We are a social enterprise funded by our members. This ensures we are accountable to the local community we serve, and not to outside sponsors. Our tiny team of three covers our family of Tower Hamlets Slice titles: Roman Road LDN, Bethnal Green LDN, Whitechapel LDN and Poplar LDN. If you value our role as a trusted local media organisation that works for the benefit of our community, please support us by becoming a member today. Find out more further down this page.
Membership for Individuals (Readers)
Are you a reader? Here are the options for regular monthly or annual donations to help us plan for the future. Thank you!
MONTHLY
£3, £6, £12 or £18 paid monthly.
ANNUALLY
£3, £6, £12 or £18 per month, but paid annually with a saving of a few pounds.
`Payments are taken by Social Streets CIC, the social enterprise that publishes Tower Hamlets Slice.
All members will be automatically subscribed to our members-only newsletter, The Perks, sent on Thursday afternoons as well as our Weekly Edition, sent out on Tuesdays. You can unsubscribe or set preferences from the footer of our newsletters. Find out more about our newsletters here.
Single donations
Prefer not to become a member? You can also support us with a single donation.
Live abroad? You can make a single donation in USD or a single donation in EUR.
`Payments are taken by Social Streets CIC, the social enterprise that publishes Tower Hamlets Slice.
What your donations could fund…
All single donations are gratefully received. Below are examples of the cost of journalism to help give an idea of what your donation could cover.
£15
An hour of work
A donation of £15 will sponsor one hour of work. We are an editorial team of two full-time staff, collectively working 80 hours a week to produce daily content for all our platforms. One hour at a time, your donations make a great difference!
£25
An event listing
A donation of £25 sponsors the creation of one of our event listings. Our readers have told us they want to see more events on our website from local choirs and sporting events to exhibitions and festivals. We love helping people get out and about in the local area.
£50
An interview
A donation of £50 funds the time needed to interview someone for one of our longer-form features that share people’s unique stories. You will be funding work that increases tolerance and understanding of the diverse communities in our neighbourhood.
£100
A day of research
A donation of £100 covers the cost of one day’s research. We don’t re-write press releases. We pound the pavements, meet people face-to-face, and spend hours in the archive library to find the untold stories that need to be told in our community.
£250
A long-form article
A donation of £250 will sponsor one of our long-form features, including the research, interviewing and photography. This will allow us to dedicate the time needed for a documentary article that brings to life cultural stories in both words and images.
£500
A newsletter
A donation of £500 funds the work involved in creating one of our weekly newsletters that provide our readers with the latest news and events from their local neighbourhood to help them get the most out of where they live.
Why support local journalism
A recent Press Gazette report revealed the number of journalists employed by the UK’s three biggest news groups to work on regional and local publications dropped from 9,000 to 3,000 between 2007 and 2022.
Tower Hamlets Slice is bringing local journalism back and developing a model of constructive local journalism that benefits the community. Since 2018, we’ve launched four online community news platforms for Tower Hamlets, and an overarching print title. We employ locally-based journalists serving an area with a population of over 310,000.
Without high-quality, independent journalism, residents are left in the dark about local politics, the local economy and the local people doing amazing things amid their ranks.
Who owns Tower Hamlets Slice?
The Council? A media corporation? A political foundation? We are proud to say none of the above. Tower Hamlets Slice and its family of four online community news websites, Roman Road LDN, Whitechapel LDN, Poplar LDN and Bethnal Green LDN, is fiercely independent.
Our titles are published by Social Streets CIC, a not-for-profit news publishing organisation founded by resident and former magazine editor Tabitha Stapely who wanted to bring back local journalism, but better.
How are we funded?
With very little! In 2018, we launched on thin air, using a free WordPress platform, and contributions from local volunteer writers and photographers.
We decided not to put our content behind a paywall, membership scheme or cover price as we believe the benefits of an independent news outlet should be available to everyone living in our area.
Instead, we launched a membership scheme where local people donate each month to fund an editorial team of two overseeing all five titles.
In 2023, a generous local supporter funded our Fellowship programme, which trains three local writers (read a case study). This funding ends next year.
With only a tiny team of two to manage five publications. This means we have to run a tight ship relying on Freemiums, donated equipment and furniture, and content from the Fellowship scheme. Abbotts Interiors on Roman Road kindly provides free office space. Do pop by – you’ll find us at our laptops around a big pine dining table.
What is our income?
Despite running a tight ship, there is still a large shortfall. This year, we expect to receive £16,500 in donations from 380 members. This covers nearly one writer from our team of three. Until recently, at least, our print advertising from small businesses covered the cost of our print publication.
This shortfall requires the team to ‘work two jobs’, providing teaching, consultation and website design in the evenings to cross-subsidise our journalism work in Tower Hamlets.