This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
Dear Readers,
The Longmont Observer was launched in the first half of 2017 as the first nonprofit, non-partisan news organization to serve our community. We work here, we live here and we will always be here. Our mission:
We inform and enlighten our community by way of facts, not opinion. We speak truth to power and hold those powers accountable. We provide accurate and honest insight about our residents, our neighborhoods, our schools, our businesses, and our government. We are the pulse of Longmont. The heartbeat and memory of our community.
All of our contributors are volunteers living in Longmont. Our local focus has allowed us to bring you stories and events that would never have happened otherwise, such as our coverage of Longmont's growing homeless community by Christi Yoder, to our in-depth reporting on the future and finances of Vance Brand Airport by Ben Mills.
We've held government officials accountable by streaming almost every city council meeting and work session. We've published the salaries of every single city employee and reported on Longmont police misconduct. We sponsored the only political debates in two separate races -- the U.S. House of Representatives between Ken Buck and Longmont local Karen McCormick, and the Ward 2 Council Debate between Jeff Moore and Marcia Martin in 2017. The role of journalism is to monitor any center of power. This is just the start for us.
Today we are asking you to help us continue to provide our community with the news and information it needs because we believe that you are a supporter of local action and local media. Moving into 2019, we are faced with harsh realities. Until now, our newsroom has operated entirely on the passion of our volunteers and on small-dollar donations from our readers. However, to continue to be the kind of newsroom that Longmont deserves, we need to expand our scope and abilities and that requires money.
For the coming year, the Longmont Observer needs to raise $500,000 to become sustainable and to report all of the important news stories that you need to read. This money will be spent on facilities, equipment, operational costs and modest salaries for our full-time staff, including Editor-in-Chief Macie May who has worked full time for free since June of 2017. Frankly, we can't keep going as we have been without your support.
We ask that you support our annual appeal by making a donation. Your generosity will create a force in Longmont that will continue to bring non-profit, non-partisan, locally focused news to the community. The Longmont Observer is a 501(c)3 public charity so your gift is tax deductible.
Donations can be made by visiting https://longmontobserver.org/donate or mailing a check to
Longmont Observer
356 1/2 Main Street Unit 6
Longmont, CO 80501.
Remember that every donation makes a difference, regardless of size.
Thank you in advance for your support!
Sincerely,
Scott G. Converse, Publisher & Co-Founder
Sergio R. Angeles, President & Co-Founder
