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If you're reading this, there's a good chance you've opened a lot of our stories and emails. And every time you do, you learn something about the place we live — a council vote, a new development, a school board decision, the texture of the city we share. That's the whole point of local journalism: the more you know about Alexandria, the more connected you are to it.
Seven months ago today, on November 4, 2025, the Brief published its first edition on a simple premise — that this city deserves daily, independent journalism, and that the best way to protect it is to let the community sustain it directly. No paywalls keeping neighbors out, no advertisers shaping what gets covered. Just a newsroom answerable to the people who read it.
I promised you transparency when I started. So on this anniversary, I want to keep that promise and open the books completely.
Since launch, the Brief has grown to 5,936 subscribers. The archive holds nearly 1,500 stories on Alexandria and the region. And 252 of you have become paying members — the people who make all of it possible.
Here's what your support has brought in, and where every dollar of it goes.
In seven months, readers have contributed about $24,700 to the Brief across 489 payments. Payment processing takes roughly $2,000 of that, leaving about $22,700 to run on. That money doesn't go to marketing or an office. It goes straight into keeping the journalism running. The Brief operates on roughly $1,120 a month in fixed costs — about $13,400 a year — before I pay myself a cent:
- News and photo licensing ; membership and subscription fees — about $1,000/month. By far the largest expense, and a legal necessity. It's what lets the Brief publish verified, properly sourced regional news and real photography rather than rumor or guesswork.
- Ghost, our publishing platform — $95/month. The software that delivers the Brief to your inbox.
- PO Box — $25/month. A mailing address for a real, accountable local publication.
That leaves roughly $15,000 over seven months to cover my own time. I'll be honest about what that time looks like: weekdays start at 5 a.m. and usually run until 8 or 10 at night, and weekends mean council meetings, community events, and breaking news. It's a seven-day-a-week newsroom run by one person, and at this stage it is not yet a living wage.
To the 252 of you who already pay: thank you. You are the reason the lights stay on and the stories keep coming. You didn't have to, and you did — and every figure above exists because of you.
I'm telling you this for a reason. Many of you have asked when the Brief will add freelance reporters to widen our coverage — more meetings, more neighborhoods, more of the stories one person can't reach. I want that as much as you do. The honest answer is that it hasn't happened as fast as I hoped, because the money to pay those reporters fairly has to exist before I can bring them on. I won't promise coverage I can't sustain.
That's where you come in. Every membership goes directly back into this work — the licensing that keeps it credible, the platform that delivers it, and, as we grow, the freelancers who will let the Brief cover this city the way it deserves.
If the Brief has become part of your day, I'd be grateful if you'd join the 252 readers who already make it possible. Many give $10 a month, but any amount helps — and whatever you choose goes straight back into covering Alexandria.
Support this work with a monthly or annual subscription, or a one-time contribution.
Thank you for reading, for sharing, and for believing a city is better off knowing what's happening in it. We're just getting started.
