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$22,000 raised of $50,000 goal
Folks,
In a little less than a month, Payday has raised $10,000 to help cover unions in the Rust Belt, particularly here in the battleground of Western PA, where we are based.
Big news, Payday has received a $10,000 matching donation from Illumine Service Foundation to help with our election coverage of unions in the Rust Belt. As a result of the matching commitment, we are able to hire a videographer full time to help us cover the election.
In addition, Illumine Service Foundation has now pledged that they will match another $10,000 if we can raise $10,000 before the election. This is a huge opportunity for Payday to expand our capability to produce coverage during this election.
We know that union activists are texting and forwarding our stories widely among fellow activists, neighbors, and family. At a time when people are losing faith in social media companies and logging off of them, our readers are forwarding or texting our articles to people who trust them, and that interpersonal trust matters in an age of disinformation.
In addition to our phenomenal forward rate, we have already begun to impact national conversations significantly. NPR's This American Life has asked me to serve as an editorial consultant for their coverage of unions in the 2024 election.
The biggest problem is that Payday needs more staff to keep up with everything happening here. There is a lot to cover, but we need to hire full-time staff to help us for the next 50 days.
Now, Payday wants to expand its local and national audience to tell the stories of workers fighting back in the Rust Belt that no one else is telling.
Adding staff will allow us to produce more and also raise more money, hopefully making a big enough splash to attract more investment from foundations and big donors.
As a publication, we have often forced the mainstream media to cover the labor movement in ways that it previously hadn't.
The Washington Post credited us in a front-page story for being the first labor media outlet to track the pandemic-era strike wave. Esquire called us "invaluable," The New York Times called us a publication with "new energy," and filmmaker Boots Riley has repeatedly cited us as one of his inspirations.
Our work with CNN on Western Pennsylvania was already nominated for an Emmy.
Now, we hope to have a huge impact in Western Pennsylvania because something big is happening that will impact the whole country, and we need your help to cover it.
Help us raise another $10,000 to help us cover unions fighting back in the Rust Belt particularly here in my native Western PA.
Melk
