Let's Bring Back the Bay Guardian!

Imagine almost 50 years of San Francisco Bay Area news, politics, arts, culture, music, food, literature, events, and more at your fingertips -- in digital, online, and paper formats. Now imagine relaunching the biggest features of San Francisco's #1 progressive, alternative weekly newspaper, ensuring 50 more years of Guardian coverage!

We're former editors and publishers of the Bay Guardian. One year ago, the Guardian's owners shut the paper down, but no one could keep the strong, progressive voice of the Guardian down for long. Now we're back, and this campaign aims to preserve this essential institution's paper and web archives, making them available to all, and to bring back the Guardian's major features. With your help, we'll:

• Rescue 48+ years' worth of Bay Guardian newspapers and related materials, preserving them in a protective environment for the foreseeable future.
• Deliver a complete set of Bay Guardian newspapers to an accredited archival library, where they'll be available to all.
• Digitize the entire Guardian newspaper archives for public access -- flip through five decades of Bay Area history!
• Redesign and relaunch the Guardian website on a new platform and server, so you can search for articles, authors, topics, and dates from throughout the Guardian's history.  
• Relaunch major Guardian features like BEST OF THE BAY, GUARDIAN CLEAN SLATE ENDORSEMENTS, our GOLDIES arts awards, and more -- in digital and  print forms. 
• Keep the Guardian's progressive voice and spirit alive for the next generation, in a changing city that needs alternative voices more than ever.  

This is a unique opportunity to contribute to the preservation and legacy of the classic San Francisco spirit in its most tangible form. Print the news and raise hell! 

Here's what we need.

The $120,000 will be distributed as follows:

• A suitable temperature-controlled, pest-free storage space for an entire warehouse-full of Guardian back issues and ephemera like banners, posters, promotional materials, etc. 
• A new server, web infrastructure, and web designer to relaunch the www.SFBG.com website in upgraded, searchable form, containing articles from the past four decades of the Guardian. 
• A team to help digitize the entire backlog of Guardian issues, making digital flip-through editions from 1966-2014 and beyond available online. 
• A team of editors, writers, promoters, and sales staff to relaunch Guardian features, starting with the 2016 Best of the Bay. 
• Compensation for the legal and managerial team that helped win back the rights to the Guardian from its former owners.   

Here's what you'll get.

We've lined up a stellar group of Perks contributors, culled from the pages of past Guardian Best of the Bays, including the Green Apple Books, Rainbow Grocery, Ichi Sushi, the Starlight Room, Sui Generis Designer Consignment Clothing, Schatzi Home Vintage Decor, and more. Certain donors also receive permanent acknowledgement on our new website, at several different levels.  Plus we'll be distributing retro-Guardian bumper stickers, t-shirts, prints, and more! We'll also have a big, celebratory cocktail party at the end of the campaign for certain donor levels. 

Plus, you'll have access to five decades of work by essential and beloved Bay Area and international journalists, authors, artists, and politicians, from Armistead Maupin to Alice Waters, R. Crumb to Harvey Milk, Michelle Tea to William T. Vollman, and beyond. Cool ads for classic businesses and rock shows! Incredible illustrations and comics! Poetry, short stories, restaurant and record reviews, author and artist interviews, and of course our famous "hold 'em accountable" political coverage!   

How we'll do it

We plan to work with institutions like the Bancroft Library at Berkeley, the San Francisco Public Library, the Internet Archive, the Prelinger Library, and several information architects and web designers from the Guardian's past and present to make sure the existing Guardian is preserved. And we're already planning the launch of the 2016 Guardian Best of the Bay early in the new year. In October, we relaunched our Guardian Clean Slate Endorsements, which were viewed by tens of thousands of voters, and helped form a lively dialogue during campaign season. 

This is a lot of work from several dedicated team members. Join us as we bring the Guardian back and prove that progressive San Francisco politics, art, and culture is alive and well. 

Contribute! Spread the word! 

Welcome back to the Guardian -- we want the whole city involved in this historic resurrection. Your contribution is incredibly helpful, and will make sure almost 50 years of local history stays alive!  

Because the Guardian will be making political endorsements, donations are not tax deductible. If you have any specific questions about the campaign, or wish to contribute in other ways, please contact Marke at markeb415(at)gmail.com. Thank you!