28 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY OCTOBER 22-28, 2026 www.montereycountynow.com THE NEW MODEL TO FUND JOURNALISM INSIDER INSIDER JOIN US NOW Go online at insider.montereycountynow.com Or by mail: 668 Williams Ave., Seaside, CA 93955 Your contribution level: $500 $150 $50 $20 $15 $10 Other $_______ Contribution schedule: Monthly Annual One-time Name_________________________________________________________________________ Address_ ______________________________________________________________________ City, State, Zip__________________________________________________________________ Email_ __________________________________ Phone________________________________ May we include your name in public acknowledgments? Yes How would you like your name to appear___________________________________________ No, I would prefer to be anonymous Payment: Credit card number_ ____________________________________________________________ Expiration date __________________________CVV code_ _____________________________ Name/Billing address (if different from above) ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ For more info: linda@montereycountynow.com (831) 394-5656 102226 The Impact You Can Make As a business and a journalism enterprise, we here at the Weekly are both lucky and good. As I hope you have gleaned from the preceding couple of pages, we’ve earned awards, delivered impactful local stories and increased the number of people we employ. We deliver good journalism week in and week out; our advertising base, while diminished, remains solid and we live in a place that backs up its values with generosity. But the deck is stacked against us. We have operated for close to 40 years on the notion that if we produce trustworthy writing, we will attract an interested and dedicated audience. In turn, we have then gone to business owners in the community and suggested that they run ads in our pages and on our digital platforms to invite that audience to come do business with them. It was and is an elegant transactional relationship. You will find many of the most successful businesses in the county advertising in our pages and on our platforms. Without them we wouldn’t be here. The next time you find yourself patronizing an advertiser, please tell them you saw their ad in our pages. It is against that backdrop that we initiated our Weekly Insider program in 2020. Since that time we have been buoyed by the results. In the current media landscape, direct financial support from readers is a vital part of a sustainable business model. It too is elegant; it’s a connected relationship where the people who value local and independent journalism help underwrite the costs. We have also embarked on direct appeals to foundations and philanthropic partners to make contributions via our fiscal sponsor and we are happy to report that this new model is working. In the past year we received four major grants of $20,000 or more. At the same time over 4,400 of your friends and neighbors have made a direct financial contribution to fund our work, joining a select group we call Weekly Insiders. Those investments have been put to good use: they have helped to fund the startup costs of Salinas Valley Now and our newsroom expansion. If you are not yet one of them, and you value the paper, the newsletters and the websites, this is our request for you to take action. Will you join them and make a contribution today? If you are already an Insider, or an advertiser, allow us to thank you again. Your support helps us deliver great journalism. —Erik Cushman, Publisher 4,428 Total number of Insiders 250 Goal for new Insiders in October 2026 $172/year Average contribution level THE AVERAGE CONTRIBUTION LEVEL IS UP 40% INSIDERS Source: LGL constituent report 10/26
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