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A Letter from the Editor:

When I started at Matter News four years ago, it was a leap of faith. 

Just months before accepting the position, I had left behind a job in the corporate media world, and there were risks in signing on to help reimagine an independent nonprofit. Would there be community support for it? Could we marshal the resources to not only put down roots but to grow? And would there be continued interest in the kind of in-depth cultural and community coverage we planned to bring daily to our website, free of paywalls and obtrusive pop-up ads?

The answer to all of these questions has proven to be a resounding yes.

It’s an incredible feeling to look back over the last four years and be able to say that the faith I had in taking this job has been backed by that of the wider Columbus community. This is a publication that only exists because your actions have shown that you believe it is one worth supporting.

In the past year, we have done our best to live up to that belief, delivering what I believe to be the best cultural coverage in the city while expanding on a deep well of community features diving into everything from the impacts of ICE and the expansion of surveillance technologies to the experiences of unhoused people forcibly evicted from the land.

Here are the five most-read stories we’ve published so far this year:

1. Dublin Scioto High School students conduct walkout in response to ICE
2. Evolved Body Art wrestles with accountability
3. The age of Damon Zex
4. Fear, uncertainty grip Mohan Karki following his deportation by ICE
5. Ohio State development plans fuel concerns about the future of the Wexner Center film theater 

Stories like these are part of what led the Ohio chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists to name Matter News the best general news site in the state among digital publications in 2025 – one in a growing stack of awards we continued to add to this year, taking home a half-dozen honors in statewide contests, including first place in Investigative Reporting and Best Editorial/Criticism Writing from SPJ.

But we’re not content with simply treading water. Each of the last three years, we have invested more in our freelance budget. (Perhaps you read Larkin Cleland’s report on the thousands of trips COTA has missed this year.) And we’re continually working to seek out and develop new partnerships, most recently teaming with Signal Ohio to make Matter News the home of Columbus Documenters – a group of trained community members paid to report on public meetings. This comes after we partnered with Cringe to bring you one of the most trusted, robust events calendars in the city.

There are many ways you can help to support this kind of work. You can sign up for our free weekly email, share our stories on social media, or attend any of the (numerous) events we have scheduled over these next two months, beginning with our campaign kickoff, Local Brews with Local News, which takes place from 6-9 p.m. at Seventh Son Brewing on Thursday, Nov. 12.

Also, be sure to mark your calendar for our annual Silent Art Auction, which takes place both online and in person at Streetlight Guild on Wednesday, Nov. 18, featuring work from more than 45 local artists. (Watch for future emails with more information.)

And yet, the hard reality is that your donations are what enable us to publish these kinds of stories free for anyone who wants to read them.

This last point truly matters. Increasingly, the collapse of the traditional journalism model has led to higher quality writing and reporting being moved behind paywalls, leaving lower income people with less access to good information than higher income people. When someone with the financial means to make a donation to Matter News does so, it helps to preserve access for those who cannot.

With this in mind, if you have the means to donate to Matter News, now is the time to do it.

During the campaign, all one-time donations are matched dollar for dollar by NewsMatch, along with our generous Community Match Partners: Zoe and Jack Johnstone, Rebecca J. Perry and Ben Towle, the Wiley Family Foundation, the Starkers, and Cordial Cocktail Club and Bottle Shop. 

Even better, if you sign up as a recurring monthly member, your donation will be matched 12 times. And since we are a registered 501(c)(3), all donations made to Matter News are 100 percent tax deductible.

If you enjoy reading this site and would like to see it continue to grow and evolve, providing the kind of coverage that is often lacking in the city, it would be incredibly helpful to become a supporting member today by making a recurring donation.

I’m still as excited about what the future could hold for Matter News as I was when I first stepped into this role. Thanks as always for reading. And as always, much more to come.