Announcing ELi’s NewsMatch 2018

ELi has been selected to participate in NewsMatch 2018! This means that, if we can raise $25,000 locally in November and December, we will receive a $25,000 national match! This would make a huge difference towards our sustainability in the coming year.

NewsMatch is funded by The Democracy Fund, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, and the Facebook Journalism Project.

ELi applied this summer to be part of NewsMatch 2018, and we were accepted! Every organization participating has been given a match cap of $25,000. This fall, our staff has been participating in NewsMatch training, to get ready to maximize donations to ELi during the critical year-end period. This is the period when we try to assure ELi’s sustainability for the coming year.

If you’re a steady supporter of ELi, you know we need more than $50,000 to get through the year. That’s why, in advance of the NewsMatch period, we are asking local major donors to consider stepping up to commit to increase ELi’s matching funds.

We are hoping that dozens of donors will commit to donating $250, $500, $1,000, or $2,000 each, so that when we launch ELi’s NewsMatch on November 1, we can have a total matching fund of $40,000 or even $50,000 to attract new local donors.

We know that offering a match makes a big difference in securing new financial supporters and in encouraging them to give generously. Last year, a new-donor match tipped lots of might-be donors to become active donors to ELi.

What donations can be matched via NewsMatch?

There are two kinds of donations that will be matched by NewsMatch:

1. NewsMatch will match up to $1,000 per individual (or individual local business) donated during the November – December period.
2. Additionally, if we sign up a new monthly donor, NewsMatch will match that person’s annual commitment. So, if we sign up a new monthly donor at $10/month, NewsMatch will give us $120.

Major local donations pledged now will help ELi's annual sustainability campaign raise more:

We are asking major local donors to commit now to a year-end donation to ELi, specifically to help us attract more local NEW donors. With your help, we can have a bigger match fund to go out and seek new donors with the promise that their donations will see a dollar-for-dollar match.

So, for example, if local major donors pledge now to donate a total of $15,000 during November-December, we can go to potential new donors and say we have $40,000 available as matching funds. (That's $25,000 from NewsMatch and $15,000 from our major local donors.)

In the event we don't raise $25,000 through new donors, then we will definitely use your donation to apply to the NewsMatch cap. But hopefully, with your help, we will manage to raise much more than $25,000 in new donor funds!

[UPDATE: As of October 31, we have $15,000 in local donor funds committed, bringing our total match fund to $$40,000!]

So what should you do?

First, please do not pull out of a regular monthly commitment if you have one set up. We need those funds to get through the lean period that comes at the end of every year. Know that whatever you donate via your monthly commitment in November and December is going to be matched by NewsMatch if we don't otherwise reach their $25,000 cap.

Second, get in touch with me and tell me how much you would like to commit to donating during the NewsMatch event, and I will work like heck with the ELi team to use your commitment to attract new donor commitments!

Ready to pledge? Email me at fundraise@eastlansinginfo.org or drop a note to me at P.O. Box 115, East Lansing, MI 48826. We will confirm the commitment with you and add you to the total.

And if you’ve got any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to send those our way. Many thanks in advance for your continuing support of ELi’s team!