The Current secures sponsorships for solutions-focused COVID coverage

The Current, a nonprofit digital publication based in Lafayette, Louisiana, secured financial support in the form of sponsorships from two local health care providers by putting forward a pitch for a solutions journalism series, “Lifeline: COVID,” (https://thecurrentla.com/solution-hub/lifeline-covid/) focused on the provision of health care and other pandemic-related services by telephone. The publication raised $8,500 between the two sponsorships. Christiaan Mader, founder and executive editor, said: “Our biggest sponsor leapt at the idea and asked us to create a [sponsorship] level 50% higher than what we tried to sell. That wouldn’t have happened with a typical investigative project, especially in this [media] market.”