It’s NB Media Co-op Membership Month!

Dear NB Media Co-op members and supporters,

It is once again membership month, our primary fundraising drive! It is also an opportunity for all of us at the NB Media Co-op to thank our wonderful supporters who make the work possible. In these very difficult times, we are proud that together we have built a living archive of struggle, solidarity and community building within and beyond New Brunswick.

2025 is marked by new and enduring challenges at home and abroad; a looming federal election, deepening poverty, unfettered power for the billionaire class, genocide, and overt fascism south of the border. The NB Media Co-op will continue to bring you rigorous, independent and socially just journalism in a province marked by a concentration of media ownership

You likely know that we are a small not-for-profit co-operative news outlet run mostly by volunteers. It took us several years, but we finally reached our dream of hiring staff, first a part-time manager (funded by donations) and then a full-time journalist (funded by the Local Journalism Initiative). Last year, our board focused on improving staff benefits and developing policy to support good working conditions.

However, this is not an easy time for us and frankly we need more financial support. Public funding for independent journalism is precarious at best and amidst global uncertainty, even more so.  Any amount you can give will help sustain our collective work during these “lean” and unsettling times.

We are asking for your help as we launch our annual Membership Month fundraising campaign.
Our goal is to increase our total monthly donations to $1,800. This amount would, for example, largely cover the wages for our part-time manager who is essential to the functioning of the Media Co-op. To meet our fundraising goal, we would need:

• 32 new members to give $20/month, or
• 64 existing members to increase their monthly donations by $10 a month

Please make a donation or renew your membership here and share this email with your networks. 

And we have two prizes!

• One prize by draw for anyone who makes a donation in March
• A second prize by draw for anyone who makes a new monthly donation or increases an existing monthly donation. These donors will still be entered in the first draw.

Prizes are books from Goose Lane Editions. Goose Lane Editions, Canada’s oldest independent publisher, is located in Fredericton on the unceded territory of the Wəlastəkwiyik. Whether it’s homegrown Canadian fiction, singular collections of poetry, books on contemporary art, or courageous stances on environmental issues and global politics, Goose Lane provides book lovers with great reads that inspire, spur conversation, and stimulate minds.

What are we doing with your money?
It is important to us that you know where your donations are going. We are very fortunate that our full-time video journalist David Gordon Koch is currently financed by annual grants via the Local Journalism Initiative – we are grateful for this support funded by Heritage Canada and administered by CACTUS (Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations). However, this funding will run out at the end of this fiscal period, and we are uncertain about the likelihood of renewal for another year.

We rely on financial support from members and from organized labour to provide an alternative, independent voice in our province. Donations, whether monthly or one time, are currently being used to cover the wages of our wonderful part-time manager, Jigmet Angmo. Jigmet runs our social media accounts, ensures distribution of The Brief/En Bref, manages membership, participates in budgeting, prepares stories for publication on the website, provides vital support to the editorial team and the board of directors, and improves content and design of our website.

Securing funding for our paid positions sustains the NB Media Co-op’s work, helps to address our budget deficit for 2024-2025, and further improves the employment conditions of our employees by reducing precarity. Any additional funds are used to support other activities of the NB Media Co-op including printing of The Brief, equipment and translation services for public facing events.

What kinds of stories do we cover?
The NB Media Co-op brings you critical, conscientious stories about the big issues including the genocide in Gaza, the work of organized labour, gendered oppression, Indigenous rights, and racism. We strive to centre the voices of equity-denied folx and to showcase solidarity, resistance, care, and creative work that contributes to building more just futures.

Help us bring the news of the people to New Brunswick in these times of uncertainty when an independent, community building media voice is more important than ever.

Thank you so much.

In Solidarity,
Tracy, Sarah, Susan, Dave and Tobin
The NB Media Co-op Board of Directors