November marks the beginning of the Patagonia Regional Times’ annual fundraising campaign, that time of year when we ask you, our readers, to help us continue our mission to provide local news here in eastern Santa Cruz County.
The staff and board of the PRT have worked hard to implement innovations and expansion of services to support our mission to serve and engage our community. But a free press isn’t free.
The PRT is a nonprofit newsroom that depends on donations and grants to be able to continue bringing you local news and information that would otherwise go unreported. With every dollar you contribute, you are making a difference in the lives of our neighbors, our children, our nonprofits and our small businesses.
Our volunteer citizen journalists and staff have worked hard this past year to bring you unique local stories. The PRT was the first to break the news about school and fire district funds missing from the County treasury and we are the only news organization to report on the historic chapel and cemetery in Lochiel that are now in danger of being sold in an effort to recoup some of the County’s stolen money.
We have kept our community informed about local elections by hosting live candidate forums, Zoom interviews and profiles in the PRT, all of which we also included in our voter guide on our website, along with information about ballot initiatives, where to vote and important election dates.
We brought you coverage of the County’s tourism initiative, coverage that resulted in the County firing their outside consultants and turning over the discussion to local residents. We told the story of the impact of the Hermosa Project on a local guest ranch. We provided coverage of high school sports, our fire departments and local nonprofits. We printed obituaries. And we do this all at no cost to our readers.
Our weekly e-newsletters continue to deliver news and community events, and we have expanded our coverage of breaking news in eastern Santa Cruz County. We reported on wildfires, road closures, environmental stories, news alerts from the Sheriff’s office and notices from the County.
Our website continues to grow. In 2023, we were excited that we had 157,000 website views. To date in 2024, incredibly, there have already been more than 204,000 views, a 30% increase in views in less than a year. PRT staff also share many of our articles, as well as breaking news, on social media.
We couldn’t have done any of this without our readers’ support. Our reporting is community driven and community funded. In other words, we wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for you.
For the fifth year in a row, the PRT has been selected to participate in NewsMatch, a national matching-gift campaign that drives donations to nonprofit newsrooms like ours around the U.S.
Here’s how our fundraising campaign works: NewsMatch will match donations given in November and December. This can either be a one-time donation or a recurring monthly donation. The bottom line is, no matter how you donate to the PRT before the end of 2024, your donation will be doubled thanks to NewsMatch. That’s a big deal for the PRT.
Will you make a donation to the PRT? Just think of the impact that could have—not just for our newsroom, but for our community.
We need to raise at least $30,000 from our donors before the end of December. If you have supported the PRT in the past, thanks for your continued support. If you have not yet donated to the PRT, now is the time. We hope that you will consider helping us to continue the work of bringing you your local news by participating in our NewsMatch campaign.
Trusted journalism like ours has never mattered more. Give today and double the impact of your donation. Send a check to: P.O Box 1073 Patagonia, AZ 85624. Or donate online at: patagoniaregionaltimes.org/donate