Triad City Beat started as an idea long before the first issue hit the streets on February 26, 2014. It began as a conversation among three journalists who had the audacity to ask the question:

What if we could do better?

• What if we covered the news and viewpoints that the other media orgs are missing?
• What if we dug harder to get at the truth in our communities?
• What if we refused to spike stories that influential people did not want us to print?
• What if we refused to curry favor among those with money and power?
• What if we refused to compromise our editorial vision?

And so we started, just the three of us, with the sum total of our life savings and everything we could beg or borrow. It amounted to about $47,000 — it wasn't enough and we knew it, but we did it anyway.

For five years we operated under this structure, growing slowly each cycle. Then the pandemic hit, absolutely eviscerating just about all of our revenue. We covered the news anyway — local testing centers, the Racial Reckoning of summer 2020, the build-up to the vaccine, the gradual re-opening of our cities. 

Somehow, we stayed alive.

Now, we are 10 years in and to continue providing you with unbiased, excellent journalism YOU expect and deserve, and the local perspective in election coverage, we need YOUR support.

We are raising funds for what comes next:

• A dedication to local news, with a pledge to expend our resources right here, where we live, work and play
• Strong election coverage and stories about those most affected by those decisions made at the local level
• Stories and perspectives that would not get covered without us

Over the last 10 years we've had a staff turnover, created new streams of revenue, changed our print schedule to every other week and re-envisioned TCB for what comes next. At the same time, legacy print publications in Greensboro and Winston-Salem began to atrophy, then wither. There are fewer than half the number of reporters covering our cities as there were when we started in 2014, just as we have an important election coming up. Even though we are the smallest paper in the Triad, we must step up to fill this vacuum with whatever resources we can muster.

We're hoping to raise $23,500 to develop and expand these plans. All donations are tax-deductible.

Will you help us reach our goal?

• Click "Register" and create your own campaign to help us out! Be sure to share with friends, family and colleagues via email and social media.
• If you register, you promise to raise at least $100. It's as easy as getting 10 friends to chip in $10 each. Keep your campaign momentum by continuing to share and contact people until the campaign ends in June 2024.
• Use #WSNC, #HighPoint or #SoGSO hashtags
• A simple donation is great too! Just click "Donate 4 Local News."

Your generous donation helps ensure the future of local, independent news in the Triad.

We ask that you share this campaign via email and social media, and we thank you for your support.