Good afternoon!

Our team just finished producing The Shale Life - Behind the Scenes, a collection of videos on the project YOU helped fund.

We hope that you enjoy the videos and sincerely appreciate your continued interest in the project.

Intro: http://youtu.be/vWMlYCF79js

Surprises: http://youtu.be/y68ayNifM7M

Full Length: http://youtu.be/Cxehg6U4K2o

Have a great weekend!

The Texas Tribune Team

Our fall membership drive has been a smashing success — in part, no doubt, because we’ve tied it to the ongoing celebration of our fifth anniversary, but mostly because the Tribune’s goal of greater civic engagement through citizen-supported nonpartisan public interest media is worthy and irresistible.

To our new members, we say: Thanks! To our renewing members, we say: Thanks again! And to those of you who haven’t given yet — well, there’s still time.

In case we haven’t made the case incessantly enough, here’s the short-form pitch.

Texas, this state we love, deserves the kind of content mix — reporting, data and events — that the Trib produces each day. Texans rightly demand greater access to their elected officials, greater accountability by said officials and greater transparency into the inner workings of government, all of which the Trib makes possible through its robust watchdog journalism. Our friends and neighbors need to be better educated about the issues at play in the Legislature and in Congress, and the Trib’s reporting staff — the largest covering a state capital of any news organization in the country — churns out a steady steam of good, reliable information that gives all of us the means to be more thoughtful and productive citizens.

If you believe in the Trib’s mission, if you believe our work makes our communities smarter and stronger, please give. Let’s make the last day of our membership drive week the best ever. Let’s finish strong.

Visit www.texastribune.org/join to sign up today!

Good morning!

Much has been said in the last week (not all of it by us!) about the fifth anniversary of the Tribune’s launch. It was a fine opportunity to reflect on how far we’ve come with the generous backing of foundations, corporations and individuals — including and most importantly our members. Community buy-in was always an essential element of the plan we hatched for a citizen-supported digital media organization, and it remains crucial to our success today. If folks all over the state are engaged by and with our news reporting, data journalism and suite of editorial events, then we’re living up to our mission.

One measure of that engagement — maybe the best, and straight from the public media playbook — is their willingness to kick in a few bucks to help pay our freight. We’ve signed up thousands of members at a variety of levels since November of 2009, from college students ponying up $10 a year to higher-end types who pledge $5,000 a year for three years or more. Today, as we kick off our fall membership drive, we hope to corral a bunch more, and the argument for supporting us couldn’t be clearer.

In a word, it’s all about impact. For five years we’ve delivered on our promise to cover public policy and politics with ambition and moxie — giving average citizens more reliable access to nonpartisan information, holding elected and appointed officials accountable and providing the greatest possible transparency into the inner workings of government. We really do believe that educating our friends and neighbors about the issues that affect every one of us will make them more thoughtful and productive in their daily lives. We really do believe that smarter Texans equal a better Texas.

If you agree, visit anniversary.texastribune.org to learn how we put your member dollars to work.

Have a great day!

The Texas Tribune Team

Good morning!

As of around 9am CST, we have reached 104% of our crowdfunding goal for The Shale Life project. This has been a true labor of love and we could not have pulled it off without your support. Our editorial and tech teams are hard at work to bring this critical series to life, so stay tuned and thanks again!

The Texas Tribune Team

P.S. For those who contributed at the Platinum level, be on the lookout for an invitation to an exclusive Q&A with our reporters.

Good morning!

We have four more days to go to reach our funding goal for the Shale Life project - a new series of in-depth stories about the state’s energy boom and its impact on small towns.

If you have time today, please consider posting to social media (just use trib.it/shalelife) or even increasing your current support of this critical project….our largest multimedia undertaking to date.

Thanks in advance and we will keep you updated!

The Texas Tribune Team

Dear Friend of the Tribune,

Thanks to your support, The Shale Life Project is now 51% funded!

This series, which would be the largest multimedia project we have ever undertaken, will help provide a balanced, nuanced understanding of how the shale boom affects communities across Texas.

So, with 10 days and a little over $2,400 to go, we are counting on your help to spread the word and bring this reporting to life…we can do it!

Many thanks and stay tuned,

The Texas Tribune Team

Good morning!

There were cheers in our newsroom yesterday afternoon when we hit the 40% mark for The Shale Life project - thanks to all of you!

We have been pulling some data to help us better communicate the campaign and it looks like Facebook is the most effective way to get the word out right now.

So, as you wrap up your work week, please consider a post (sample below) to help us carry the momentum into the weekend:

Join me in helping to get this critical project over the finish line! trib.it/shale/

Thanks again and stay tuned!

The Texas Tribune Team

P.S. The photo below is our Art Director checking on the project early this morning before he dug into his breakfast :)

Dear Shale Life Project Backers,

We are incredibly grateful for your support of this critical project as every contribution brings us closer to telling the stories of these small-town Texas residents, from newly minted millionaires to transient oil-field workers.

As of an hour ago, we reached our first milestone….$1,000+ raised!

Please continue to spread the word and thank you again for your support.

Have a great weekend!

The Texas Tribune Team