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We regularly get the question: is rabble.ca really sustainable? The short answer is: of course it is. For 17 years, rabble has forged a new approach to the news and for 17 years we’ve had a different approach to funding our operations. We think both make us sustainable!

But it isn’t just about sustainability. rabble.ca can grow and develop to be an even stronger journalist voice for social movements, an even better platform for national politics. How? You. And of course anyone else who believes Canada needs non-profit, independent journalism. A few bucks a month from a few thousand visitors goes a long way in the indie media world. Please chip in with $25 or more (or become a monthly subscriber for as little as $5/month).

But aren’t all media organizations dying?

It is true that major corporate media has fallen on very hard times. They’ve lost funding and are fighting for reader trust in the era of “fake news”. The Globe and Mail has undergone three major cuts to payroll in the last few years, and last year stopped its Atlantic Canada print edition. The National Post ended their Monday print edition after losing $26.5-million in the second quarter of its 2017 fiscal year. Postmedia announced in June it would close six small town newspapers and cease print publication of four more, as well as cut about 10 percent of its workforce across the newspaper chain. The Toronto Star lost over $24 million dollars and over 100 jobs in the first quarter of 2017 alone, announced that it was bringing in a paywall, and then cut another 21 jobs just this past June. Rogers Media also announced cuts this summer. The list goes on.

No doubt about it, big corporate media is in trouble. Ad revenues are down, subscriptions are down. Paywalls haven’t produced. Are they sustainable? Time will tell. There is no easy answer here for them.

There IS an easy answer for indie media

First, what doesn’t work:

  1. Depending on corporate advertisers.

  2. Depending on subscriptions.

  3. Depending on paywalls.

  4. Depending on a single or major funder or owner.

So what is the easy answer for indie media? Depending on a community of visitors who care passionately about media that amplifies the voices of people struggling for change and justice. It really is that simple. When the people who visit rabble care enough to contribute a bit, then news works for everyone.

The good news is that for 17 years, our approach has kept rabble going. In a world of crowd-sourced funding, we have a long track record and we know people still care.

That’s why I am asking if you could make an extra gift, right now, to set rabble on solid footing. With help from our supporters, we reach hundreds of thousands of people every month who read, listen, watch, and share our independent daily coverage of the latest news developments and insightful points of view — completely free of charge. We have no paywall and we don’t limit anyone’s article count. We don’t make visitors complete a survey. We just share the news. 

What we’re doing is working, but we need to grow with the times and that costs money. rabble already does everything at a fraction of the cost of a commercially-run news website. How are we able to survive? You guessed it, because of the generosity of people like you. Can you afford a special gift of $25 or more to rabble.ca, to help us keep doing this important work? Or consider becoming a monthly member at $5/month or more? 

Over the next two months, we must raise at least $50,000 from our supporters, partners, and readers to keep rabble.ca going as part of our annual fundraising. It is a necessary but achievable goal that we’ve met repeatedly in the past. 

We are always growing, training new journalists and inspiring more and more people every day.

Where does the money go? 

Report. Train. Amplify. rabble.ca was one of the first online Canadian media outlets to host a labour reporter and to put a fiercely progressive reporter on Parliament Hill.  Over the past year, we introduced a new Jack Layton Journalism for Change Fellowship. rabble produces and distributes podcasts — we caught on years and years before the mainstream media did — and regularly trains and supports new audiophiles. rabble amplifies the work of individuals and organizations fighting for social justice. This is rabble’s founding mandate, and part of what makes us different from other media. As we head into municipal elections across the country and a federal election in 2019, the months ahead promise to be a time of action and change.

rabble will be part of that action and change. We will be there with reporting and analysis from a progressive perspective. Amplifying the voices of Canada’s social movements, amplifying your voice with authentic news.  

Sustain. rabble.ca has staked its existence on you. We live or die on community support — your support! We are proud of the trust community members like you have put in us. We get hundreds of thousands of visitors and we believe in them. We believe in you. We believe people will put in what they can for the greater good. We call that sustainable.

Sustain us here: rabble.ca/donate

Help us meet our fundraising goals with a donation of $25 or more this fall and together we can make a difference, and amplify the work of the social justice groups that are already hard at work to make it happen. 

And MORE!  Become a monthly supporter at $5/month or more and receive a free copy of Corporatizing Canada: Making Business out of Public Service.

Become a monthly supporter at $8/month or more and receive your free copy of Corporatizing Canada AND CHOOSE a copy of EITHER The Reconciliation Manifesto, by Arthur Manuel, with Grand Chief Ronald Derrickson OR David Austin’s Moving Against the System.