete our multimedia studio and fund our new community-health podcast. This goes beyond COVID headlines to cover important topics including mental health and access to care, with a focus on underrepresented communities and frontline health workers.
Expand our Spanish language translation and reporting. Our newsroom made a commitment to cover HIspanic and Latinx residents of Athens as well as members of the UGA community. We now translate a few articles a week. We'd like to expand that coverage and add dedicated reporters to this project.

Double matching for your donation!

Your support can have a greater impact thanks to our participation in NewsMatch. In 2021 The Red & Black was the first student newsroom to be accepted as a full member of the prestigious Institute for Nonprofit News. As a member of INN, we became eligible to participate in NewsMatch, an industry-wide movement to sustain nonprofit journalism like ours through matching gifts on the local and national level. Since 2016 NewsMatch has raised over $150 million toward this goal.

In addition to receiving matching contributions through the national NewsMatch campaign, The Red & Black has been selected to receive additional contributions through a partner fund because of our "dedication to serving residents in Georgia with local news about issues that impact their lives and support civic engagement."

Here's how it works. We will receive double-matching donations for the first $13,000 we raise. Donate $100, and it becomes $300. Donate $500 and it becomes $1,500.

Our goal is to add 128 new supporters — one for each year of The Red & Black's history.

Invest in the future of journalism

Founded in 1893 as a student newspaper at the University of Georgia, The Red & Black has evolved over the past 128 years. Today we publish news online daily at redandblack.com, produce a family of specialty guides, host podcasts, produce videos and reach 50,000 daily newsletter subscribers. And yes, we still publish a newspaper.

In 1980, student leaders and alumni made the vital decision to go independent. This means The Red & Black operates without censorship from UGA. It also means we get no funding from the university. We support ourselves through ad sales, events and donations.

The Red & Black has launched thousands of careers in journalism. Every year more than 250 students participate in our organization, getting hands-on experience in community journalism and newsroom leadership.

By supporting us during NewsMatch you make an immediate impact on our daily news operations. But you're also making an investment in the future of journalism.

Want to learn more?

Learn about some of the key reporting projects and initiatives at The Red & Black, including:

Organization-wide efforts around diversity, equity and inclusion
COVID coverage, including a virtual town hall with community stakeholders
Investigative reporting projects, including a series on challenges reporting sexual assault
Spanish-language translation of articles
Our acceptance as a member of the Institute for Nonprofit News
Our financial disclosures and commitment to transparency

Support our fierce independence

We value our editorial and operational independence, which you underwrite by contributing to this campaign. Donate $100 or more and we'll send you this student-designed T-shirt that you can wear in support of our mission.

NewsMatch 2021

Maximize your support of our independent student newsroom