Hello everybody!

As we mentioned in our Nov. 14 edition of our Weekly Watch newsletter, our year-end campaign (coordinated with NewsMatch, the nationwide campaign to support nonprofit news organizations) started on Nov. 1 and runs through Dec. 31. Today marks its formal public launch.

NewsMatch will match new monthly donations 12 times or double one-time gifts, up to $1,000. With your support, we can earn up to an additional $15,000 towards our larger goal of $100,000. This is the largest fundraising campaign goal in the organization’s history, and it comes at a critical time.

As mentioned earlier this year during our summer fundraising appeal, it costs us approximately $313 to produce each story on BirminghamWatch. This is an average cost and covers reporting, getting it online, sharing it, and the administrative expenses.

Most times, it’s higher.

That said, the types of news stories and informational pieces people have suggested in recent months indicate that we do need to find more ways to support their production.

Our long-term strategy includes making changes to our website during the first half of next year that enable site sponsorships while exploring additional ways to share our work with you. It also includes securing enough funding by mid-year to hire our first two full-time reporters.

The ability to provide a living and steady wage to those who already dig deeper into the stories they write would help us do more and be more consistent in our efforts. (It would also allow us to keep good talent).

This means more follow-ups on reporting from City Hall and the Water Works, as well as more opportunities to produce pieces focused on education and the environment while expanding our community coverage. We believe the core of the funding necessary to power these changes is you – our readers and supporters.

If you’re a longtime donor to AIIJ and BirminghamWatch, thank you! Your support has been critical to our success, especially as we worked to make sure we reached our tenth anniversary.

If you’re considering joining those who’ve given in the past (and continue to do so), it’s a great time to join us as we work to implement these changes and evolve to meet Birmingham’s news and information needs.

We’d also appreciate it if you could share stories that interest you with others, whether they be in metro Birmingham or watching their community from afar (or encourage them to or follow us on your social media platform of choice: Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Nextdoor, or Threads).

If anyone wants to meet to discuss these and other plans for BirminghamWatch and AIIJ in more detail, please feel free to contact me at andre@birminghamwatch.org.