This holiday season there’s one tradition you can help Canada do away with: traditional media. Make a donation and support media democracy now! 
We live in extraordinary times. War, corruption, economic and environmental disaster. Reading and watching the news these days you might think that it’s all inevitable, that there are no alternatives, right? Wrong.
The fact is that despite adversity so many can and do work and fight for change. It might happen on the world stage or in a backyard but change is happening all around us. You just can’t always see it.
Big media corporations are hard at work trying to influence peddle, scandalize, and bend the truth all in an effort to monetize the news. We know Canadians don’t like or want things to be this way. Most recently, when virtually every print media outlet in Canada endorsed the Conservative Party in the federal election…
Canadians rejected the Conservatives wholeheartedly. For that we should be proud.
We should also be proud that over the last 15 years rabble.ca has been the focal point for those fighting for change in Canada and around the world. The latest developments on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the Paris Climate Change Conference, the Leap Manifesto, the Quebec public sector strike, to name just a few, are all being reported on and discussed on rabble. Your donation makes that happen. In fact, if everyone who visited rabble over the course of a month gave just $5 we could cover all of our operating costs and much more.
That’s why I am asking if you could make an extra gift, right now, to set rabble on solid footing for 2016.
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?
Canadians are shedding our traditional sources of news, entertainment, and information in record numbers. We are seeing the effects in our record-breaking number of readers: over the course of the federal election rabble.ca reached nearly one million Canadians. Each month we reach hundreds of thousands 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 are always growing, training new journalists and inspiring more and more people every day. 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? Because of the generosity of ordinary Canadians like you.
Over the next two months we must raise at least $50,000 from our existing supporters, partners, and readers to keep rabble.ca going. It is a necessary but achievable goal that we’ve met repeatedly in the past. But this year is different.
Because we’ve expanded our editorial coverage and even added more live video and original podcasting to the site, our annual budget must grow. Free, independent media truly isn’t free. Our financial pressures are real and we need your support.
With a new government in power comes new opportunities and new challenges. 2016 will be an important year for opposition parties, pressure groups, and social justice activists to set the tone for the years of Liberal government to come. rabble.ca has big plans to make waves. Your donation will help put those plans in place. Specifically, your donation will help us do the following:
- Launch our Trudeau Promises Watch
Not only do we need to keep an eye on Justin Trudeau, we need to put pressure on his government. With a list of promises to deliver on over the next four years, rabble needs to expand its federal parliamentary bureau, hire new correspondents, and expand our news coverage now if we are to be the watchdog over the Trudeau government this country sorely needs. - Upgrade the rabble.ca website
It’s no secret that the rabble.ca website needs updating. Our last major upgrade was in 2008! We’ve got plans for a substantial upgrade that will improve the site’s overall look and feel — a plan that is long overdue but completely out of reach given our current budget. If you’ve ever looked at rabble.ca and thought “wow I wish I could better read and share it from my mobile device,” for example, put some cash behind those feelings and make it happen! - Enhance the work of individuals and organizations fighting for social justice
2016 promises to be a year of change, renewal, and retooling for many groups from political opposition parties to labour to pressure groups. With a new government in office that at least says it is willing to listen, the next four years will be critical for all social justice groups and progressive individuals to make change happen. rabble will be part of that change.
Thank you for saying no to traditional media and saying yes to change. Help us meet our fundraising goals with a donation of $25 or more this season and together we can make a difference, pressure the federal government to fulfill its promises, and amplify the work of the social justice groups that are already hard at work to make it happen. Make a donation here.
As a special thanks, any donation of over $50 receives a free copy of our Best of rabble 2015. Become a monthly supporter at $8/month or more and choose a copy of either Pam Palmater’s new book Indigenous Nationhood or a DVD copy of This Changes Everything — the new film by Avi Lewis!
Thank you for your support, and our best wishes to you for the holiday season.
Support rabble today!
We’re so glad you stopped by! Thanks for consuming rabble content this year.
rabble.ca is 100% reader and donor funded, so as an avid reader of our content, we hope you will consider gifting rabble with a donation during our summer fundraiser today.
Whether it be a one-time donation or a small monthly contribution, your support is critical to keep rabble writers producing the work you’ve come to rely on as a part of a healthy media diet.
Become a rabble rouser — donate to rabble.ca today.
Nick Seebruch, editor
