Nov.-Dec.: Your Roundabout support gets NewsMatched
November 3, 2025
Photo by Gordon Miller
Dear readers,
As “November” sits atop the calendar now, it’s clear we’re nearing the finish line for 2025. We don’t know what lies ahead for the coming year. But before we get caught up in imagining the possibilities, we have some good news to share.
For the second year in a row, Waterbury Roundabout has qualified to participate in the Institute for Nonprofit News NewsMatch year-end fundraising program.
INN, a trade organization for about 500 nonprofit news outlets around the U.S., has rallied the support of philanthropic organizations to offer matching funds to leverage support for local news in the communities that INN members serve.
Last year was the first time the Roundabout participated in NewsMatch, and we were thrilled with the results.
Since we launched in 2020, the end of the year has always been a popular time for our readers to chip in with contributions. But in 2024, you rose to meet the NewsMatch challenge. We were excited to see many first-time contributions, along with many more occasional contributors signing up to give monthly.
Along the way, several local charitable funds kicked in and we qualified for some additional matching support through INN from a foundation looking to support news outlets in New England.
When all was said and done, our donations and the matching funds they qualified for totaled just over $50,000.
That was a great start heading into the new year!
This year, we are one of the 422 print and online news organizations on the list for NewsMatch to match November-December fundraising once again, and we are counting on readers to work their magic.
Know that all individual contributions up to $1,000 will be matched dollar-for-dollar by NewsMatch. In turn, the funds raised from supporters and the match have no strings attached. They may be used for general operating expenses, allowing each news organization to spend them on whatever is most important for covering their communities.
How can you help?
If you already give monthly to the Roundabout, you need not do anything more. Your contributions in November and December will be counted and matched.
If you give occasionally or you haven’t made a contribution yet this year, know that all contributions we receive through Dec. 31 will count towards the match.
Here’s a cool feature of the match -> New sign-ups for monthly contributions will be matched at the amount equal to a 12-month donation. (So, if you sign up to give $5/mo., NewsMatch will match that with $60 to the Roundabout.) They also will additionally match if someone increases their monthly contribution.
We can accept donations from businesses and organizations that can qualify for their own match on a lesser scale than the 1:1 match for individual contributions.
Help spread the word by sharing this post with friends, co-workers, neighbors and family members.
The easiest way to chip in to support the Roundabout is online through our fundraising page here. Contributions made online go through our fiscal sponsor, the Vermont Journalism Trust, the 501c3 parent nonprofit to VTDigger. That allows them to be tax-deductible. You also may write a check. Find those instructions with the mailing address here.
Like every other newspaper in Vermont, and around our country for that matter, we are looking to build the winning combination of financial support to keep our small online news outlet running. The 20th-century model with pages of advertising and readers paying at the newsstand or for a subscription are over.
If a community values having local news, it needs to make it happen. We think having real journalism at the grassroots level is still vital for people to be informed and connected in their communities. We know many of you agree because we see how many visits our website receives every day.
The success of this NewsMatch campaign will be a big factor in how the Waterbury Roundabout continues in its role in 2026.
Please help us make it a success.
And, as always, thanks for reading.
Lisa Scagliotti, editor
Gordon Miller, photographer
Julia Bailey-Wells, digital editor
Find more information online about NewsMatch here.
See a 2024 Roundabout post here with more about the NewsMatch program.
Photo by Gordon Miller