NewsMatch Challenge Tops $30,000 in Sudden Outpouring of Support
There is something about a nonprofit fundraising challenge that tends to make many donors wait until the last minute. It leads to nail-biting on our part, wondering if we can reach the Institute for Nonprofit News challenge threshold to qualify for the $20,000 NewsMatch grant.
We reached the grant goal of $20,000 on the morning of December 31. But as we learned by yesterday, our community’s outpouring of support for our independent, nonprofit reporting, has given wings to our mission to give truth a voice.
With gratitude to this community, and to our thousands of readers, Ark Valley Voice (AVV) can not only report that we made the NewsMatch challenge, but thanks to a last-minute flurry of tax-deductible gifts, we far exceeded the goal!
Many of those donations were from people who have never donated before, as well as from readers who have given multiple times this year. Donations were large and small. So many came with messages of encouragement.
Donations to AVV’s NewsMatch as of yesterday morning totaled $30,030. Not all of it will count toward the NewsMatch Challenge, but every penny is needed and will be used to support our award-winning journalists and our local, nonprofit newsroom.
This year, we cover the critical midterm elections (including locally) and threats to American democracy. AVV has investigative reporting to do, on topics from extremism to environmental and climate impacts. As Coloradans, we face growing social divides, and the Arkansas River Valley itself has to deal with how to handle growth, without losing what makes this place so special. We all face the economic headwinds impacting the affordability of American life together.
We’ll be doing a longer article about the statistics of this NewsMatch Challenge campaign, but for the time being — “Dear AVV Readers, your support means the world to us. Thank you!”