We're still collecting donations
On the 7th June 2020 we'd raised £6,320 with 135 supporters in 28 days. But as every pound matters, we're continuing to collect donations from supporters.
Your support will help us secure match-funding so we can continue providing high-quality, Trusted news while helping the IW community
by OnTheWight in Ventnor, England, United Kingdom
On the 7th June 2020 we'd raised £6,320 with 135 supporters in 28 days. But as every pound matters, we're continuing to collect donations from supporters.
11 May: You amazing people! You’ve taken only TWO DAYS to get us to the initial funding target to unlock the Solent LEP match-funding.
Truly fantastic!
For those who haven’t yet had a chance to contribute - the project will be open a little longer. Any contributions will be most welcome - enabling us to firm up the position of News OnTheWight to weather the storm and grow stronger.
Thank you again to everyone who has supported us so far - both financially and also with your very kind and touching comments.
We feel very humbled.
Sally and Simon
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Since lockdown, despite us being busier than ever reporting the news, OnTheWight's income has pretty much dried up as Island businesses struggle with the impact of Covid-19 and all events have been cancelled.
News OnTheWight is one of the two million Limited companies across the nation that have fallen through the Government’s Covid-19 funding cracks - we have received no funding support at all.
We’re a tiny core team of two (Sally and Simon Perry) who are not able to furlough ourselves - and we’re not eligible for the small business grant, as we operate a virtual office to keep overheads down.
If we hit our target, your donation will have twice the impact, as the Solent LEP are pledging to match fund £1 for £1.
We welcome donations of any size - we know the Isle of Wight is made up of all sort of folks. You can do this with your name attached, or anonymously.
We also welcome businesses to pay for our services through this page too.
Your support will help us through this bump, so we can come out the other side stronger and more resilient. You will be directly helping publishing of quality, trustworthy news reporting on the Isle of Wight.
There has never been a more important time to have trust in news. Repeating rumours costs nothing, but news and responsible verification takes time and is therefore expensive – but so important for people to know what they're reading is factual.
OnTheWight goes to great lengths to verify information we provide (it’s part of the reason we gained a 100% rating from NewsGuard for news credibility and transparency) - It’s always been central to what we do.
It's been great to get some feedback from readers. Below are a couple of examples that gave us a warm glow.
One reader recently told OnTheWight,
“Thanks for the service you’ve continued to provide during this crisis – having a sense of stability is so important during a time like this, and there’s something quite reassuring about knowing you’re there for us Islanders! So thank you!”
Another OnTheWight supporter told us:
“The work you do has completely changed the landscape of this entirely magical little place 100% for the better. You are a HUGE asset to this community, and the thought of you being negatively impacted by a situation like this is awful, particularly as it’s times like this that people need quality information, non-sensationalist local news, local vision and OTW-style advocacy more than ever!
“Efficient regular local broadcasting of quality verified information could quite literally be a matter of life and death right now, and as one of a tiny minority of people lucky enough to have not been financially impacted by the current crisis, doing my bit to keep a vital service afloat with the petrol money I won’t be spending for the next 12 weeks is the very least that I can do.”
We ask project owners to honour their rewards wherever possible but please note that all pledges are donations and there is no guarantee that you will receive any rewards from the project owner. Please see Crowdfunder's Terms of Use for more information regarding rewards for pledges.
This project offered rewards