Aspen Daily News raises funds

Numerous papers are raising money through donations.

TownNews cites a case in point: their client Aspen Daily News.

When TownNews announced the Support Local Journalism initiative, David Cook, the paper’s publisher, took swift action to participate. “We contacted TownNews customer support and the next day we started collecting donations from our community.

“The support has been unbelievable! We've raised over $42,000 from more than 600 donors in just six weeks (as of May 12),” Cook said. “We've proven we truly are an asset to the community by finding new ways of communicating, doubling down on our methodology of storytelling, and just being direct with our readers.”

The paper also launched two multimedia features. The Upload weekly podcast is presented by a local sponsor and recaps the week's news.

The Daily Update is a series created by the video news team with guests including elected officials and area health experts.

The paper runs a full-page ad thanking people by name for their donation.

“Aspen being Aspen, we've had some very wealthy donors come through, but it's not even about the amount,” Cook said. “It's the fact that the Resnick family, for example, cares enough about Aspen Daily News to give some cash. One of the most heartwarming things is that we've had four ex-mayors donate, ex-council members, literally every mayor that's still alive in Aspen donate. It's been spectacular to see the diverse range of people.”

News and Tech