Inside LINK is a weekly column from our CEO, Lacy Starling. If you have questions you’d like Lacy to answer, email her at [email protected].
When I moved to the region nearly 16 years ago, my first job was with United Way of Greater Cincinnati. I spent my first year running United Way campaigns for more than 180 companies in the tri-state.
Having only visited the area briefly before moving here, it was a thrown-in-the-deep-end education. As I crisscrossed the city, I learned about the differences between the West Side (impossible to navigate, especially pre-GPS) and the East Side (everything is twice as expensive) and was astonished that no one EVER wanted to cross the river to do anything.
My most significant takeaway from that time, though, was that folks here are generous. And not just the wealthy. I was humbled by the generosity of working-class folks in the factories and warehouses where I would go speak about the mission of United Way. As a percentage of income, those hourly wage workers were often much more generous than the executives I’d court for large-dollar donations.
So two weeks ago, when we kicked off our first-ever fund drive to support the NKY Community Journalism Fund, I knew that the capacity for giving in Northern Kentucky was deep. And y’all did not disappoint.
Over the course of the past two weeks, donations to support our public-interest journalism have rolled in. We didn’t do any outside advertising, and mostly just talked about it here on our site, but you all heard and were generous.
I get an email every time someone donates, and as those emails filled my inbox, I was once again humbled by the capacity for giving in our community. Most of our donors are sending us $5 or $10 a month – folks who find value in what we do and want to help us keep doing it.
And, because of the generosity of a larger donor, every dollar that was contributed in the fall fund drive was matched 2:1, making every single one of those donations much more valuable.
It is humbling that so many people want to support our work, in big and small ways. We are so grateful, and in keeping with our guiding principles, we promise to be Good Stewards of the resources you’ve given us.
(And, if you missed the fund drive, but still want to contribute, we’re grateful for your support, too. Donate here.)
So, on this Thanksgiving Day, when we’re all thinking about the things we’re grateful for, I want to thank you, Northern Kentucky. Thank you for being a home for our independent, local, public-interest journalism. Thank you for the faith you’ve placed in us to tell your stories. And thank you for supporting us in all the ways that you have.