Recent research has found almost 4 in 10 people in the UK cannot name a single local charity. Despite this, more than half the population believe local charities play an important role in their communities.

Good News Shared was started in April 2014 to raise awareness of the impact charities – particularly small charities – are having on their communities. Since our launch we have featured more than 650 uplifting charitable stories.

Every day people come onto our site and they read about someone or something awesome. Some of our readers share our stories with friends via email and / or social media (we love you guys!), and some don’t (that’s OK, we still like you too). All of our readers are hopefully leaving our site feeling happier, more inspired, and more informed about charities.

It’s clear from the messages we receive that people love having access to uplifting charitable stories from around the world.

Raising awareness of smaller charities is very important. The most common reason people give for not donating to a local charity is not knowing enough about them. Greater awareness of the work and impact of small charities would lead to more people helping, either through volunteering or donating.

In the past two years we have built up an active community of ambassadors, volunteers and readers. We know two things now:

1) Good News Shared should continue for a long time. People want to read about the good stuff and charities need help in raising awareness about their positive contributions to communities.

2) We need to make Good News Shared self-sustaining. The “fund Good News Shared with savings + freelance work” plan was fine for the first two years, but it’s not sustainable. Good News Shared deserves to be the priority, rather than being something I fit in around ‘rent-paying work’. Our writers and other team members deserve to be paid for their work, plus this is necessary if Good News Shared is to grow. If Good News Shared is going to go on for a long time, it has to be able to support itself. The good news is that we don’t need a huge amount each month in order to become sustainable.

We are asking our readers and supporters to consider supporting our Patreon campaign. Just $1 a month (around 70 pence) from you would help us make sure Good News Shared stays around for several more years.

So, what is Patreon? And what does supporting us via Patreon entail? Check out our FAQ’s section below:

What is Patreon? 

Patreon is a way to pay your favourite creators for making the stuff you love.  It is a crowd-funding platform which allows artists to obtain funding from their fans on a recurring basis. It was founded in May 2013 by artist Jack Conte.

I had not heard of Patreon before, is it legit? 

It is! Patreon has been featured on trusted sites including Forbes and Time Magazine.

I do not live in the USA, can I still support Good News Shared via Patreon? 

Yes absolutely! The only currency option available is dollars but you can still support us through the platform. $1 is approximately 70 pence (this might of course change depending on the exchange rate).

How do I make a pledge on Patreon?

First of all, thanks so much for wanting to support us! All you need to do is go on to our Patreon page and click the orange “become a patron” button. You’ll be taken to a pledge page where you can decide how much you want to pledge each month. Click “continue” and you will be asked to register – you can do this via either Facebook or email. You will then be taken to a confirmation page, where you can add a credit card or Paypal account. Click the blue “pledge” button. Click “confirm” at the bottom of the confirmation page. And that’s it, you’ll end up on a page that confirms your pledge!

Do people actually support others on Patreon?

Absolutely, in less than one year, Patreon has distributed over $1 million to the artists using their platform.

What will you do with the money? 

We will cover the costs of the Good News Shared website, meaning we will be able to keep sharing uplifting stories for years to come. You can read about our costs on our Patreon page.

I’m totally broke at the moment and can’t afford the monthly payment. Is there any other way I can help Good News Shared? 

Absolutely! Any help you can give us in spreading the good news would be much appreciated. Click here for more info on different ways you can help us. Thanks for your support 🙂

 

If you have a question that is not answered here please get in touch with us either by writing a comment below or by sending us a message.

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About Author

Nisha Kotecha is the Founder of Good News Shared. Having worked and volunteered for charities in the UK for over 10 years, Nisha is on a mission to highlight how amazing charities are.

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