Tampa Bay Times launches annual fundraiser to support local news

Journalists at the Tampa Bay Times view our work as a calling. We are here to serve our community — bringing context to swirling news events, holding powerful figures to account, and delivering stories that no one else will tell.

We love this gig.

The Times remains independent and locally owned — a tremendous source of pride in a newspaper landscape increasingly dominated by hedge funds and sprawling publicly traded companies.

We may not be as big as we were when many of our most loyal readers first subscribed. But we are still the largest newsroom in Florida — by circulation and reporting firepower.

And that is largely because of you. We count on our community to help fulfill our core mission, through subscription and advertising revenue. And increasingly, through donations.

Today we launch our fourth annual, weeklong “It’s Your Times” fundraiser. The goal: $125,000.

Last year, more than 750 supporters contributed — a record number. Most of these folks have one thing in common: They subscribe. With your support, we raised $117,000 a year ago. The numbers have only grown each of the last two years. Let’s keep that going!

Contributions have ranged from $5 to $50,000. Most donations are under $100. Many of them arrive online or through the mail accompanied by kind messages of support and encouragement. You don’t know how much those messages brighten our day.

The money raised during this campaign represents a small percentage of the Times’ revenue picture, which predominantly still comes from advertising and subscriptions. But your donations make a huge difference. We could not keep as many local journalists employed without these contributions. If we hit our fundraising target this week, it will pay the salaries of two full-time journalists; it will help us obtain documents and databases as we hunt for more news; and it will allow us to occasionally send staff further afield on reporting trips across Florida to uncover even more stories.

The donations are spread throughout our newsroom, meaning that they pay for everything — from news to sports to entertainment and culture.

Last week, the newsroom recognized our best journalism produced over the first few months of 2024. These quarterly gatherings are inspiring reminders of the sheer talent that propels the Times news engine.

Among the work we applauded:

• A story by Max Chesnes and Christopher O’Donnell that exposed contaminated drinking water in Marion County.
• A story by Jack Prator about a mobile home park in Pinellas County where residents have been given a choice as hurricane season approaches — raise your home or leave.
• Stories produced by a team of 15 journalists who chronicled February’s tragic Clearwater plane crash and its aftermath.
• A story by O’Donnell and Ian Hodgson that highlighted a surge in opioid prescriptions at Publix pharmacies across Florida.
• A story by Tony Marrero and Lesley Cosme Torres detailing a fatal encounter at a Tampa dog park.
• A remarkable four-part series from Rebecca Liebson and Teghan Simonton, who revealed a spike in corporate ownership of rental properties around Tampa Bay, and the consequences.

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We have much more in store as 2024 hums along. Times journalists are diligently at work, producing an array of watchdog, narrative and explanatory projects. Our newsroom generates more than two dozen original stories each day that break news, shine a light or keep you in the know.

Your contributions help make all of this journalism happen.

You can give safely and securely online at our campaign website. Or you can mail a check payable to the Tampa Bay Times. Be sure to write “It’s Your Times” in the memo line and direct it to the attention of Annica Keeler, our development and community relations director. Here’s the address:

Tampa Bay Times

490 First Ave. S.

St. Petersburg, FL 33704

Contributions are tax-deductible because they go through our nonprofit owner, the Poynter Institute, which acts as our fiscal sponsor. You can double the impact with a matching gift from your employer.

You’ve probably seen recent news of layoffs or buyouts at news organizations, including The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Business Insider, Time magazine and Sports Illustrated. I don’t have to tell you that journalism needs you. And, more than ever, our community needs us.

Thanks to your generosity, the Times will keep delivering distinctive news that makes Tampa Bay a stronger, more informed place to call home.