UPDATE: Due to popular demand, our half-birthday discounts, free shirts and drawings will remain available through Sunday, March 17. Thanks to everyone who has joined our community so far!
The Colorado Sun has been publishing at coloradosun.com for six months today. That’s a huge milestone for all of us who have been working, basically nonstop, to help ensure the future of local journalism in this state.
Thank you to everyone who has become a member of our Sun community, read our work or dropped our name to family and friends.
To celebrate our half-birthday, we’ve wrapped up a few discounts and giveaways for you!
How you can help right now:
If you haven’t yet become a member, memberships start at just $5 a month (with perks like exclusive newsletters and access to future events at higher tiers) at coloradosun.com/join.
And to celebrate our first six months, we’re offering:
- 10 percent off all new memberships until 5 p.m. on Wednesday with the code 6MONTHS. All new members will get a free Colorado Sun sticker.
- A free Colorado Sun T-shirt to anyone who becomes an annual member at the Politics+ level or higher.
- All new members will be entered into a drawing for two primo Rockies tickets.
And a reminder before you join, every single dollar we receive goes straight back into journalism. Period.
If you’re already a member, (thank you!), we need your help to spread the word. Getting just a few people you know to sign up for The Sunriser or The Daily Sun-Up can have a huge impact. So my challenge to you is to get three people signed up at coloradosun.com/sunriser this week.
We also ask you to share our Twitter and Facebook posts with your followers with a story you loved or reason you appreciate The Colorado Sun and local journalism.
SPREAD THE WORD: We have a special discount code you can pass along to friends and family who haven’t become members yet. Just point them to coloradosun.com/join and have them plug in the code SUNSHARE (this code will be good until April 1 so they’ll have plenty of time to join).
If you’re a Colorado business, we are offering underwriting positions in all of our newsletters that can put your name in front of one of the most engaged and informed audiences in the state. Email underwriting@coloradosun.com for rates and availability.
If you’re looking for merch, we’ve got comfortable T-shirts, seriously sturdy tote bags, stickers, gift memberships and more at coloradosun.com/store. Every penny of the proceeds of merchandise sales goes directly to supporting journalism.
A look at what we’ve done so far … and where we’re headed
The Sun was launched back in September with a simple, straightforward notion: Let’s take back our news. Let’s create a Colorado-owned, Colorado-proud news organization that always puts readers and quality first.
Here’s a way-too-brief snapshot of some of the stories we’ve been able to produce over the past half-year because of your support:
- Education: Teachers living in campers: How rural Colorado districts are coping with growing teacher shortage
- Outdoors: Climbing gyms are hot, but longtime climbers worry gym rats aren’t learning basic real-world safety
- Politics: Jared Polis injected himself into Denver teachers’ strike. Now he needs a way out.
- Health: “He seemed to have it all”: Arapahoe High School senior’s suicide rattles emotionally fatigued, frightened community
- Environment: Drought has revealed for the first time a Colorado town flooded to build a reservoir. And scientists expect to see it again.
- Colorado: “This just does not happen”: A Garden of the Gods garbage heap is revealing big clues about the founder of Colorado Springs
- Denver: Denver’s Westwood warily watches redevelopment happen. Can it stay true to its roots when gentrification looms?
- Investigations: There’s a lot more to the departure of Denver Zoo’s polar bears than you’ve heard
- Culture: We went to a flat-Earth convention and found a lesson about the future of post-truth life
- Technology: A city where all the traffic lights are green? The tech is live in Lakewood and coming soon to other Colorado cities
And in case you were wondering, all of that (and so, so much more) was done with a full-time staff of just 11 people. That’s right, there’s just 11 of us — eight reporters and three editors — running this show with a few talented correspondents stationed around the state to help. There’s no marketing department or support staff, it’s all on us.
That is six months of reporting, editing, posting to social media, accounting, newsletter writing, tech support, data visualization, project planning, freelance coordinating, public relations, merchandising, janitorial work (editor Larry Ryckman can be a messy eater) and customer service, all done by just enough people to fill out the offensive side of a football team (with no bench).
We love the work. Especially the feeling of getting to bring communities — from Dinosaur & Grand Junction to Greeley & Yuma and all up and down the Front Range — a story we know can make a difference at a time when there are fewer journalists working than our vibrant state deserves.
But in order to grow into the outlet that Colorado needs us to be, we need buy-in from every corner of the state. That’s where you come in.
What do you want to see in The Sun?
The mission of The Colorado Sun is to make sure all Coloradans have a place where they can see news that reflects their lives. While we can’t be everywhere, the experience of our members is our No. 1 priority. So we want to hear from you.
You can always send tips and story ideas to tips@coloradosun.com.
But if you’d like to let us know what you think of our first six months, we’ve made an easy form we’d love you to fill out. Head to cosun.co/readerfeedback to let us know what you’d like to see going forward.
One more time, thank you!
From the bottom of our hearts, we are so grateful for the support we’ve received so far. And we can’t wait to be a part of your future.