Rabble.ca - Financial Support For The Website

Financial Support For The Website

A year into its inception, rabble appealed to its readers a proposed donation of $20 a month to help support the growth of the website (contrasting with the $22 monthly subscription to The Globe and Mail). In 2005, rabble was incorporated as its own non-for-profit organization. Currently rabble relies on donors, and the so-called Sustaining Partners (who are also often featured in the section In Cahoots). In 2010, the Annual Report on rabble.ca stated the following Sustaining Partners: B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union, Canadian Auto Workers, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Canadian Union of Public Employees, Communication Energy and Paperworkers, Council of Canadians, Douglas-Coldwell Foundation, Hospital Employees’ Union, National Union of Public and General Employees, Ontario Public Service Employees Union, Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, Public Service Alliance of Canada, and United Steelworkers. As this list suggests, the content posted on rabble.ca is very labour-friendly and often focuses on issues relevant to workers and "social justice perpetrators".

Along with these, rabble.ca also depends on individual donations, which are generally collected through one time donations or the membership to the website. The membership ranges in price from $5 to $50 a month, and provides the members with subscription to rabble.ca partner independent print magazines (such as New Internationalist and Middle Eastern Report). According to the Report, the website finished 2010 with over 900 members and 200 one-time donors.

In terms of advertising, rabble.ca states that "rabble.ca's advertising space is used not just as a revenue-generating stream but as a service to Sustaining Partners, fundraising partners (magazines that donate subscriptions to membership drive) and to those organizations whose events sponsored.” In fact, their advertising policy reads as such: “rabble.ca is committed to principles of social justice and equality and we reserve the right to deny advertising space as we see fit according to these principles. We also reserve the right to pull an ad and refund the advertisers money, should we choose to.” Moreover, the advertising made up a very small percentage of the total income generated in 2010. As such, rabble.ca approaches advertising as a means of representing the different campaigns of its partners. This is unlike the mainstream newspaper websites, which rely on advertising mostly as a source of revenue.

The total income of the magazine in 2010 came from advertising, donations, members, services, In Cahoots, and the very large majority from partners. The expenses were divided between Editorial (which took up more than half of the expenses), Tech and Admin/Fundraising. This information was made available to the readers of the site in the Annual Report.