132, thanks to you.
About this campaign
The Sumter Item has been your trusted source for local news, community stories and accountability reporting in Sumter, Clarendon and Lee counties for 132 years.
As an independent, family-owned newsroom, we rely on the support of readers like you to continue delivering reporting that informs, connects and uplifts our community. Your tax-deductible donation helps ensure that vital local news remains free from outside influence and accessible to everyone. Like sidewalks, parks and schools, that benefits us all.
It takes people, time and resources to produce local news, and we're all boots on the ground. We care about the quality of reporting we put out because we live here, too. If we get something wrong, we answer to you when we see us at the grocery store, in the pickup line and at our favorite restaurants. Advertising and subscriptions alone doesn't cover the costs anymore. In a media landscape that is seeing local news organizations shrink and shutter all over the country, from urban spaces to rural communities, individual philanthropic giving is one of the fastest-growing and most directly impactful ways local news supporters can ensure we continue thriving as a public good.
Your support of The Sumter Item’s Thanks to you: Sumter’s Local News Fund will enrich our coverage, with your gift supporting the newsroom operations of the actual people who work to bring you local news and information.
Local news is crucial to the vitality of our region. Your contribution to Sumter’s Local News Fund helps protect and expand this critical work. Please consider a tax-deductible gift.
The Sumter Item's Donation Policy: The Item’s news judgments are made independently — not based on or influenced by donors or any revenue source. We do not give supporters the authority to assign, review or edit content. We will cede no right of review or influence of editorial content, nor of unauthorized distribution of editorial content. We will not accept donations from government entities, political parties or from any source who, deemed by our publisher and editor, presents a conflict of interest with our work or compromises our independence, which we have retained since 1894.