Hey, a quick follow-up to Faith's email from the other day:
All the work you see from Daily Kos—news stories, electoral analysis, petitions, calls to Congress, rallies, etc.—and also everything you don't see, like tech and HR, is done by our small staff of fewer than 80 people. Better yet, we do it without big corporate sponsorship or billionaire backers.
[Daily Kos is the country's leading progressive, independent news and activism site. More than a third of our revenue comes from readers like you chipping in to keep us up and running. Right now, we're $45,372 away from our annual goal. Can you chip in $5 to help us close the books on 2019?](
Thank you,
Michael Langenmayr, Daily Kos
My colleague Faith Gardner's email from late last week can be seen below
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Friend, as the year—and decade!—comes to a close, we are reflecting on the stories Daily Kos staff and community produced and the impact our readers made on the political process. Our slogan is news you can do something about, and it perfectly summarizes what makes Daily Kos so different from any other news source out there.
While studies show that nearly half of American social media users are [worn out by political posts](, and many folks complain of a very real fatigue brought on by three years of fighting the Trump administration, we at Daily Kos aim to produce news that both informs and empowers our readers to continue to be an active part of the political process. This means working to elect more and better Democrats through endorsements, and fundraising and raising profiles of extraordinary leaders through our coverage. This means writing stories with action components like letter-writing campaigns to elected officials and highlighting frontline groups closest to the fight around the issues we cover. This also means providing our readers with a platform to tell their own stories to an audience of millions.
[There was a lot of news to cover in 2019 and I am sure there will be even more in 2020. But first we need to hit our 2019 budget goal. We still need to raise $88,494 by the end of the year! Please help us out by giving $5.](
This year, our staff hammered away at the endless scandals of the Trump administration and the resulting impeachment with daily news, live coverage, and roundups. In a historic first for our company, Daily Kos was even [cited during impeachment hearings](—we definitely didn’t see that one coming! Meanwhile, our staff also cranked out presidential primary news as Democrats unveiled the largest and most diverse group of candidates in recent memory with live coverage of debates, regular polls, and regular analysis of the current playing field. We produced [Making Progress](, a [video interview series]( with inspiring candidates and activists. And our small-but-mighty news teams tackled this enormous news year without sacrificing our unrelenting coverage of immigration issues and social justice stories.
With everything that went on in 2019, you might be surprised to find out that the most engaging story on our site this year was written back in January called [‘Trump’s call-in to Fox News backfires, and he may have committed a felony in the process’](, a story that serves, perhaps, as a reminder for how countless the wrongdoings of Trump and his administration have been and how constant the corruption. While that story was written by a staff member, our second most engaging story was written by a community member, titled [‘My dad’s a Fox News watching Texan. What he said about Pete Buttigeig stunned me’](. This story showcases the power of the community at Daily Kos—the ability to influence the political process through personal narratives.
We are lucky at Daily Kos to have not just a staff of over a dozen writers, but smart, active community members who also write stories. Personal stories related to politics have immense potential to change hearts and minds. Through our platform, this above example enjoyed hundreds of thousands of readers and had a far-reaching impact. There is no other site out there with a community as large and active as ours, where anyone can tell their story with the potential to reach such a massive audience. If you’re not a member, we hope you’ll [sign up for a free account]( to join the many lively discussions and tell your story.
As 2020 nears, our news and community teams are gearing up for our coverage next year—the continuing battles for equity and safety of our citizens, the impeachment process, the huge upcoming election, and all the unpredictable news yet to break. You can count on us to bring you news and analysis from a progressive point of view with the tools you need to be more than a reader—to be an active participant in the political process.
[If you support our work and the stories you read, please consider donating to us so Daily Kos staff and community can do even more—and have even further a reach and impact—in 2020.](
Faith Gardner
Associate Publisher, Daily Kos
If you wish to donate by mail instead, please send a check to Daily Kos, PO Box 70036, Oakland, CA, 94612. Contributions to Daily Kos are not tax deductible.
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