The Cable’s campaign succeeds: more than 50% increase in membership income and a £40k bonus
As the deadline for our membership campaign, 31 August, approaches we’re pleased to announce that the Bristol Cable has now reached 107% of our campaign target!
One month ago today, The Cable turned 10; and it’s honestly a brilliant feeling to be able to celebrate our birthday by achieving the goal we’ve been working towards for a year.
In September ’23 the Cable team launched a year-long membership campaign to encourage more Bristolians to back our investigative journalism. We set our target based on a challenge offered by the Reva & David Logan Foundation: if we increased our membership income by 50% (roughly £60,000) within 12 months, they’d give us a bonus grant of £40,000 to contribute to our work.
Thanks to the hundreds of new, and hundreds of existing, members increasing the amount they contribute to the pot, this campaign has been successful. We’ve achieved this huge feat together, and our team is incredibly grateful for the show of support and solidarity from the people of Bristol.
A huge thanks to everyone, whether you’ve just begun supporting our work, or whether you’ve stuck with us throughout the years!
What does this mean for the Cable?
The success of our year-long campaigning efforts means an extra £100,000 for the Cable this year, and a giant leap down the path to sustainability.
We now have plenty of runway throughout 2025 to continue building membership, diversifying revenue streams and making our media co-op sustainable in the long term.
Alongside our membership, we also want to thank the Logan Foundation, who have supported us since 2015, and who again lit a fire under our arses (!) to achieve what we needed to.
How did we do it?
A lot of planning, engaging with people across Bristol, and graft. We’re all completely knackered, but happy.
We’ve tracked our progress as we’ve gone along, writing about the campaign plans at launch, and reviewing our progress at (roughly) the mid-point, and towards the end of our campaign.
The final month of campaigning has been phenomenal, achieving the crucial momentum we’d worked for as the target came into view. We saw around 100 new members join in the last few days and, across the year, more than 600 existing members increase their contribution.
After working on this alongside a year of relentless journalism – including two back-to-back elections, the mass evacuation of a tower block, and far-right riots – it’s incredible to see the support that the people of Bristol have given to our work, joining us in creating the type of reporting that our city deserves.
Independent. Investigative. Indispensable.
Investigative journalism strengthens democracy – it’s a necessity, not a luxury.
The Cable is Bristol’s independent, investigative newsroom. Owned and steered by more than 2,600 members, we produce award-winning journalism that digs deep into what’s happening in Bristol.
We are on a mission to become sustainable – will you help us get there?
Join the Cable todayYou can hear me speak to Jacob Granger of journalism.co.uk on their podcast, to discuss what we’ve learned, our latest investigative and community reporting, and what’s next for the Bristol Cable.
The end of one membership campaign doesn’t mean we’re stopping.
Every new member helps us keep the lights on where they’re needed, to continue investigating and delivering proper independent journalism for Bristol.
If you’re not already a member, please join the Bristol Cable today, as a monthly, annual, or Patron member – whatever you can afford. If you are already a member, please encourage others to support our work. We want to be here for another 10 years.
