This was a hard email to write

Friend, it's not only been a brutal year for news outlets—a [record number of layoffs]( in just the first six months of this year—but a brutal year for Daily Kos. Daily Kos has faced the same financial struggles that have forced so many other news outlets to layoff staff. Faced with those struggles earlier this year, Daily Kos was forced to make some hard decisions and budget cuts. Our hope was that with some changes, we could move forward on a more financially sustainable path. However, our advertising revenue never recovered, in fact throughout the year, our advertising revenue continually fell below our projections. In order to make up for those budget deficits, we increased our monthly fundraising goals almost every single month of the year. The good news is that thanks to the generosity of the Daily Kos community we reached our fundraising goals every single month. [Help us reach our December fundraising goal and finish off the year strong. We need to raise $28,774 over the next few days. Please donate $5 or more to Daily Kos today.]( [DONATE]( Thanks for all you do, Amanda McKay, Daily Kos --------------------------------------------------------------- Friend, to say it has been a brutal year for news outlets is an understatement. An [uptick in layoffs]( within the news media started in 2020, during the pandemic and an economic downturn. However, as the pandemic eased, news media layoffs never did. News outlets were rocked by a [record number of layoffs]( in just the first six months of this year. The mass amount of layoffs is not just detrimental to the individual news outlet, it greatly affects the quality of information that the public receives. [Please support progressive, independent news with a donation of $5 or more to Daily Kos.]( [DONATE]( The financial hardships mostly stem from an industry that was built around a single source of revenue: advertising. Unfortunately, Big Tech behemoths like Google, Facebook, and Amazon are sucking up an ever-growing share of advertising dollars, and even controlling access to advertising revenue. The solutions to stymie the economic woes that plague news outlets are not ideal. As mentioned, there are budget cuts and layoffs, finding a billionaire backer, being bought and sold to the highest bidder, paywalls and expensive subscriptions, or answering to shareholders. Every solution comes with a tradeoff. Daily Kos went in a different direction: We asked our community of readers and activists to support our work by donating a few dollars at a time. In fact, grassroots donations now make up over 60% of our total income. Honestly, we prefer it this way because it makes us accountable to you—not to some billionaire or corporation with their own agenda. We know that in order to keep operating, we have to fight and deliver for what you believe in. Looking at future trends, we don't expect our advertising revenue to return the peak levels of just a few years ago. We are now dependent on the generosity of our readers and activists to power our work. [Daily Kos needs to raise $181,188 by the end of December to reach our fundraising goal. Please support our work with a donation of $5 or more today.]( [DONATE]( Thank you for all you do, Amanda McKay, 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. Sent via [ActionNetwork.org](. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from Daily Kos, please [click here](.