Here’s What We Spent To Produce The News In 2022

So far in 2022 we’ve brought you over 100 original stories including in-depth news reporting, powerful opinion pieces and editorial columns. We’ve expanded our newsletter distribution to reach thousands of local readers and our website distribution to more than 12,000 unique readers a month. We’ve shared about Shasta Scout’s groundbreaking local news service on podcasts, radio shows, in digital publications and at two national conferences. And we’ve done it for significantly less than the cost of a single reporter’s salary. 

What we’ve accomplished with so little this year is not sustainable, of course, but it’s proof that we have the passion, persistence, and ingenuity to build a news service that is. 

Today we’re sharing a broad overview of our expenses for three reasons.

• Because we know news is a public service and transparency matters
• Because we’re proud of how much we’ve accomplished with very little
• Because understanding the challenges ahead may inspire you to help us meet them

Transparency Matters:

Shasta Scout is for the people, not for profit or power. We’re independent and nonprofit news, and we’re part of a wave of new media organizations that are rising up across the nation in response to a significant deficit of trustworthy, fact-based, nonpartisan local news. We don’t answer to corporate interests and we’re not here to make money. We exist to seek to understand and respond to the needs of our community, including each of you.

Our Expenses:

In 2022, our expenses went mostly to support reporting stories, getting the word out about those stories and our work, and the administrative support needed to keep a news service running. 

We spent a total of only $47,000. But it’s important to emphasize that while this is what we spent,  it’s not the real cost of the news we produced. Because we relied mostly on the labor of a full time volunteer we were able to save a significant amount of our first-year revenue, helping us build a runway into a successful, and more sustainable second year, and build to our first full time hire.

The Challenge Ahead:

We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished but we know we have a lot of growing to do in 2023 as we move towards our goal of becoming your primary source of trusted local news. 

Our goals for 2023 include:

• Doubling our reporting efforts to begin to meet the high demand for critically important Shasta County news.
  • That would mean building up to at least 230 stories in 2023, an average of more than four each week, doubling our existing content costs.

• Doubling our distribution to reach more Shasta County residents with the news they want and need
  • That would mean reaching more than 20,000 unique readers on our site each month, representing a quarter of all Shasta County households.

Here’s How You Can Help:

To help fund this growth, we need to double the number of readers who donate monthly to support Shasta Scout.

Small donations really add up to create powerful impact. In 2022 so far, just 100 readers have donated a combined $14,000 by giving an average of just $14/month! Thank you!

Because your donations translate into real expenses getting paid, we need to double reader support if we’re going to be able to double our stories and reach in 2023. Luckily, we have an opportunity to do just that this month.

In December, NewsMatch has agreed to double all new monthly donations and continue to do so throughout the next year, turning your monthly $10/month donation into $240 for Shasta Scout in 2023 – making this a big opportunity for our small newsroom.

Plus if we bring on 100 new donors this month, we’ll also get an extra $1,000 from NewsMatch! That bonus alone could pay for all of our bookkeeping in 2023. 

What do you say? We’re still 94 new members away from hitting 200 paying supporters and with more than $50,000 on the line between the potential matching funds and new reader support, it’s a big moment for Shasta Scout. If another one hundred readers jump on board, we’ll be able to do more storytelling, reach more people and work toward a more connected Shasta County community in 2023. Join us! Donate today.