Thank you SOO much.

I was nervous about this. [Mother Jones]( MoJo Reader, Thank you all so very much. Our shorter than normal fall fundraising drive ended yesterday, and it looks like we came up about $15,000 shy of our $250,000 goal. That's not ideal, but it's also not panic-inducingly bad, and in the grand scheme, having a community of readers who fund our work is the best damn place a news operation can be. Thank you so much to those of you who pitched in over these last three weeks. Thank you to those who support our journalism with a monthly donation, who subscribe to our magazine, or who have recently signed up for [David Corn's new newsletter](. Thank you to those of you who don't pay for or support a single thing you get from Mother Jones (I've always hated the words "monetize readership") but look to our reporting to help you navigate and work to improve the world. Don't tell the almost 300,000 other folks getting this email, but you, the person reading this right now, you are the best. We couldn't do our work without you. Even though we came up a bit short, I'm feeling super-encouraged today. This was the first time we tried a condensed, three-week fundraising push, and at the beginning it was really struggling, like bad, and we were—I believe the technical term is "kind of freaked out." But that's when the inspiring thing started to happen. A lot of you tell us protecting free and fair elections is the issue to focus on right now, so I re-shared an email that Ari Berman, our amazing voting rights reporter, had written—about our "democracy beat"—that didn't raise nearly as much as previous emails from him. And I told you what I was worried about, that maybe people were not connecting with this kind of journalism right now, and so many of you responded. We had an incredibly strong two weeks of fundraising since and all it took was the truth. I am so grateful for that. Because last month, we told you about a hot new media startup that went up in flames—and with it, $83 million in journalism funding—[because it was built on lies](. I don't like that part (okay, it really pisses me off), but it does make me doubly grateful that Mother Jones is funded primarily by you all, and not a bunch of suits stashing profits in the Bahamas. It would be nice having $83 million (and not needing to fundraise for four and a half years!), but we have something far more powerful: the truth and passionate people like you. And we're going to need to call on both for the work ahead. Once you make a donation during a pledge drive, we stop sending fundraising emails, so you might not have seen the last thing I'll flag for you today. In "[The Legal War Against Mother Jones Keeps Getting More Intense](," I dove into the meritless but nonetheless painful and persistent lawsuits we face, how litigation is used to inflict pain on pesky (to the powerful) publishers, who's behind these attacks, and how they've cost us upward of $400,000 over the last few years. The only reason we're able to stand up for the truth instead of acquiescing is because, you guessed it, readers like you will have our back. So really, truly, thank you all so much. You're the best. We couldn't do our work without you. And even though we came up a bit short on this short fall fundraising push, I'm feeling really good about where things are headed with this group of passionate, committed readers and our team of fierce, fired-up journalists. We have a lot of important work to do and we're all grateful that so many pitch in to make it possible, and that so many more of you find it valuable. We love doing it for you. Thanks for reading, and for everything you do to help make Mother Jones what it is. [Monika] Monika Bauerlein, CEO Mother Jones PS: Oh look! There's that DONATE button that goes below all our emails—just in case you're inclined to help us get to $250,000 a day late but not a dollar short. 😀 [Donate]( [Mother Jones]( [Donate]( [Subscribe]( This message was sent to {EMAIL}. To change the messages you receive from us, you can [edit your email preferences]( or [unsubscribe from all mailings.]( For advertising opportunities see our online [media kit.]( Were you forwarded this email? [Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today.]( [www.MotherJones.com]( PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755