Avenue magazine’s mission is to engage audiences and create connected communities through trusted storytelling. We’re experts in the city, and it is our privilege to highlight the diverse and exciting stories that make Calgary unique. Championing Calgary is part of everything we do.
Beyond best restaurants, fashion, Top 40 and innovative thinkers, we’re also deeply interested in the many issues facing Calgary and its citizens today, such as mental health, intimate partner violence, addiction, the housing crisis, the environment and other social issues.
We explore these issues thoughtfully, critically and through a solutions-focused lens, highlighting the Calgarians who work to improve life here and build the city of the future.
We know that our readers are deeply interested in this content. But, these are not always the stories that traditional advertisers want their marketing messages to appear next to. And because our primary revenue stream currently is from advertisers, we can’t tackle this content as much or as regularly as we’d like to. And reporting on topics like these require more work from our writers, editors and fact checkers to ensure that complex stories are told well.
We need community engagement to cover these stories more often and more thoroughly.
What is the Community Story Development Fund?
Avenue’s Community Story Development Fund provides a way for local organizations and community members to directly support the creation of coverage in the magazine on important issues. The fund pays writers, editors and fact-checkers to tackle these issues in depth with care and sensitivity, while reflecting a diversity of voices and including rigorous research and engaging design.
The full editorial cost for a feature-length story of approximately 2,500 words is approximately $12,000 depending on the complexity of the reporting. This does not include the costs of printing and distribution, which RedPoint Media covers as part of our regular business practice.
The Community Story Development Fund ensures ongoing coverage of these important issues.
What Does My Support Get Me?
First and foremost, those who give to the Community Story Development Fund help ensure that these more challenging stories about the future of our city are covered in a popular and widely read local publication. Your support helps us connect Calgarians to important stories and raise awareness of critical issues. The outcome is a community that is better connected and a citizenship that focuses on the local solutions as well as being aware of local concerns.
Direction on Topics:
You can choose to direct your support to a specific issue of importance to you or your organization. This year we will focus Community Story coverage on mental health, intimate partner violence and the housing crisis. While the editorial team will have independence on choosing the final direction on the coverage within these topics, we welcome supporters’ feedback and thoughts.
We’ll Acknowledge Your Support:
Every story that is funded by the Community Story Development Fund will include a specific mention of that support. For example, “This story was funded through the Community Story Development Fund. Our partners include…”
For corporate supporters, depending on your level of support, your organization’s logo may be included in promotion of the fund as well.
We’ll Create the Content You Care About:
Your contribution ensures that Avenue will be able to keep reporting on social, political and environmental issues in the city.
Help Contribute to Local Reporting Today
Your contribution helps us keep producing the stories that are important to building the city we want to be. We look forward to working with you on this important initiative.