CVILLE's ASK

After 36 years as a for-profit weekly newspaper, C-VILLE started asking for donations. So, what's the plan?

C-VILLE Weekly, which has been a free, for-profit newspaper for 36 years, recently began asking for donations. It started during the pandemic and last year they launched an official fundraising campaign called Save the Free Word. As the campaign reveals, its cost $26,245 to produce a single issue of the paper, and while the $20K they raised last year was a good start, they’ve got a long way to go. By comparison, the non-profit news website Charlottesville Tomorrow raised over $1 million through donations and grants in 2023, according to tax filings, and CEO and Editor-in-Chief Angilee Shah says they are on track to continue that trajectory.

Still, it’s remarkable that so many people having been willing to donate to C-VILLE Weekly. So far this year, they have raised just over $26K from 381 donors, including one personal donation from Shah.

“I think it is vit…