The Mirror’s “Why I Give” campaign begins

The Mirror’s “Why I Give” Campaign

As a nonprofit news organization, we reach out and ask for your support three times a year. With two months remaining in a contentious legislative session, now is one of those times.

The Connecticut Mirror’s “Why I Give” campaign begins today. We’ve turned the tables a bit and asked our readers why they donate to The Mirror, and to a larger extent, The Connecticut News Project, Inc., which also publishes Trend CT, our data publication, and CT Viewpoints, our opinion offering.

Over the next two months, we will share our readers’ thoughts through our morning briefing and social media streams. Some are poignant. Some are creative. All align with our mission to inform Connecticut’s residents through quality public-policy journalism.

We hope at least one thought resonates with you enough to support our organization with a tax-deductible donation.

We couldn’t use all our readers’ responses, but they were remarkably consistent and underscored our purpose and mission as a news organization. For instance:

Accountability: The Mirror has more journalists covering Connecticut’s Capitol than any other news organization in the state, and it is the only Connecticut news organization with a dedicated journalist in Washington, D.C. In fact, The Mirror has the second-largest statehouse reporting corps of any news organization in the country, according to a 2014 Pew study. The largest is in Texas, and it is also a nonprofit news organization.

In-Depth: Because of our health care, education and budget reporting, thousands of Connecticut organizations and residents in the social and human services sectors rely on The Mirror for extensive coverage and explanation of complex legislation being debated in Hartford and Washington.

Invaluable Service: The Mirror’s reporting is often linked in blogs, listservs and organizational newsletters, and is cited in academic papers, legislative materials and proposals. Several of the state’s newspapers also publish selected Mirror stories in print and online as part of their service to Connecticut residents. We also create an environment for discussion through our objective reporting and continue to do so in public with a number of offline and online events, including our Public Policy Series, Budget Unbundled Series and Google Hangouts.

Our organization is funded mostly through grants, sponsorships and syndication. Most of all, we rely on your support. Please consider supporting The Mirror through our “Why I Give” campaign. Without you, this does not happen.

Thank you for your support.

Brett Orzechowski
CEO/Publisher
The Connecticut Mirror/The Connecticut News Project, Inc.