Donate to Matter News today and support independent nonprofit news

Most of you who read Matter News are interested in the subjects we’re writing about and less so how the behind-the-scenes machinery turns. And honestly, this tracks. But! Because creating an independent site like this that is actually sustainable is such a rare thing, I wanted to pause and give a short update on where things stand. If this doesn’t interest you, feel free to return to our homepage and read more of the daily coverage we provide. The rest of you, carry on.

Today marks roughly two years since I stepped in as the editor of this site (it’s also the launch of our annual NewsMatch fundraising campaign – more on that later). I spent more than 20 years as a journalist before taking this position, and this place gives me a greater sense of personal satisfaction than anywhere I’ve worked, because of the freedom it allows, but also because of the direct relationship I have with our readers. There is no larger corporate entity or any special interest group dictating who or what we cover. This is truly a publication that will either survive or die based on you believing this place is worth supporting.

To that end, if you have the means to donate to Matter News, this is the time to do it. During NewsMatch, all one-time donations are matched dollar for dollar by the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN), along with our generous Community Match Partners: The Johnstone Fund for New Music, Rebecca Perry Damsen, Beers and Board Games Columbus and Compton Construction. If you sign up as a recurring monthly member, your donation will be matched 12 times. Also, since we are a registered 501(c)(3), all donations made to Matter News are 100 percent tax deductible.

You also might have noticed that there is no paywall when you visit Matter News. And there never will be. When the founders created this site, they did so with the intent of keeping their journalism free and open to all. As a philosophical matter, this is a mission we will continue to embrace. As an economic matter, it is only possible when the people who can afford to pay for the journalism actually do so. Becoming a donor not only supports the work we’ve done and will continue to do, but it also supports access for those readers who might not be able to pay for a subscription. It’s a way to support the wider Columbus community.

If you enjoy reading this site, or you find it useful in any way, or you 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 paid subscriber now.

Here’s a quick look back at just a handful of the features that your support helped us to produce in 2024, and that you couldn’t find anywhere else in Columbus:

• -In July, a Columbus resident took a picture of a man carrying a goose carcass on the city’s North Side, an image later used to falsely advance a racist right-wing campaign aimed at Haitian immigrants living in Springfield, Ohio. We explored the impact of having your photo hijacked and used to spread disinformation.
• -Earlier this year, around 40 Columbus residents were moved from tent encampments to an East Side motel as part of a program initiated by the Community Shelter Board that has drawn criticisms from participants and staff. We took a deep dive into the program and its looming closure. Shortly after publication, CSB announced the program would not be shuttered, and current residents would be able to remain until more permanent housing solutions became available.
• -When attentions turned to the cosmos the week of the total solar eclipse, we reached out to incarcerated folks housed within the band of totality to learn if prison administrators were planning to allow them to view the once-in-a-lifetime event. We then followed up with them in the aftermath.
• -In May, we teamed with Columbus Monthly to take a deep dive into the case of Christopher Brenner Cook, a Columbus man convicted in a white supremacist terror plot to attack the power grid.
• – We looked at a contentious fight over a proposed affordable housing build in Bexley, which proved indicative of the larger housing debate taking place throughout Columbus and its surrounding suburbs.
• – Founded in 1998, Skylab Gallery has long existed as an essential part of the city’s DIY scene, but with the current residents threatened with a November eviction, the status of the space is currently in question. We took a look back at the history of Skylab and its importance within the arts community amid growing questions about its future.

Obviously, these features barely scratch the surface of the work we did this past year. We also published monthly columns focused on development, local politics and the opioid crisis – not to mention daily cultural coverage that unquestionably stands as the best in the city. (How many Columbus artists, authors and musicians would have gone unmentioned in their hometown this year were it not for Matter News?)

And this is only the beginning. With your support, we have plans to continue to expand our coverage and reach moving into 2025.

I’m still as excited about what the future could hold for this publication as I was when I first stepped into this role a couple of years back. Thanks as always for reading. And much, much more to come.