Tyeenews

Your Issues, Your Donations

Tyee readers gave four times (!) our original goal to boost election coverage.

By David Beers, 20 Apr 2009, TheTyee.ca

Tyee Election Fundraising Results Graph

For each category: Amount given and number of donors. Total raised: $19,098. Graphic by Alex Grunenfelder.

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We wondered if you might want to contribute some funding to help The Tyee do a better job of covering the 2009 provincial election now underway. We asked you to tell us which issues mattered most to you, promised to put your donation towards that area of reporting, set a target of $5,000 ... and then we crossed our fingers.

That was two weeks ago. By end of day Friday, April 17, the official close to our fundraising drive, our readers had sent us $19,098. Given the assurances by many of you that "the cheque is in the mail" we are confident the total will end up topping $20,000 -- four times our original goal!

You can't imagine what a wonderful and energizing effect this has on us here at The Tyee, knowing that there is so much support for the journalism we strive to produce.

And now we have a much clearer picture of what our most committed readers want to see us cover in the remaining weeks of this very important election.

The breakdown

As the chart above shows, 417 people donated an average of $45.80. Nearly half of you, 197, gave a total of $8,035 but opted not to direct us to cover any issue in particular.

As we took a more fine-grained look at those requests coming in, we realized a large group -- 39 people giving a total of $2,513 -- shared a desire to learn more about privatization of government operations, ranging from BC Ferries to health support to the sale of BC Rail. That made Privatization one of your two biggest issue categories.

The other two biggest were Environment, with 44 people giving $1,915, and Clean Government, with 44 people giving $1,895.

Next in descending order: Voting Reform (28 people gave $1020); Homelessness/Poverty (15 people gave $1010); Education (18 gave $807); Health Care (eight gave $774); Affordable Housing (seven gave $291); Economy (five gave $245); Olympics (three gave $75) and Crime (two gave $33). We also created a catch-all for remaining requests, placing 7 contributions totalling $485 under the heading of Other.

A good story, still unfolding

As I say, our Tyee Election Issues Reporting Fund drive is officially closed, but we realize not all contributions have arrived and are accounted for in this article and graph. So we'll provide a final update in a week or so.

In the meantime, be assured that The Tyee now has the resources to more than double the election coverage we had originally budgeted to tackle, and you will see the results immediately, with three to four election-issue-related articles published every weekday, as well as more than twice the usual number of reports on The Hook, the Tyee's political news blog. Of course your contributions will support more than quantity. We are able to bring you a higher quality of news coverage as well, now that we have the resources for extra travel and digging.

This experiment has energized us here at The Tyee and garnered media attention locally, nationally and internationally. Clearly there is a great desire to keep alive the best traditions of journalism, while building new forms of community involvement and support.

Thanks to all who gave, and to all who read us. Not only are you the reason we are able to publish strong journalism. You continue to make The Tyee a positive story.

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[Tyee]

David Beers is editor of The Tyee.

9 Comments:

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  • mjscox

    3 years ago

    pity the elector

    I donated to your campaign to fund increased election coverage, and I'm depending on The Tyee to keep me informed of the issues and controversies in this election--because I know you'll do a far better job than the mainstream media. But pity the elector who puts the environment at or near the top of the list (as your contributors did) of issues: do we vote Liberal to maintain the carbon tax, but in so doing also give tacit support to the disastrous Gateway highway project, not to forget sea lice and run of river power exports? Or do we green shift over to the NDP who have lost the support of the environmental movement with their half-baked cap and trade plan, which if nothing else requires a larger cadre of bureaucrats to administer and monitor? Or should we vote Green and either "waste" our vote or, perhaps worse, elect a bunch of greenhorns who, collectively, have about as much experience running a province as an earnest grade 12 student union?

    There is only one word to sum up this election, and it begins with "F."

  • cocean

    3 years ago

    Congratulations, Tyee

    My congratulations to The Tyee. It was fun to participate in your election-coverage fund-raising drive. Clearly, it was a huge success and an experiment worth repeating in the future.

  • cocean

    3 years ago

    mjscox, I suggest we vote

    mjscox, I suggest we vote according to what would be our first choices were BC-STV in place. Then see what happens.

    It would be refreshing, wouldn't it, to vote according to our values, rather hold our noses while voting "strategically" for someone whose party we have little respect for.

    I've never been able to stomach strategic voting, which has meant my vote has almost always been wasted. Had I not gone to the polls, it would have made not one scrap of difference.

    The election of 2013 - if BC-STV passes in the May 12th referendum - will provide more options to voters and make each vote count.

  • Moonbug

    3 years ago

    I think half the people who

    I think half the people who voted "Tyee Choice" did so by accident, like me.

    Even after seeing your warning not to miss my chance to decide, I did.

    However, I trust the Tyee, so I'm sure it will all turn out.

  • David Beers

    3 years ago

    Administrator

    Moonbug, It's not too late!

    If you donated and missed the chance to mark your choice for an issue to be covered with your funds, you can follow up with an email. Send it to

    , include the name that was on the donation and the amount (we'll pledge to maintain your privacy) and tell us your top issue.

  • RossK

    3 years ago

    Tyee v Mustel Poll....

    Very, very interesting to see how way far down the list 'The Economy' ranks in importance for Tyee readers vs. the folks surveyed in the most recent Mustel polls.

    .

  • audreylaferriere

    3 years ago

    Donations

    Thank you for separating homelessness/poverty from housing.

  • Des

    3 years ago

    Donations

    I'm very sorry that I could not donate to the Tyee even though I wanted to. But I'm very glad to see the amount that has accumulated. I was also happy to hear on the CBC radio about the project and sincerely hope that your efforts lead to other internet and email publications being as inventive as you folks are.

    I am not a resident of B.C. but that is not the reason for my inability to donate at this time. We are one country, and what affects you on the West Coast has repercussions here in Ontario. The more we learn about each other, the better off we'll all be.

  • morechatter

    3 years ago

    The Way It Is

    And I don't doubt it for a minute as support comes in from readers as always the news will find a way to work its way out there. And its great the Tyee has worked it so they can play a part in bringing us the news. Thank you and I look forward to the up and coming election coverage and the issues important to Tyee readers and Tyee's commitment to telling it like it is. As reporters put their pen to the days turn of events that effect our lives and the futures of our children making the news invaluable.

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