Amazing! Readers Give $14,762 for Election Reporting

We asked you to contribute cash to allow our reporters to dig deep into issues key to the next provincial election.

We promised that if you told us what issue you most cared about, we'd make sure your money went to cover it.

And we set an ambitious goal of $10,000 to be raised for the Tyee Election Reporting Fund.

That was two weeks ago. Now our fundraiser has officially ended with an amazing result. You exceeded our goal by nearly 50 per cent, donations rising to $14,762 at the end of Monday evening.

And that's just counting the money that has arrived and been safely stored in our special, separate account for provincial election coverage. Some of you have pledged to contribute and haven't yet followed through by sending a payment either online or by cheque.

If everyone who has pledged comes through, our total will rise by several thousand more dollars!

So don't procrastinate. If you said you would, please do donate. Let's make good on those pledges and give us even more to celebrate together.

Because this is truly a story of what an engaged community and its independent journalists can do together.

How your votes broke down

The graphic at the top of this story tells the tale of what those who gave (and whose money has arrived) specified as their top priority issues. The biggest category by far at $6,096 from 84 contributors was Tyee's Choice, meaning you left it up to us to decide where to follow our investigative instincts. Many thanks for the opportunity!

Among specific issues, the environment came in first with 48 people contributing $2,009 dollars. Next comes Accountable Government: 45 people giving $1,790. The rest:

Arts & Community: $871, 20 votes
Energy $850, 20 votes
Education: $841, 17 votes
Poverty & Homelessness: $960, 13 votes
Economy: $555, 11 votes
Housing $250, 8 votes
Health $235, 8 votes
Rights & Justice: $215, 6 votes

We are extremely gratified that you would place such faith in us and we pledge to satisfy you by doing the kind of issues-based reporting the rest of the media tends to avoid. Let them obsess on the day-to-day, who's up, who's down stories of the election campaign. We'll be holding candidates accountable on the challenges B.C. faces, and we won't be settling for sound bites.

This election funding drive has reinforced a lesson that we take to heart. You, our supportive community, are smart, engaged and ready to back independent journalism. We will continue to seek your insights and guidance as we evolve The Tyee. We consider you our partners in this exciting (some would say wildly idealistic) journey.

Whenever Premier Christy Clark decides to call an election, we now have the resources to do justice to the issues that matter. Many, many thanks for making this possible!