Turn your $1 into $6 for local, solution-focused news
We make fact-checked news for you and with you
Project Optimist produces solution-focused and fact-checked local news in Minnesota.
Support our year-end fundraiser for more of this good work and to celebrate five years of visionary stories. We have five generous matches to help you multiply your impact up to 6X.
Our first $1,500 in donations will net Project Optimist $9,000!
For five years we have been a laboratory, experimenting with storytelling and operational practices in search of a sustainable news model. We never wavered from our values and our focus on good news: rigorous reporting, beautiful aesthetics, and news that brings a dose of practical hope, a sense of possibility.
We have several stories to publish in the coming months.
We are also searching for an organization to become a long-term partner and host of Project Optimist.
We need $30,000 for this transition. That's possible with $9,000 from our community and all our matching funds.
Help us finish the year strong and fund our next chapter.
The fundraiser runs from November 1 - December 31.
You can donate through the Give to the Max Day portal and on our regular fundraising page.
Give to the Max Day is Thursday, November 19 and early giving is underway.
Get ready to make a big impact. Every gift funds newsletters and original stories.
💰 Where do all our fundraising matches come from?
These matches come from our board of directors and from NewsMatch – a campaign through the Institute for Nonprofit News. INN raised a pool of funds to match up to $15,000 for Project Optimist. NewsMatch also raised these three additional matches for us:
- $2,000 in matches from the McKnight Foundation.
- $2,500 in matches from the Rural Partner Fund, supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
- $6,000 in matches from the Joyce Foundation.
And thanks to our board of directors and long-standing donors who pooled $1,500 to match our first gifts!
These matches apply to individual gifts of up to $1,000.
Donor advised funds are welcome. Find our tax number and other information here.
If you have questions about your donations please contact: Nora Hertel, Project Optimist executive director: nora@projectoptimist.news or 320-247-5899.
Thank you to long-standing donors and new! Your contributions make a difference at Project Optimist!