Support & subscribe

Thank you for your interest in supporting The Lawrence Times!

Our site is open for all to read, and we want to keep it that way. But we need community members to pay what they can to support the Times in order for our tiny startup to keep doing this work.

Every single subscriber makes a difference. Your dollars are directly supporting local journalists and putting food on our tables, and we appreciate you.

Please choose a Support subscription for $7.85 a month; a Solidarity subscription for $14 a month; or you can name your own price. You can also sign up for an annual subscription.

Our Support subscription is just 26 cents a day. If our work is worth that much to you, please help us keep this dream alive.

Why subscribe? Click here to read more about our vision.

… And by the way, have you heard our huge news?

There are several other ways to help make sure we can stick around:

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And look for these buttons ⤵ on every post. Please share our news coverage far and wide!

Why subscribe?

The Lawrence Times is a local news revolution.

Lawrence went years without a hyperlocal publication that all community members were able to read before we came along in March 2021. We believe our work has value, and we want to make sure everyone is able to read it.

We are working hard to accomplish several goals:

• Providing access to news and information for all who need it, regardless of ability to pay;
• Reporting the latest news as well as helpful resources and information for readers;
• Amplifying marginalized and unheard voices in the community;
• Creating an environment where journalists can learn and thrive, personally and professionally;
• Cultivating a publication for the people of Lawrence that reflects the values of our neighbors; and
• Keeping local control over local news.

We believe the work we’re doing is worth your support, and we hope you think so, too.

• Where is this money going?

Short answer: It’s staying right here in Lawrence, putting food on our families’ tables. We have no out-of-town and/or corporate owners. We love this town, and we want to be able to contribute to its success.

Longer answer: The money we’re bringing in right now is supporting a full-time reporter/engagement director, some part-time reporters and payments to freelance reporters and photographers. Our founding reporter is taking as little as possible to keep a roof over her head and food in her cats’ bowls. (You read that right: We have just two full-time employees.) We also have website costs, email newsletters and other odds and ends.

Otherwise, we have very little overhead, and we are pouring every dime we can back into improving and expanding the Times. We’re also keeping as much of our own business as local as possible; for instance, our website is hosted by Wildman Web Solutions, a fellow small business in Lawrence.

Please know that as much as we love what we do, this isn’t just a hobby. We’re risking a lot to make the Times happen. We hope to be around for a long time, but that will ultimately rely on your support.

• Does the Times actually need me to subscribe?

Yes, absolutely. We need every reader who is able to spend 26 cents a day for open access to local news to please sign up for a subscription today.

It’s sort of an honor system, and we hope our readers will provide the level of support that they can budget for news without making any sacrifices — whether that’s $0, $3, $7.85, $14, $20 or $50 per month.

• What benefits do paying subscribers get?

Our philosophy is that income shouldn’t determine people’s access to critical information they need to live and engage in their communities. The benefit of paying is that the Times can continue to exist and make a difference in this community, for you and for everyone. We cannot continue to produce our award-winning journalism without your support.

Because our focus is equity, we don’t want to offer special benefits to certain people that we’re not offering to others. We hope that our paying subscribers will understand and appreciate that mindset. We also want to keep things simple for all our readers — we don’t want to demand that folks log in every time they want to read an article.

• You’re asking for voluntary contributions. Why not go nonprofit?

To be clear, we never expect to be incredibly profitable in this venture, even as a “for-profit” LLC. We simply don’t want to limit our revenue options or spend all of our time focusing on raising donations and compiling annual reports. Advertising sales mean we don’t have to demand that every reader must have a paid subscription.

• What else do people like about the Times?

We’ve heard a lot of odds and ends — things people like about the Times, and things that set us apart from other news outlets.

Here are a few examples:

We don’t allow comments on our articles. | We don’t attempt to exploit people in this community to get more “clicks.” | We care about parents’ concerns, especially regarding kids in K-12 schools. | We aren’t in anybody’s pocket. | We are a tiny grassroots publication (just founded in February 2021 and only publishing since March 8, 2021), but we’re covering important issues in this community, and we’re doing it fairly and accurately. | We provide links to more information or previous coverage wherever we can and save the reader the search. | Food reviews. Yum. | No login needed to read! | We care what you think.

• Other questions?

Please check our FAQ page. If you don’t find an answer there, please reach out!