An important email.

Our journalism and the money to pay for it.   [Mother Jones]( MoJo Reader, There's no sense in trying to be cute or clever. This email is about two things and two things only: journalism that doesn’t follow the pack, and the money to pay for it. Our vitally important fundraising drive ends a week from Friday. We still have a significant $230,000 in [online donations]( we need to raise so we can finish our fiscal year on June 30 at break-even, or damn close. We've already cut $1 million from our budget and can't afford to come up short. We urgently need to see a strong response to this email as the deadline draws near. If you can right now, [please help make the unique reporting you get from Mother Jones possible with a donation of any amount today](. Whether you can pitch in [$5 or $500](, it all matters and allows our team to do the type of in-depth reporting the moment demands, that you don't find in many other places. It really is that simple. Quality journalism costs money. In-depth reporting takes time and effort. Calling it like it is in no uncertain terms, prioritizing underreported beats, and looking at the forces behind the headlines requires the independence of being supported by readers instead of profit-driven owners. That's why it's in such short supply. And as we enter crunch time and need to urgently ask for [more help than normal](, quicker than normal, to close that sizable $230,000 gap, we're excited to share our recent [impact report]( with you, where we hope our team's top-notch journalism will make the case for your [support today](. - A big scoop from DC bureau chief, David Corn. - Leaked audio of Steve Bannon laying out Trump's strategy for the Big Lie—before the 2020 election even took place. - Inae Oh and Kiera Butler bringing their perspectives as mothers to covering the baby formula shortage and digging into so much disinformation in online moms' groups, respectively. - Disinformation reporter Ali Breland shining a light in some incredibly dark corners of the internet. - A newsroom-wide reporting project and entire issue of our magazine spearheaded by Hannah Levintova focused on private equity—one of the most powerful, malignant, and secretive forces in our daily lives. - And of course, Samantha Michaels' groundbreaking investigation into Oklahoma's unjust so-called "failure-to-protect" laws, and the accompanying 17-minute documentary from Mark Helenowski, that has won several major journalism awards—and took a year of reporting, including writing custom scripts to scrape state websites for data that had never before been analyzed. Those are just some of the highlights that make up our impact report. We hope you'll [check them all out today](—and that you'll decide to [support our team's journalism with a much-needed donation if you can right now](. Because the truth is, corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. And advertising or profit-driven owners will never make time-intensive, in-depth reporting viable. It's long past time to [stop pretending]( the marketplace will provide the free and fearless press a democracy needs. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you. And to a T, the things readers tell us you value most about Mother Jones—in-depth investigations, sticking with underreported beats, going where others don't, adding voice and perspective to the daily grind—are the exact things we can do thanks to being a nonprofit funded primarily by readers. As nerve-wracking as that is for the two of us right now, trusting we'll start to see [a big surge in donations]( now that the deadline is drawing near, there's no way we'd rather have it. Because that kind of support doesn’t go [poof](. That kind of support is from the people who will be here next year and the year after that, who will work for change one day at a time. Tens of thousands of people doing their part to keep fearless, [impactful]( investigative reporting alive is a powerful thing, and like every movement, it gets more powerful as it grows. And we need it to grow: It’s the only way we’ll be able to come up with that $230,000 we need in the next 10 days. It's the only way we can keep on doing the reporting you get from us, at our current level, amid the brutal [economic headwinds]( we face. It’s also a tall order, but we can 100 percent get there if more readers than normal [decide to pitch in, starting today](. We hope you will, because if we see a lackluster response to today's important email, we'll start growing quite concerned about being able to get to break-even in the next week-plus. Thanks for reading, and for everything you do to make Mother Jones what it is. Onward, Monika Bauerlein CEO Brian Hiatt Online Membership Director [Donate](   [Mother Jones]( [Donate]( [Donate Monthly]( [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? 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