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Your dollars help us dig

Digging us with dollars

To dig or not to dig: That’s not the question. We plan to keep right on digging, but we can’t do it without you. As a nonprofit, independent news organization, Vtdigger.org depends on your financial support.

Our platform for news delivery – the Web – is inexpensive, but time is money, and the digging doesn’t come cheap, especially the Big Digs.

Terry J. Allen spent a month researching and writing her exposé about the bureaucratic bungling that led to the death of Ashley Ellis. My reporting on the dairy crisis and Chinese organics took weeks to complete (and I’m still digging on both). Mel Huff conducted dozens of interviews over several months for her series on the treatment of mentally ill prisoners in Vermont’s correctional system.

In short, we love to dig, but we also like to eat. And digging is hard work. We need to keep our strength up!

We’d appreciate your support so that we can provide more great coverage of topics no other news source in Vermont is touching right now.

If each of our 3,500 readers donated $30, we would be able to hire two full-time reporters and create a pool of freelance money. The results would be immediate: You would see in-depth reports on education, the environment, business and state government on our site every day. That’s because we invest our funding directly into reporting. We don’t have legacy media infrastructure to support – management compensation, the printing and delivery of newspapers, or broadcast expenses.

I know. Asking for so many readers to send Vtdigger.org a $30 cash donation is a pipe dream. But I’m putting it out there because let’s face it, nothing about this project has been realistic from the get-go – it’s all been done on a wish and a prayer.

But those wishes, prayers, donations and foundation grants have made Vtdigger.org possible. The whole project has been an act of faith, grounded in the belief that Vermonters would find value in a news site that published in-depth reporting. And it’s happening. We’ve had 17,500 hits this month. Readers are finding us, commenting on stories and sending us news tips.

We hope you will reciprocate with faith in us by sending a tax-deductible contribution to Vtdigger.org.

You can send your donation by mail to Vtdigger.org, PO Box 2, East Hardwick VT 05836.

Click on the donate button and send us a contribution through our PayPal account.

Feeling generous? We have five levels of Digger support.

Pickaxe: $50

Silver spade: $100

Golden Shovel: $250

Backhoe: $500

Excavator: $1,000

To become a Digger, send a check made out to the Online Journalism Project/Vtdigger.org to PO Box 2, East Hardwick, VT 05836. (Again, your contribution is tax-deductible.)

Thank you for your support!

Also, please let us know if you’d like your name listed on the site as Digger supporter. You deserve the credit!

~Anne Galloway, editor of Vtdigger.org