HAPPY NEW YEAR! We MET OUR MATCH! We Raised $6,000, unlocked our $12,000 donor matches, and reached $18,000! WE will still TRIPLE Matches for another $900 in January.
We are thrilled to report that our readers came through! On New Year's Eve, we officially reached and surpassed our $6,000 goal, unlocking $12,000 in matching funds. Thanks to the generosity of 76 community members, we raised a grand total of $18,384. These critical funds mean we will have reached our annual budget for 2025 and can look forward to 2026 debt-free.
Admin fees of $900 will cut into this (though yes, we officially count all the gross revenue for our match sponsors), so we will still honor TRIPLE MATCHES for subscriptions, contributions (sign in), and tax-deductible donations in January – keep 'em coming.
The campaign got started in early November with a $6,000 pledge from the New Mexico Local News Fund. To unlock these funds, the rules were that we would have to raise $6,000 from individual donors, capped at $500 each, between December 1 and December 31st. So, in the remaining weeks of November, we then raised another $6,000 from 11 community donors that we called our "Match Pool Mensches," allowing us to offer our readers a "triple match" that would be a strong encouragement - meaning a $36 subscription was instantly transformed into $108.
We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to our Match Pool: Marcia Torobin, Milt Lasoski, Michael Keslin, Lena Keslin, Dale Atkinson, Sarah Winger, Michael Wald, Daniel Levenson and the SW Veterinary Medical Center and Rio Grande Animal Hospital, and three donors who wish to remain anonymous. We also want to thank Sarah Winger, Executive Director of the Jewish Community Foundation of New Mexico, for facilitating DAF donations through their donor portal to our fiscal sponsor, the New Mexico Foundation in Santa Fe, and Rachael Miletkov, Advancement and Communications Manager of the New Mexico Foundation, aka New Mexico Community Foundation, whose personal attention to us and her perseverance this last year earned our undying loyalty while they underwent a major transition.
While the funding is vital, the number of supporters — 76 individuals altogether, 65 individual readers in December — is what truly inspires us. This included 26 readers who "leveled up" from free to paid subscriptions, two brand-new subscribers, and dozens of others who contributed via check, our "tip jar," or through our fiscal sponsor, the New Mexico Foundation in Santa Fe, by check and directly through their dedicated Give Virtuous Portal for tax-deductible donations.
For questions regarding tax-deductible donations through New Mexico Foundation's website, email gratitude@newmexicofoundation.org,
call: (505) 820- 6860 or write to:
New Mexico Foundation
8 Calle Medico, Santa Fe, NM, 87505
EIN: 85-0311210
Over 3,000 active users visited our website in December! With our subscribers, who receive our month newsletters, 70% regularly actually open and read them (the average "open rate" is 20%–40% for similar community journals). Our newsletters announce our most recent articles, and events from our ten major Jewish Community Supporter advertisers.
Recent News:
New Mexico Jewish Journal has been selected: In partnership with Blue Engine Collaborative and with support from the Google News Initiative, the New Mexico Local News Fund is equipping 12 local newsrooms in 2026 with the tools and training directly from mentors from these national organizations to grow philanthropic support and strengthen community-centered journalism across the state. We have a dedicated, experienced program co-collaborator joining us so that we can take full advantage of this intensive program.
We have had significant new reporting in 2025 on immigration issues, on Christian nationalism, on antisemitism, and features: community profiles, Jewish history, theater and book reviews, fiction, and traveling while Jewish: outstanding reportage from our peripatetic fellow travelers to parts unknown.
- Milestones at a Glance:
- Awards: 35 awards for 15 writers, including two 'Rockowers' (the 'Jewish Pulitzers') from American Jewish Press Association, six from Society of Professional Journalists, 25 from New Mexico Press Women, which included best edited online magazine and 2 from National Federation of Press Women.
- Content: Published nearly 200 articles by 70 writers in 2024-2025, maintaining high editorial standards.
- Growth: NMJJ grew our subscriber base by 25% in 2025 (maintaining average 30% paid at annual $50). Ten major Jewish organizations advertise, from New Mexico, Texas Federation of El Paso & Las Cruces, and Arizona (summer overnight camp).
- Views: Over 3,000 monthly visitors to our website.
- Pro bono representation from Lawyers for Reporters, Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice. Media liability insurance that gives coverage to both us and to our individual writers, and professional liability insurance that covers us and our work with New Mexico Foundation. We live in litigious times and insurance is a major expense.
- In 2025 we participated in the NM Local News Fund's Accelerator program, led by the indefatigable Rashad Mahmood, in partnership with the Local Media Association and Google News Initiative, which included 3 glorious days in New York City at Google headquarters. We are a proud member of New Mexico's news ecosystem and are 'on the map' literally with the NMLNF's news map.
- We attended a 2-day Poynter Institute-sponsored Journalism Immigration training in El Paso, Texas, selected with 15 newsrooms from around the country.
- We attended the American Jewish Press Association 46th conference in Pittsburgh, with partial scholarship.
- We had a paid young undergraduate student intern last summer, a Hillel member, through the New Mexico Local News Fellowships and Internships program operated by the Communication & Journalism Department at the University of New Mexico. We are looking to recruit new college students and recent grads for this 2026 program. Contact Editor@nmjewishjournal.com asap.
And, we published 16 issues in 2025, with a recent popular feature outlining the Top 101 Most Read Articles in 2025. We've maintained a high level of editorial excellence that has attracted top talent. We have maintained this excellence during a tumultuous time with historically high levels of antisemitism. Despite our editor facing four physical attacks from across the political spectrum simply for representing a Jewish publication, our commitment to fearless, community-centered journalism remains unshaken.
Some quotes:
Rabbi Celia Surget gave us an endorsement, " “The New Mexico Jewish Journal is allowing us to strengthen our relationships with the broader Jewish Community." Rabbi Celia Surget, Congregation Albert, Albuquerque.
A UNM professor wrote, "Honestly, your NM Jewish Journal is excellent. I just donated a second time now. You are doing important work, Diane, and I really appreciate it."
And at the Community Chanukah Celebration at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Albuquerque - kudos again to force-of-nature Phyllis Wolf, Chief Programs Officer of the JCC, we signed up 22 new subscribers with the help of recently bar mitzvah'd student Jonah Wald, NMJJ contributor and founding editorial committee member Michael Wald, and Diane Joy Schmidt, publisher and editor:
Let us hear from you what you like about and like reading in NMJJ! Write to editor@nmjewishjournal.com.
Community Supporters of the NM Jewish Journal include:
Jewish Community Foundation of New Mexico
Congregation Albert
Jewish Community Center of Greater Albuquerque
The Institute for Tolerance Studies
Jewish Federation of El Paso and Las Cruces
Temple Beth Shalom
Congregation B'nai Israel
Shabbat with Friends: Recapturing Together the Joy of Shabbat
New Mexico Jewish Historical Society
Where the North Ends, A Novel by Hugo Moreno
Policy Statement Acceptance of advertisements does not constitute an endorsement of the advertisers’ products, services or opinions. Likewise, while an advertiser or community supporter's ad may indicate their support for the publication's mission, that does not constitute their endorsement of the publication's content.
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