This issue marks the six-week point in the Real Change Spring Fund Drive. So far, an astonishing 701 individuals have contributed $165,859 to help us meet the ambitious $205,000 goal that keeps our work on track.
When we don’t reach our goal, the conversation at Real Change begins to turn from what we can do to what we can’t. Our work is simply too important to allow that to happen.
Every week, our vendors sell more than 11,000 copies of Real Change and put the money they earn into their own pockets.
Every week, our remarkably talented news team produces a new issue of the paper, chock-full of the news you need to understand our changing city.
Every week, our advocacy staff engages our vendors in the work of building a better, more compassionate city by taking a stand and using their voice for change.
How much is that worth to you?
My own work in street papers began nearly 30 years ago. Over the late ’80s, homelessness grew by leaps and bounds as President Ronald Reagan’s administration gutted public housing and the human services safety net.
I believed that homeless and poor people needed to have a voice for things to ever change, but I also saw how hard it was to be politically active when your basic needs for food, shelter and safety are not being met.
Street papers bridge that gap by providing opportunity to those who need it most. When our vendors start earning the money they need by selling Real Change, they are invited into a caring community of readers who support their efforts.
Our vendors want the same things we all do: work, community and a chance to make a difference. Your support makes those things possible
Your gift, of any amount that fits your budget, helps grow the work that you value, and shows that a huge community stands with us, building opportunity and a voice for the poor and working for a more just and racially equitable society.
Real Change, with our weekly paper and 325 active vendors each month, is the most successful street paper in North America because you made it that way.
Every year, more that 1,800 people take the next step to support their vendor by making a personal contribution to Real Change. More than 60 percent of Real Change’s annual budget comes from people like you.
People who support our bottom-up organizing and share our belief that homeless and low-income people must build for power to help create the change we need.
People who support our grassroots, community-based journalism and value quality writing on issues of economic, social and racial justice.
People who support our vendors directly by buying the paper but want to do more by making a direct contribution to our work.
When you give to Real Change, you help build institutional power for the poorest people. Thanks to our large base of grassroots donors, Real Change is uncompromised by our funding and can tell the truth unflinchingly.
How much is that worth to you? $50 a year? $100? $250? More?
Our monthly giving option helps you make the gift you would like without breaking the bank. Each month, a small charge is made to the card you provide that, over the course of a year, adds up to big support.
A donation of $100 comes to just $8.33 a month, or about three cups of coffee. A donation of $250 comes to $20.33 a month or maybe a movie and a box of Twizzlers.
Your gift today helps get us to our goal and ensures that the work of providing opportunity and a voice to the poorest people continues to grow and thrive.
Whether you make a onetime gift or make a monthly pledge, giving is easy. Visit our giving page at bit.ly/tcdonatenow, or text RCGIVE to 414-44. Or, if you prefer, mail your check to 219 First Ave. S., Ste. 220. Seattle, WA 98104.