Help us become self-financed by supporting during NewsMatch

Last year, around this time, we participated in our first NewsMatch campaign, which is a national fundraising effort for nonprofit news organizations such as ourselves. To be frank, NewsMatch saved us. We were able to raise more than $27,000, survive 2020, and enter 2021 on solid footing.

As we approach the end of the year, NewsMatch looks to play a vital role in our organization becoming self-financed (for the first time in our 3½-year history) some time next year. That means we’ll have been born as a legit news organization—meaning, the business side of our operation will have fully caught up with the journalism we’ve been producing. I’d like to remind everyone: As an organization, we have no liabilities. We don’t spend money we don’t have.

So, as NewsMatch kicks off this week and runs through Dec. 31, we need your help in crossing the finish line.

Here’s how it works: NewsMatch will double any single donation or an existing monthly donation in November and December. It will also match any new monthly donation 12x.

The national NewsMatch goal this year is $10,000. An injection of $20,000 ($10,000 plus another $10,000 in matching dollars) into our budding newsroom would guarantee we will continue to publish well into 2022.

There are many opportunities to give these next two months. You can do so right now, on our NewsMatch page.

Or, you can also join us at 6:30 tonight at The Dakota East Side Ice House, 433 S. Hackberry St. Have a drink and some food with some of our reporters and photographers, board members, and other supporters who continue to help make the Heron a reality.

We’ll also unveil some new Heron swag, including a baseball cap and new postcards from the snow we had in February. Visit the Facebook event page.

Soon, we’ll be announcing more events, including another Downtown Trivia Night, a beer tasting at a local brewery, and a housing panel discussion.

Here are our funding tiers and what you get for each in Heron-branded swag:

» $25 — Shirt + one postcard set + sticker

» $50 — Cap + one postcard set + sticker

» $75 — Shirt + cap + one postcard set + sticker

» $100 — Shirt + cap + special pin + two postcard sets + sticker

We remain committed to producing independent, in-depth journalism about how San Antonio’s center city is changing. The larger our donation stream, the better we can accomplish our mission to the fullest.

Just a reminder, we are a tiny nonprofit news organization that’s still growing. This year, our total revenue will probably surpass $90,000. Compared to the other news organizations in town, whose budgets are in the millions, you can see we’re still gestating. That’s why every dollar a reader donates helps us get closer to becoming a self-financed organization.

Thank you for your time, and be safe out there.

Heron Editor Ben Olivo can be reached at 210-421-3932 | ben@saheron.com | @rbolivo on Twitter