Technical.ly is deepening our journalism in Philadelphia this recession. Help us do it

This won’t be the first recession Technical.ly reports on.

We are one of those companies that got its start during the Great Recession, and we’ve been reporting for the last decade on how local economies change. Though we do that in other communities, too — all of which have become truly important to me — we got our start in Philadelphia.

It’s where we defined our editorial voice. It’s where we developed our business model, of connecting people to jobs and clients. It’s where we’re headquartered. In addition to our reporting and services, we organize big events here — our 10th annual Philly Tech Week presented by Comcast was among the springtime events that have been postponed.

So we know personally that we are very likely already in a recession (sometimes defined by two consecutive quarters of declining GDP). Existing macroeconomic forces are presently crushing local journalism. But we know our kind of business and economic reporting is more important than ever right now.

We already are updating our editorial strategy to help you navigate your company and career through. (See April’s pivot to prioritizing stories on healthcare technologies as one example, as well as our ongoing coronavirus coverage and remote work series.) As other local newsrooms are shrinking, we at Technical.ly are about to make the largest single new investment in our journalism that we ever have.

In December, we announced we were adding an additional full-time reporter in Baltimore. Despite remarkable disruption, that is still happening. Now, we’re also going to be adding a new full-time reporter in Philadelphia.

This full-time journalist will join our lead Philly reporter Paige Gross, Managing Editor Julie Zeglen and Sabrina Vourvoulias, who is the editor of our sister publication Generocity, to our Philadelphia newsroom. Our newsroom is additionally staffed in Baltimore, Washington D.C., Delaware and soon Pittsburgh. Look for more details on this hire soon.

This is part of a vision to see Technical.ly as a modern wealth and poverty beat, chronicling Philadelphia’s economic transformation — which will be further accelerated and disrupted by a massive global recession. This is also happening while our sustainability is at risk. Simply put, postponing the 10th annual Philly Tech Week is a major disruption.

You can help us take this opportunity to grow stronger now in several ways.

Today we are introducing the Technical.ly Journalism Fund, a pool of funding that will go directly to our reporting, both by our full-time newsroom and to increase additional freelance writing.

Contribute to the Technical.ly Journalism Fund

At launch, this is conceived of as a $1,000 contribution from organizations, but you are able to alter the contribution level. Additionally, we want to make clear the various ways you can support expanding our work.

How can my organization work with Technical.ly?

1. Work with Technical.ly to support your talent acquisition needs: We specialize in employer brand marketing and direct placement support. That work has always contributed to our newsroom. If you’re in a position of growth, consider us as a way to both meet your organizational goals and support local economic reporting. (And hey — right now, we’re offering free job posts to companies hiring for tech roles and COVID-19-related roles.)
2. Underwrite Technical.ly storytelling you want to see: If you want support for stories or virtual events (webinars, etc.) that drive results for your company, our product team can help. If you have a passion that important stories in Philadelphia aren’t being told enough, you can underwrite our newsroom to do more of that issue-based reporting.
3. Contribute to the Technical.ly Journalism Fund: As introduced here, if you want to make a smaller organizational contribution to ensure we’re here to report on your community’s growth and work, consider making a contribution and think of that as an annual act of support.
4. Support Philly Tech Week: We are bringing back #PTW20 in the fall, with many virtual event plans along the way.

For insight on any of these methods of support (or more creative solutions), you can email me (chris@technical.ly) and/or my colleague Aileen Connolly McNulty (aileen@technical.ly), who works every day to make connections in the Philadelphia region and beyond.

How can I as an individual support Technical.ly?

1. Subscribe and share: Reading, subscribing and talking to us is always the best first step. We have a daily headlines email and our popular This Week in Jobs newsletters; join here. Otherwise, following and sharing our work on social and with your network helps us serve more people. We also want to hear from you, on social and via email.
2. Tell us if we’ve helped your career: We set aside our individual membership program earlier this year because we are more interested in knowing how we’ve helped you; fill out our Employment Survey here.
3. Attend our virtual events and chip in: Starting on May 7 (details to come), we’ll be hosting a series of virtual events focused on career and organizational navigation in times of crisis. Many of these will be free to attend to remain accessible, though any contributions will go toward our Journalism Fund.

At times of crisis, we find just how valuable and to whom we are. Technical.ly aims to become a more valuable tool to support navigating the choppy local economy and your career. We appreciate any support to get us there.