15 Reasons You Should Donate to Mother Jones

Hello dear readers! Yes, it’s fundraising time, and we encourage you to donate a few dollars to the Mother Jones Investigative Fund to support independent, investigative journalism.

Unlike NPR, we can’t hold your commute hostage to our pleas for money. But what we can do is remind you of some compelling reasons to part with a few of your hard-earned bucks. Ready?

1) Because we still do great longform journalism. Like Mac McClelland’s undercover exposé into the warehouse wage slaves behind your online purchases.

2) Because half of all our magazine pieces in 2011 had a female byline–way more than most news/political magazines.

 

3) Because our income inequality charts are so good that Occupy Wall Street protestors put them on signs, Stephen Colbert built a segment around them, and Slate said they deserved a Pulitzer.

4) Because our reporters braved tear gas and arrest rather than back off covering the Occupy movement.

5) Because from pig brains to pink slime, we’re not afraid to gross you out.

6) Because we were instrumental in bringing the photography of Vivian Maier to light.

 

 

7) Because we explained and reported the heck out of the Trayvon Martin killing

8) Because we stopped the GOP from redefining rape.

9) Because we made an “are you a slut?” flowchart and support a woman’s right to choose to knit her congressman a vagina:

10) Because we allow smart celebrities to speak their mind.

Source: motherjones.com via Mother on Pinterest

11) Because you deserve to know about the nukes speeding by your house.

12) Because our yearlong investigation of the FBI’s domestic informant program was so good, it’s been picked up by all the big papers (though not always with credit).

13) Because remember the whole exploding Ford Pinto thing? Yeah, that was us.

14) Because we pay our interns, and don’t pit them against one another in a weekly acid-saber-fight cage match where only the triumphant one is allowed food.

15) Because we’ll help you know the difference between Newt and Schrute.


BONUS: Still not sure? Okay, fine: We invented the po’ boymaybe.

 Delicious oyster po' boy.: fdasA delicious oyster po’ boy. Joyce Marrero/ShutterstockWe couldn’t have done a single one of these stories without your support. We’re a nonprofit, and the support of readers is what keeps us alive. If you’ve appreciated any of these stories, please donate $5 or $10 to the Mother Jones Investigative Fund right now. We’ve almost reached our goal, and your gift could be the one that gets us all the way there. Plus, next time you see a great story on Mother Jones, you’ll know you played an important part in making it happen. Please give today via credit card or PayPal. Thanks!

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

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