Your Issues, Your Donations

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.

Related Tyee stories:

• Tyee Ramps up Election Coverage
  Issues. Analysis. Spin unspun. How we're helping to inform your decision.
• Tyee Donors Are Telling Us Their Top Election Issues
  Contributions zoom past $5,000 as drive continues four more days.
• Want Great Election Reporting? Please Donate
  We're asking you to tell us your biggest issue, and help fund a Tyee reporter to nail it.