Breaking the rules for this one

Reader, I'm going to break one of the cardinal rules of fundraising—but first, a couple of facts: - There are just two days left in our very, very important spring fundraising drive. - We still have about $30,000 to go to hit our $175,000 budget—and we're banking on raising at least $20,000 today, primarily with this email. - We can't afford to come up short. $175,000 isn't some arbitrary number: It's the cold, hard number we have to reach to pay for the reporting we do—and that reporting is pretty damn important, especially during an election season that is unlike any we've ever seen. [If you value the journalism you get from Mother Jones and want to see more of it, please make a tax-deductible donation right now via credit card] or [PayPal] and help us close the gap today. Now, the rule-breaking part. Conventional wisdom for a "last chance" fundraising email like this says keep it short and urgent, but I think you might benefit from knowing the bigger picture as you decide whether to [contribute to MoJo]. Since we launched our fundraising push earlier this month, some major shake-ups have rocked the media industry. For a few years now, investors have been pouring money into online news with the kind of fervor that once fueled the minimansion boom. But in the past year, that exuberance has begun to be punctuated by worry: The Guardian, which bet heavily on expanding its digital presence in the United States, announced it needed to cut costs by 20 percent. The tech news source Gigaom shut down suddenly, with its founder warning that "it is a very dangerous time" to be in digital media. The mobile-first news site Circa put itself on "indefinite hiatus." Al Jazeera America, once hailed as the hottest thing in bringing together cable news and digital publishing, shut down and laid off hundreds of journalists. As the New York Times' John Herrman put it earlier this month, "in recent weeks, what had been a simmering worry among publishers has turned into borderline panic." Mashable, which had made a big investment in news and current affairs, laid off half its newsroom and pivoted to a new, video-heavy strategy. Investor darling BuzzFeed fought reports that it had missed its earnings targets and slashed future projections by nearly 50 percent. Salon laid off a string of veteran staffers. Yahoo put its core business, including news and search features, up for sale. From the very beginning, 40 years ago this year, our newsroom has been built on the belief that journalism needs to be untethered from corporate interests or deep-pocketed funders—that the only way a free press can be paid for is by its readers. Our mission is to make our journalism accessible to as many people as possible. Instead of requiring you to pay, we bet on trust: We trust you'll recognize the value of our journalism and [choose to pitch in what you can]. And you trust us to put that money to work, by going out there and kicking ass. Because of your trust, we can choose which stories we go after, rather than chasing the spin du jour. We can look where others in the media do not. We can, as our colleague David Corn says, get off the spinning hamster wheel and dig deep. But it only works if we're able to earn your support. So, did we? Are you ready to [make your tax-deductible gift and help us hit our $175,000 budget in the next two days]? The amount you can afford today doesn't matter—believing in the power and necessity of independent journalism does—but if you can contribute $50 or more, you will qualify for a free one-year subscription to our magazine. Thanks for reading, and for everything you do to make MoJo what it is in these uncertain times. [Monika Bauerlein Headshot][Monika Bauerlein] Monika Bauerlein, CEO Mother Jones P.S.: If you've donated in the last several hours, thanks—and please accept our apologies for sending you this friendly reminder. --------------------------------------------------------------- This message was sent to {EMAIL}. To stop receiving Mother Jones' fundraising and subscription emails, or manage your preferences for our emails, click [here]. [MOTHERJONES.COM] Mother Jones 222 Sutter Street, Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94108 [Powered By Blackbaud]