As NewMatch enters its next decade of matching local donors’ investments in nonprofit news, Voice of OC’s growing community of small dollar donors is getting national recognition for successful fundraising efforts over this last decade.
“INN Network member Voice of OC has participated in NewsMatch since its inception, and has historically been able to raise between a quarter and a half of its revenue from donations made in just the last two months of the year.” wrote Sharene Azimi, Communications Director at the Institute for Nonprofit News, in a recent industry newsletter post.
““The small dollar donors are kind of like the silent heroes of fundraising,” said Marketing Director Amanda Santana, in her interview with INN last month, noting how regular readers are increasingly fueling the newsroom’s growth by becoming small dollar donors – especially during the end-of-year Newsmatch campaign, which matches their donations up to $1,000.
“The real campaign is made up by people who donate between $25 and $100 one time,” Santana said. “People who are committing to between $5 and $25 a month as a new recurring donor. And that’s really laid the foundation for us.”
Over the past 10 years, NewsMatch has secured $45 million in matching gifts to help drive $432 million in community support to newsrooms.
Local small dollar donors here in Orange County have consistently helped the Voice of OC newsroom secure a portion of that national support through their contributions during the annual fundraiser, which runs from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31.
Today, these kinds of community donations – essentially a voluntary news subscription that is tax deductible – are fueling a good portion of the Voice of OC budget and the newsroom’s goal is to be fully funded through these kinds of reader contributions.
