A quick, no-nonsense update.

It worked before, and I hope it does today. [Mother Jones]( My no-nonsense update last week seems to have worked, so I'll keep this focused on the task at hand. About 600 of your fellow Mother Jones readers have [pitched in]( $25,000 since Friday, and that's a big, encouraging step toward Wednesday's target that we were running behind on. It still leaves a significant $95,000 left to raise by then, when our fiscal year ends, when every single dollar matters a great deal in helping make sure everything breaks even. Getting there will take an unprecedented [outpouring of support over the next three days]( and even if we don't make it, we have to keep our fundraising push going to kickstart the next fiscal year that starts on Thursday. I promised to keep this short, so I won't [go into]( [how hard]( it is to keep an independent, investigative newsroom going today, but trust me, it's so [damn hard](. And I won't unpack our [current reporting priorities]( and how they add up to MoJo's unique approach to journalism that is essential to understanding, and solving, so many of the big, systemic challenges we face—or how [support from our community of readers]( makes it all possible. I'll just ask you to help us do it, and get as close as we can to that $95,000 we need in the next three days in the simplest way I can: If you value the reporting you get from Mother Jones, right now is an important time to consider [supporting our nonprofit newsroom with a donation](. $5 or $50, it all makes a difference and is deeply appreciated. There's a bit more below, and [a lot more here](, if you'd like to read more about why these next few weeks are so important for our fundraising, and thus our reporting. And please know that whether or not you can pitch in today or ever, I'm glad you're part of the Mother Jones community—our nonprofit model is built on [getting enough donations]( from enough readers to keep our mission-driven reporting free for everyone. –Monika [Donate]( MoJo Reader, I have a quick, matter-of-fact update for you today. Our fundraising campaign has slowed down over the last week, and we need to raise about $120,000 by next Wednesday to hit our first big target—finishing the fiscal year that ends June 30 on track. If you value the reporting you get from Mother Jones, right now is an important time to consider [supporting our nonprofit newsroom with a donation if you're able to](. $5 or $50, it all makes a difference and is deeply appreciated. We have a bigger gap to close by Wednesday than we’d hoped, and even when June 30 comes and goes, we still have to bring in more support for our work in the coming weeks: Our new budget cycle starts July 1 and we need to get off to a strong start on that one, too. It's the hardest budget I've ever worked on at Mother Jones. It's a bit unnerving, because when we launched this fundraising drive a couple of weeks ago, [I wrote]( about how people are paying less attention to the news of late, traffic is down, and why that can be a good thing for us and our democracy after the chaos of the last several years. There's no doubt it's problematic for those of us in the news business, hitting our bottom lines while the economics of journalism [continue to crumble]( from all sides. Being primarily funded by our readers, not advertising, it doesn't hit us quite as hard. But we weren't sure whether, without Trump and his daily attacks on almost everything Mother Jones readers hold dear, folks who supported our work then would still think truth-telling journalism matters as much now. I have faith that you do, and that we'll be able to earn [enough donations from those of you in the Mother Jones community who believe our team's journalism is just as essential now as it was a year ago]( over these critical next few weeks for our fundraising. I can go on (and on!) about why Mother Jones' journalism matters no matter who's in power or what the daily headlines might be—not just when there's a pandemic afoot or despot on the move—because I feel it in my bones, and because we want to give you the big picture when asking our community of readers to [support the work](. But right now, with that considerable $120,000 left to raise by Wednesday to close the fiscal year, I'm going to keep it uncharacteristically short and hope that a simple, fairly urgent update can [lead to more donations]( than the last couple of emails and help get us back on track. Thanks for reading, and for everything you do to make Mother Jones what it is. Whether or not you can pitch in, I'm glad you're with us. Onward, [Monika] Monika Bauerlein, CEO Mother Jones [Donate]( P.S. If you'd like to read more about why this moment so important for Mother Jones, what our current reporting priorities are, and how support from readers makes it all possible, [you can do that here](—and if you're able to, I hope you'll consider [joining your fellow readers with a donation to help us close our budget gap today](. P.P.S. If you recently made a donation, thank you! And please accept our apologies for sending you this reminder—our systems take a little while to catch up. 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