As we approach our first anniversary as a publication, our mission to cover the Long COVID crisis is as crucial as it was when we started The Sick Times. Thanks to reader donations and grants we’ve been able to set up a small newsroom, but we need your help to expand, produce more reporting, and pay our staff better living wages.
Today kicks off our NewsMatch fundraising campaign here at The Sick Times — our biggest fundraiser of the year.
We’re dedicated to covering Long COVID for the people most impacted by this disease. Unlike mainstream media outlets, we’re not minimizing the ongoing pandemic. Instead, we’re exposing how this mass disabling event is impacting millions of people in the U.S. and around the world. That wouldn’t be possible without the support of community members like you.
We have a great opportunity to amplify your support over the next two months. From now until December 31, the Institute for Nonprofit News’ NewsMatch program will match your donation up to $1,000. That applies to both one-time donations and monthly ones — new monthly donations will be doubled 12 times over the next year.
Our goal for this fundraiser is to raise $50,000 from our readers. NewsMatch will match up to $15,000, giving us an opportunity to raise up to $65,000 total. This funding would help us:
- Better compensate our internal team. Your two co-founders (Miles and Betsy) have been working overtime over the last year to bring you vital stories, but we’ve still had to take on other, outside work to pay our bills. Raising our internal stipends would help us focus on The Sick Times and make our work more sustainable, without burning out.
- Our two newer team members, podcast producer James and engagement editor Heather, are also excited to increase their time commitments so that they can better serve you, our audience.
- Add more capacity to our freelance budget. Over the last few months, we’ve received hundreds of pitches and proposals. We want to work with as many writers as we can, and increase our ability to produce ambitious stories as well as multimedia projects like videos and illustrations.
- Pursue more partnerships with other news organizations. We’ve done a couple of these collaborative stories in the last year, and aim to continue them in 2025 to expand our reach and ensure more people understand the issues facing people with Long COVID.
We are also looking for other supporters who might be able to match readers’ donations over the next two months. If that’s you, please reach out to us at editors@thesicktimes.org!
We understand that many people in our community aren’t able to donate. This is why we’ll never have a paywall — our stories will always be completely free to read.
If you aren’t in a position to donate yourself, here are a few ways you can help:
- Share this fundraiser with a family member or friend.
- Share our donation page and graphics on social media.
- Comment below and let us know why you find our work valuable! We might use your testimonial (if you’re okay with it) in a future email, podcast episode, or social media post.
If you’ve been thinking about becoming a donor to The Sick Times, this is the best time to do it. Your support will get our NewsMatch campaign off to a solid start and help keep our newsroom on strong footing. Remember, as we are a non-profit newsroom, all donations to The Sick Times are tax-deductible.
Thank you for believing in journalism that strengthens our community.
Editor’s note: Some of the text in this announcement was adapted (with permission) from NewsMatch’s fundraising templates for participating newsrooms.
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