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The Acton Bridge Board of Directors
Hey, Acton! We hope you’re as proud as we are of our fledgling paper, winning New England-wide awards for leadership and comprehensive special coverage in only its third year of publication.
Many thanks to our loyal supporters who have made the necessary investment in our operations, allowing us to grow our newsroom, pay competitive salaries, and ward off the pesky bots who threaten all journalism.
We have great news for those of you who haven’t yet had a chance to support our efforts. An early supporter of The Acton Bridge has given us a $35,000 challenge match to double all gifts from new donors, increased gifts from existing donors, and renewed gifts from lapsed donors. Jump in now while the challenge has not yet been met.
Some ask, “How much should I give?” Our answer is simple — only you know your circumstances and the amount that will make you feel good about supporting local journalism.
Most of us remember the time before we launched in October 2022 — we were in a news desert.
Our model is also simple: We deliver, free of charge, papers to all residents and businesses and offer our online version paywall-free, feeling deeply that civic engagement flows from ready access to local news. The two roughly equal sources that cover our costs are revenue from advertising and donations from readers like you.
Last year, the percentage of households supporting the paper grew to 15%, and many repeat donors increased their level of support. Remarkably, we met the challenge of raising a little over $500,000 to ensure a balanced budget. Our challenge this year is at least that high, and meeting that challenge will again require larger gifts from more donors.
We hope that those among you who are in a position to do so will decide to make a tax-deductible gift that reflects the value you place on having a local paper. Find a level that you can repeat year after year. Like the other longer-lived institutions that are vital to the fabric of Acton — the library, Acton Museum, the Land Trust, Emerson Hospital, Acton Carlisle Foundation — The Acton Bridge depends on sustained habits of annual giving to continue to fulfill our mission of keeping Acton informed and connected.
As with last year’s campaign, in our Valentine’s Day issue this coming February, we will thank every donor by name and will give special recognition to those who support us at the $500, $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 levels. These gifts are really for the community, surpassing the cost of delivering the paper to individual households. We are deeply grateful for your gift, in whatever amount is appropriate for you. Thank you for your support.
In closing, we especially want to thank Maile Hulihan, our CEO, who started with us in February 2024 and assembled the editorial and business team that has brought us to where we are today. Working together, we hope to keep the paper coming to all of you for many years and pave the way for Acton to live up to its name — a place of agreement and harmony among people.
