Enduring clarity and pressing forward with you

Running a nonprofit news organization is both hard and easy in this day and age. 

On the hard side, I’m not exaggerating when I say that the media industry at large is in a transformative period that will ultimately lead to its evolution or extinction. Headlines abound every week about the loss of journalism jobs and entire news companies. 

So yeah, the news business is tough. This is only compounded by the undervalued role trusted information providers play in our society. Our personal relationships, neighborhoods, communities, decision-making entities and systems of government all rely on shared and trusted information to function at a basic level. One does not have to think hard to see how stressed each of these aspects have become under the weight of the many complications of the digital information age. 

So, in this context, how can operating a local news organization be easy? For us, the short answer is our unwavering clarity in three foundational areas that have, again and again, held up as enduring guideposts throughout the Austin Monitor‘s lifespan of more than 10 years: We know who we are, we know why we exist and we believe in our community. 

Since day one, our work has been in-depth, non-opinion reporting that covers the important issues and key decisions at the intersection between the local government and the community. We don’t exist to generate a return for a small group of shareholders – in fact, we don’t even have shareholders. As a nonprofit, we exist to serve you and are led by a mission to inform and engage our readers. 

We are fortunate that, for us, trust is a two-way street that allows us to trust in others to realize and sustain our vision. Our readers are the lifeblood of the Austin Monitor. In the early years, a small but dedicated band of readers turned to us day in and day out for unmatched local coverage and, in turn, supported our organization on a monthly basis. 

In 2021, accessible local news coverage was being decimated at home and across the country, and we radically shifted our model to remove our paywall and open up all our articles and resources to the community free of charge. Our readers answered the call to support our organization and transform the Austin Monitor into an essential resource for the entire community.

Holding true to these principles has allowed us to not only endure, but elevate our service and impact over these past tumultuous years. And, even with this long track record, we can’t sit back and coast. The stakes are too high, the industry is too volatile and the need for trusted local news is too important for us to become complacent and rest on our laurels. 

So, as we press forward to increase our impact and elevate our work, we turned to readers to again guide us on how we can best serve them and the community in the years to come. Our first-ever reader survey – conducted last month – brought in hundreds of responses and thousands of insights for our team.

Initial findings show our readers follow news closely, with 55 percent checking the news multiple times a day. Readers are looking for more explanatory and accountability-based reporting from the Austin Monitor and strive to be generally informed on a broad array of important local issues. Objective and nonpartisan/nonopinionated reporting matters a great deal to you, and you offered ideas on how to build trust and engagement with the broader community.    

You can be certain, this feedback is the backbone of our roadmap forward. But here’s another absolute certainty in our work: Launching new and impactful initiatives takes additional resources. We got the ball rolling last year when we went out and secured three philanthropic grants to help fund our work and expand our reporting team.

And now, we’re inviting you to be a part of this next step forward for the Austin Monitor. Our recent survey revealed that nearly half of our readers had not yet donated to support our work and wanted a clear idea of the impact of their donation.

Message received. By becoming a monthly supporter today, you help give us the certainty to add another full-time reporter and news leader to our team. We need $10,000 in reader contributions to make this dream a reality. We’re pulling out all the stops, and our board and advisory council have put up a matching pledge to help encourage new, first-time supporters. Your monthly donation will basically go twice as far.   

You can donate here today.

We’re so honored you’re with us and that you look to us to help you be informed and build connection where you live. When you become a monthly member, it not only supports the work we do each day, it becomes another powerful connection point. We’re proud to be an aspect of your life in which you take the extra step to support what you care about, find value in and believe is important.  

It’s this part of the work – the service to you and your neighbors – that keeps the Austin Monitor going strong and elevating the impact of our service to the community. It makes all the hard parts worthwhile.