President of Kent News, Inc., the publisher of the Kent Good Times Dispatch
It is with great enthusiasm that we announce Kent News Inc., the nonprofit publisher of the Kent GTD, has reached the six-month mark of publishing the GTD.
The milestone comes with even better news: KNI recently received the matching monies of the generous funds raised at the end of last year through the Fund for Nonprofit News (NewsMatch) at The Miami Foundation.
Our number of readers continues to grow – we’re at almost 60,000 article reads and 19,000 unique readers to date – and so has the support from the community and from grant opportunities.
In November and December, we raised a total of $45,750.
We began raising these funds after learning of our acceptance into the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN) NewsMatch grant program which would match funds up to $13,000 through the end of 2023.
The community response was immediate and generous. We exceeded our original goal of $13,000 by $884, received a $13,000 matching Community Grant from a friend of the GTD, and qualified for several bonuses, including one for having over 75 new donors. More than 100 unique donors participated, with an average donation of $130. Our donors came not only from Kent and Connecticut, but also from 12 states and one foreign country (Spain).
We could not have done this without the support of each reader and those of you who supported us with contributions, big and small.
You are the reason why we do this, and your belief in us has made it possible for you to have important news and information about the town, your friends and neighbors, and area events, delivered to you Thursdays.
And we’ve only just begun.
Each week, the number of unique visitors to www.kentgtd.org increases, and we welcome new advertisers. We continue to actively pursue grants and look for substantial sustaining donor foundations and/or individuals.
When KNI starts its second full fiscal year in July, I will step down as president and turn the daily operation of KNI over to the younger members of the board. I will direct my energies toward the publication’s sustainability.
We are currently working on plans for the future, which, based on funding, may include the ability to hire the editor full time, increasing the amount of freelance reporting, adding community reporters and columnists, increasing photography, expanding the calendar and making the GTD sustainable into the future.
This is a team effort, and we need you.
If there is something you would like to see us do with the newspaper, please let us know. We want to hear what you think about the job we are doing now. Your accolades help us raise money and your criticisms help us improve.
As we prepare for a change of leadership, let’s all work together to make the GTD the best little Newspaper in New England!
