It’s Journo Resources’ Third Birthday And We Need Your Help
This week, three years ago, I registered a domain name in my bedroom at about 3am and started building one of the world’s most shonky websites. Things have changed a fair bit since (for starters I’ve canned the incredibly weird cover image), and the project has grown into something much bigger than I ever thought. But now we need your help. And in return, we’ve got some pretty cool gifts for you.
I started Journo Resources because I was frustrated. Starting out in the journalism industry it was painfully obvious that the newsrooms I was working in didn’t reflect society. And when our newsrooms don’t reflect society, we lose trust and miss the stories that really matter.
The latest figures aren’t pretty. Ninety per cent of journalists are white, just 11 per cent are working class (compared to some 60 per cent of the population), and some 80 per cent of editors were educated at Oxbridge. Nearly two-thirds of all journalists are employed in London and the South East, compared with just 29 per cent of all employment. It’s clear we’ve got a problem.
“I just wanted to say a massive thank you. A few months ago I applied to an internship after spotting it on your site. I was finding it really tough to get started in journalism and I felt like I would never get in. I start on Monday!!”
Across the last three years, we’ve been working to change that. In 2018 alone, more than 1,500 people came to a Journo Resources event, from Cork to Manchester, getting practical advice and tools to help them break into the industry. More than two-thirds said they left feeling more confident about their future careers, and all agreed they gained practical advice.
Our site is the only place you can find the tools and resources to help you when you’re starting out in your career. We’ve got all the graduate schemes, we only list jobs that tell you how much they pay, and we make sure you know how much you should be paid and exactly how other people put their pitches together. Now, we’ve visited almost 30,000 times every month. But we know we can do more.
We Need To Raise At Least £250 A Month
Last year, thanks to the incredible support of Women in Journalism, I was able to go part-time on my day job to work on Journo Resources for a full two days a week. We’ve had some incredible wins, but the past year has shown me just how little time two days a week really is, especially when you’re juggling putting together events, writing weekly content, social media, and updating our resources (and that isn’t even the half of it).
That’s where you come in. Our editorial resources are some of the most important parts of the site and we want to safeguard them for the future, as well as giving opportunities to young people looking for their first break in journalism. We want more things like our interviews with Megha Mohan and Charlie Brinkhurst Cuff, more lists like this one of the best LGBT+ journalists about, and more things like an editor’s insight of what they want from your pitch.
To make this happen, we need to raise at least £250 a month in regular donations. This will go directly towards our editorial output. It will pay for our editorial assistant (the amazing Alex Ekong) to work for five hours a week at London Living Wage (about £211 a month). It will pay for us to commission some amazing writers you haven’t heard of yet to write pieces (at £120 a piece and £150 for a day shift), and we’ll be able to make more in-depth guides about the topics you need to know about most.
“Thanks for giving me more confidence, you’re the people I turn too.”
That means we need at least 84 people to give us just three pounds a month. That works out at just 69p a week (which isn’t even a coffee), and all the cash will go directly to making more resources to help more people. All you need to do is sign up for a Ko-fi account and then head to the Journo Resources Ko-fi page where you can pledge to give £3 a month.
What You’ll Get (Yes, There’s Swag)
If you sign up to support us on a regular basis, firstly, we want to say a massive thank you. We couldn’t do this work without you, and every donation makes a huge difference.
“Thank you for all your work on Journo Resources. I literally check it every day. God knows how anyone got anywhere without it.”
But also, we want to make sure you get some swag as a thank you. Because everyone likes free swag. If you sign up to be a monthly supporter, you’ll receive:
- Your choice of one of our limited edition pin badges, delivered to your door soon after we reach our crowdfunding target.
- A beautiful freelance journalism notebook for all your ideas, delivered after six months of support (and in time for the New Year).
- A monthly curated email letting you know what your support has enabled us to do, as well as an early preview of our upcoming plans.
- And still, a warm fuzzy feeling that you’re helping talented young journalists make it in this industry, whatever their background.
You can support us on Ko-Fi from just £3 a month. All you need to do is sign up for an account here and then head to our page and click the monthly option.
