The Canary currently has 2,800 readers donating every month, plus an additional 12,000 subscribers who get daily emails. They've been fighting - with some success - to reverse trading losses caused by mismanagement under the previous regime, and also changes in their market, particularly the advertising revenue model. Having steadied the ship, trading losses were running at around £2,500 every month; they had about £15k in the bank, but really needed time to revamp the editorial offering and rebuild.
After converting to a worker co-op in October 2022, The Canary ran three campaigns to convert the readers into financial supporters, which stemmed the losses but didn't decisively turn the situation around - the core audience being mainly people on lower incomes. Solidfund's contribution will help make success certain.
Decision making at The Canary is a blend of democratic and delegated. Day-to-day responsibility for particular areas such as finance and editorial content is devolved, with the whole team meeting weekly to review operational decisions and vote on strategic matters such as budgeting and branding.