Albany Scanner raises nearly $65K for news site launch
Our "Bring News Back to Albany" campaign ended on a high note.
Three months ago today, we asked for help to "Bring News Back to Albany."
Our all-volunteer team — myself and the Albany News Project — had a plan to launch a comprehensive Albany news site funded by the community.
But we needed your support to get started. And you showed up!
In the end, we raised nearly $65,000, exceeding our $50,000 goal.
About half the money came from major donors, including the Albany Community Foundation, in addition to hundreds of other gifts.
Every single one was critical, especially now as we continue to gauge community interest.
We now have nearly 280 paying members, with almost 700 people on our email list so far.
As promised — all the money we raised in the campaign will go toward reporting, not overhead — because Albany has been without a homegrown news site for too long.
We've already started speaking with potential reporters and will now step that up. In the coming months, we'll begin publishing with freelancers, and work toward hiring a full-time editor when the site can support it.
Until then, we're spending more time in Albany — and even covering the city when we can, working to share details no one else is reporting.
Emilie Raguso
Your response to the "Bring News Back to Albany" campaign was absolutely incredible — telling us we're on the right track with our plans.
But I'll be honest with you.
Even having built a sustainable news site in Berkeley on my own, it's still scary to start again from scratch. I know community expectations are high and I am determined to meet them.
For now, I can't tell you how thrilled and excited I am to be doing this with you.
