To our readers: Make supporting local news part of your Giving Tuesday plans

The future of local news is in your hands.

This Giving Tuesday and as you review your year-end giving plans, I hope you’ll consider supporting your local, independent online news outlet: the Springfield Daily Citizen.

Like other nonprofit organizations, we rely on the support of donors like you to fulfill our mission.

And today we have a special opportunity: your donation will take you three times as far!

A group of generous local donors have committed $10,000 in additional funding, so any donation today will be doubled, up to that total. For their support of the Daily Citizen, I would especially like to thank these donors for their challenge gifts: Gloria Galanes, Gordon and Laura Kinne, Mattax Neu Prater Eye Center, John E. Moore, Mark and Lisa Nelson, and Gail and Clif Smart Charitable Fund.

The Daily Citizen was founded about three years ago with the generous support of people like you. Under the leadership of our founder, Tom Carlson, we have raised $3.7 million to cover the costs of establishing and growing our operations over an initial period of five to six years.

We continue to build a base of paying subscribers and revenue from local businesses and organizations who partner with us because they support our mission and see the value we bring to their news and advertising.

The total number of paid subscribers reaches the milestone

In fact, we just reached a special milestone with 3,000 paid subscribers.

We’re still more than two months away from our third anniversary, but the Daily Citizen is exceeding many of our launch goals.

• The number of subscribers has increased by around 950 compared to the previous year.
• More than 22,000 people receive our daily email newsletter, around 7,600 more than a year ago.
• Traffic to our website and app continues to increase strongly, bucking some national trends in news readership. This year, page views are expected to increase by about 25 percent compared to 2023, although page views in November were about 70 percent higher than a year ago.

Your donations to date have helped establish the Daily Citizen as the leading source of original news and feature reporting in the greater Springfield area.

Our staff has grown to 15 people, including nine full-time journalists. This makes our newsroom larger than some long-standing media outlets such as the Springfield News-Leader and the Springfield Business Journal.

In addition, we have a cadre of experienced contributors who support our staff in reporting on local government, education, local elections, business, courts and public safety, as well as sports, outdoor recreation, arts, culture and other topics that reflect life here Springfield area. All that, plus columns by Steve Pokin, a full calendar, and obituaries and obituaries.

Additionally, the Daily Citizen provides the most consistent and in-depth coverage of local public affairs, such as: E.g., the quality of K-12 schools, domestic violence, economic development, the lack of child care, and many other issues.

Mission to inform and be a catalyst for good

Our mission is to educate our community and be a catalyst for good. We don’t just focus on the negative, but we also celebrate the many positive aspects of our community. Our leaders are all here in Springfield and all are invested in the future quality of life here. We are a non-profit organization and are proud to be 100% local and independent.

This Giving Tuesday, I hope you’ll consider donating to support quality local journalism.

Thank you for investing in the future of Springfield and the future of the Springfield Daily Citizen.

David Stoeffler

David Stoeffler is the managing director of the Springfield Daily Citizen. He has more than 40 years of experience in the news business and has worked as a reporter, editor and news manager in Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa, Arizona and Missouri. You can email him at [email protected] or call 417-837-3664. More from David Stoeffler