Support The Rambler

Pricing Intro

Welcome to The Roanoke Rambler! We're thrilled that you are considering a membership to our weekly newsletter, which brings you exclusive stories, including coverage of local government and politics, the environment and racial justice, as well as original fiction and poetry. We're free to read — you can sign up here for our weekly newsletter — but supporting members make our work possible.

Pricing List

• MEMBER | $10 | https://buy.stripe.com/fZedSK7bBgThegU8wH | $100 | https://buy.stripe.com/28o3e60NdcD13Cg7sE
• PATRON | $20 | https://buy.stripe.com/28o3e61Rh7iHfkY14e | $200 | https://buy.stripe.com/14k2a2gMb46v7Sw4gp
• ANGEL | $50 | https://buy.stripe.com/9AQaGy53t5az7Sw4gx | $500 | https://buy.stripe.com/5kA15Y9jJfPdgp24gv

Benefits List

• Access to all content | 3
• Your name on our website | 2
• Sponsor one newsletter per year | 1
• Our gratitude | 3

Who are we?

We are a local and investigative news site and weekly newsletter serving the people of Roanoke and the region. To learn more about our vision, please visit our About us page.

How does my membership support The Roanoke Rambler?

We're free to read, but it's readers who value hyper-local and accountability journalism who make our work possible.

Your membership, which renews automatically monthly or annually, provides us with a reliable and predictable source of revenue.

We have one full-time employee who makes $31,200 per year. About 70 percent of our expenses go directly to personnel, whether to pay our founding editor/writer salary or to pay our freelance journalists, according to our latest financial report (below). The remaining 30 percent of our costs go to spreading the word about The Rambler through marketing, paying for public records requests, and paying for the technology that makes this website and newsletter possible.

When the Internet emerged, many publications posted their journalism online for free, and many of us have become accustomed to accessing such news for free. Unfortunately, the rise of the Internet also tanked print advertising revenue, which still makes up the bulk of most newspapers' funding. Today, the vast majority of new digital ad revenue goes to Google and Facebook. A digital-only news outlet premised on ad revenue alone is nearly impossible.

So rather than rely solely upon advertisers, our publication must depend on the support of you, our readers. We also accept advertisements, and you can find more information about our advertising and sponsorship opportunities here. Still, on The Rambler, you'll never find any pop-up ads, clickbait, moving pictures or other unfortunate advertising gimmicks.

Can I do a one-time donation in addition to or in lieu of a membership?

You sure can! Every dollar counts and goes straight back into providing local journalism. Currently, folks can donate through this portal.

I want to give a gift membership!

Great! Thanks for the support. Please fill out this form, and you're all set!

Is my membership tax-deductible?

No. The Roanoke Rambler is incorporated as a private company in Virginia called Big Blue Press LLC.

Can my business sponsor or advertise in The Rambler?

You sure can. You can find more information about our advertising and sponsorship opportunities at this page.

Why are some stories behind a paywall?

From our launch in September 2021 through March 2023, all of our journalism required a subscription. So some of our archived stories may still be behind that paywall. Since March 2023, all our journalism has been freely accessible.

Who is giving you money?

We believe strongly that you should know how your journalism is being funded, and by whom. To that end, we publicly post the names and contribution ranges for memberships or gifts of $200 or more. We are grateful to all of our members for supporting local, independent journalism. For the sake of transparency, and to honor those who have joined The Rambler at the patron level and above, we publish their names. Here is a list of our current supporters, based on payments processed as of 10/3/2023:

Founding donors ($5,000 and above)

• The Estate of Lorraine Deubel
• Anne and Raymond Gendreau
• Henri Gendreau
• Google News Initiative

Angels ($500 to $4,999)

• Book No Further
• Susan Butz
• Dotsy Clifton
• Robert Dean
• Elaine Fleck
• Jim Garrett
• Gavin Miller
• Kurt Navratil
• Ken Voss
• J. David Wine

Patrons ($200 to $499)

• Genevieve Anderson
• Phillip Anderson
• Backstreet Beat LLC
• Samantha Barton
• Joel Bashore
• Ryan Bailey
• Don Barnhart
• Robert Barrow
• Robert Beatty
• Michael Branch
• Jen Brothers
• Robert Brown
• Mary Lu Clark
• Susan J Cloeter
• Robert H. Cole
• Valerie Coles
• Crafteria: Handmade Food & Goods
• Naomi Clements
• Joseph Ariel Cuadrado-Medina
• Rupert Cutler
• Lawrence Dickenson
• Tom Doss
• Edward Downing
• M.T. Eley
• Lauren Ellerman
• Raphael and Terri Ferris
• Mary Flinn
• William Fralin
• Aaron Garland
• Keri Garnett
• Michelle Gompf
• Cathy Greenberg
• Ann and Bill Hackworth
• Brenda Hale
• Susan Hardaway
• Douglas Hubert
• David Hungate
• Douglas Jackson
• Benjamin Jones
• Mary K. Keene — in memory of John Lucas Krippendorf, a.k.a. “Luke Pewk the Living Legend”
• Mary L. Kegley
• Robert Kegley
• Tom Kennedy
• Daniel Key
• Michael Kotchish
• Alison Krug
• Doshia Kushman Pagán
• Kelly Kuykendall
• Jeffery Lewis
• Jim Lindsey
• Will Lindsey
• Christopher Link
• Rob Logan
• Dee Lovelace
• Michelle McDowell Smith
• Peg McGuire
• Terry McGuire
• Simon Mitchell-Wolf
• Gay Montree
• Nancy Morris
• Bryan A. Musselwhite
• Phazhon Nash
• Theresa Ruth Neilsen-Steinhardt
• Clifford A. Nottingham
• Gwenith Nuss
• Philip W. Parker
• John W. Pendleton
• Anne Perrin
• Alicia Petska
• Linda Pharis
• Catherine and Matt Prescott
• Paula Prince
• Betsy Prock
• Joan Quaderer
• Kenneth Rattenbury
• John Richards
• Pam Rickard
• Tom Rickard
• Melissa Robinson
• Rockfish Food & Wine
• Claire A. Scholz
• Wendy Singer
• Christopher Sloan
• Benton Spiker
• Bruce Swanson
• James Tango
• Edward Thornhill
• Suzanne Thorniley
• Lucas Thornton
• Natalie Vaughn
• Ryan Vaughn
• Charlotte Walch
• Edward Walker
• Jennifer Walker
• Katherine F. Walker
• Jean Whitaker
• Carol and Doug Wright

Where is your money going?

As another mark of financial transparency, we also publish "thirdly" reports, which every four months will explain to the public where our money is going to and coming from.

Current Thirdly Report May 2024 through August 2024:

Previous Thirdly Reports: