June 29, 2020 (Updated )
We’ve spoken about this a lot, but over the past few months we’ve had our readers to thank for keeping us going. The coronavirus pandemic meant we took a big hit on event bookings and job adverts – at points, our income was down by more than two thirds.
But, in the vacuum left by advertisers, our readers came to our rescue. We now receive an incredible £550 a month through recurring donations, which goes towards paying our amazing freelancers who schedule our social media and update our lists of awards, funding, and more.
What’s more, all of this has happened through a decidedly rag-tag effort on our part. People have put their faith in us and our mission to turn this industry upside down, and we couldn’t be more grateful. Looking back, we’ve realised it’s time to relaunch our supporters scheme.
As we look towards a more reader-funded future, we want to make sure we’re not only taking the time to say thank you properly, but also give something back our supporters in a structured way. Which is why we’re today launching #JR750, along with a proper supporters’ scheme.
Why We Need Your Help More Than Ever ✨
A lot of companies will tell you they’re a small team, but when we say we’re a small team we really mean it. No one works on this project full-time, and currently the whole outfit is run on less than £18,000 a year. We hope you’ll agree that we get a whole lot done for such a small amount of money, but it’s vital for us that we’re able to make this project sustainable going forward.
We know we’re able to make a big difference to the media industry (and blimey, that’s way overdue) – but we need people and time to do it, both of which cost money. It’s part of our ethos to make sure everyone involved is fairly paid, and, aside from everything we’re already doing, we’ve got some big ideas for the future too.
Here are just a couple of things we’re looking the fund over the coming months:
- Funding our Journo Resources Fellowships, to give early career writers paid training and experience,
- Revamping the Journo Resources website to make it a better and easier for you to get what you need,
- Re-opening our commissions to writers from a diverse range of backgrounds.
We’re hoping to get our regular donations up to £750 a month so we can expand the ways we help you and pay our team fairly – which means raising an extra £200 month. We’ve written in-depth about how we spend our money before, but in short, it costs more than £1,660 to run the site each month and pay everyone involved.
What You’ll Get As A Thank You ?
No matter how much you’re able to support us, trust us when we say we’re immensely grateful. However much you’re able to give us, you’ll get some small thank yous from us every single month:
- Early access to new product launches and resources, such as our interactive game and salaries database,
- Free access to our monthly online events and on-demand access to our whole back catalogue,
- A selection of free swag and merchandise as and when we get it,
- That warm, fuzzy feeling that you’re helping the media industry get better.
On top of this we’re committed to making sure you know what we’re doing with our money. We send our subscribers monthly about what we’re up to, as well as publishing an annual update on our spending without any jargon.
