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“Please make the articles available without a paywall. It locks out so many people who could be educated by your amazing work and writing, and it precludes many of us from passing it on to others to spread the word.”
~ Comment from a Civil Eats reader
We’re dropping our paywall and making it free to read our news—but we’re still counting on your support.
In 2015, we put up a paywall, like many independent nonprofit news organizations have done, as a way to raise funds to support our operations. Readers could access a small number of articles for free, and if they wanted to get past the paywall, they paid a fee to become a Civil Eats member. Our members care about independent food systems news, and the membership program has been critical in supporting our work as a small, nonprofit newsroom.
We’ve always wanted to remove our paywall in order to make our journalism free and accessible to everyone. And in our surveys, we heard that sentiment from members, too. Because the membership program provided a significant amount of our budget, removing the paywall has been a constant concern. Until now.
We are thrilled to announce that, to honor our 15th anniversary, two generous funders—the 11th Hour Project, a program of the Schmidt Family Foundation, and GRACE Communications Foundation—have provided us funding to help us remove our paywall for one year! Our reporting will be free to everyone, everywhere. But we will still need your support.
In our 2024 Membership Survey, 80 percent of our member respondents said they would still support us financially if we dropped the paywall. So, here’s your chance to do so.
Without you, Civil Eats’ stories don’t just go unread—they go untold. Become a member today by making a contribution to ensure our vital reporting continues and thrives.
A member supports Civil Eats at $60 or more a year and receives additional benefits, including our award-winning, members-only newsletter, The Deep Dish, an in-depth look at a different topic each issue, access to our members-only Slack channel, and our community-building salons.
We know there are different ways in which people want to be part of the Civil Eats community. We appreciate that any reader can sign up to receive our free weekly email newsletter, which is a run-down of our latest reporting. For those who want to support Civil Eats, you can join as members at $60/year or more. Members receives the weekly newsletter as well as additional benefits.
We welcome and appreciate your financial support of any amount! You can make a donation here to support us. If you support us with a donation of $60 or more, you become a Civil Eats member and receive those benefits. Please email us if you do not want your donation to include membership benefits.
Civil Eats’ membership program remains the same. Your membership will still support our work and you still will receive all the benefits of being a member: Our regular weekly newsletter, The Deep Dish members-only newsletter, access to our members’ Slack community, and access to our salons.
Removing our paywall now allows everyone access to all of our reporting without limiting how many articles anyone can read per month.
Thank you for your support! We are grateful for your interest in our work, and your contribution will continue to help us operate our newsroom. You will still receive all of the member benefits.
Removing our paywall makes our work accessible and free for all. We received funding for one year to take down our paywall, and we still need your financial support to make sure we can keep our paywall down in the future. Your membership will support making Civil Eats a public good. Members keep Civil Eats’ publishing, thriving and sustainable into the future!
Our team will follow up with you to discuss a plan for your membership. Or reach out to us at members-at-civileats-dot-com.
No, new and renewing memberships will remain the same: Supporting memberships will cost $60 per year or $6 per month; Reduced Rate memberships will cost $36 per year or $3 per month; and Give-One, Get-One memberships will cost $100 per year.
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