Help ELi Grow Our Sports Coverage of ELHS and Reach our $15,000 Goal!

In one month, high school sports will be back, and that means the Trojans will once again be taking to their respective fields, rinks, courts and so on.

With the return of high school athletics imminent, ELi has launched a sports fundraising GoFundMe campaign with the goal of raising $15,000 for our sports budget by August 26 — the beginning of the high school sports calendar, marked by the football season opener.

ELi is kicking off this fundraiser because regular and in-depth sports coverage goes beyond the scope of what we fundraise for during our annual sustainability campaigns: regular coverage of local government, the East Lansing Board of Education, and investigative reporting. In order to expand our coverage, we need your support!

Reaching this $15,000 goal will allow ELi to more than double its level of sports coverage from a year ago. It will also pay for the creation and curation of a dedicated webpage at ELi’s website for all Trojans scores and results — a one-stop shop for ELHS varsity athletic results — and a place on ELi’s site with information and resources about the various youth sports opportunities in the area. 

With individual stories costing about $200 to produce ($100 for the reporter, $50 for the photographer, $50 for editing and overhead), it cost ELi approximately $6,000 to bring 30 sports stories in 2020-21. How much we can bring in 2021-22 depends on what our budget will ultimately allow.

Raising $15,000 will ensure every team gets covered at least once, and most would likely be covered more than once. Reaching our goal means ELi would more than double the number of sports stories we publish — going from 30 stories published to more than 60 — while bringing the new scores page and more. To ensure we can cover every sport (an editorial goal for ELi this year), we need to raise at least $6,000.

Here is what various levels of funding can provide in terms of sports coverage.

• $1,000 to $5,999: Limited and light coverage of some varsity high school sports, a scores page, and a youth sports resource page (explained below).
• $6,000 to $7,999: All varsity teams covered once, light coverage of the marching band, a scores page, and a youth sports resource page. 
• $8,000 to $12,999: All varsity teams covered (including the marching band) at least once with some additional coverage at ELi’s discretion, a scores page, and a youth sports resource page.
• $13,000 to $14,999: All teams covered (including the marching band) once with most — if not all — likely being covered more than once, a scores page, and a youth sports resource page.
• $15,000-plus: Any funds raised beyond the $15,000 goal will still go toward ELi’s sports budget and enable additional coverage. (Remember that $200 equals one story.)

Getting to highlight the achievements of ELHS students and teams is some of the most gratifying work we do, and we know there are more teams to cover and stories to elevate, so please donate today! 

Any amount — $25, $50, $100 — helps and enables ELi to continue showcasing the achievements that happen so regularly among ELHS students and athletes! Thank you!

Want to see examples of our sports coverage? Read Andrew’s retrospective on Trojan athletics during the 2020-2021 school year. You can see all ELi’s sports reporting here.