This week, we held our first fundraiser (photos here!). It was an energizing and inspiring night: a room full of creators, supporters, and people just getting to know our work, all there to invest in the trusted voices in their feeds.

The heart of the night was a conversation between my colleague Annemarie Dooling and NCC Collective member Eliza Orlins, a career public defender and a creator followed by more than 1.5 million people.

Annemarie laid out the why behind our work:

She's been circling that idea for a while now, thinking hard about what our work is really for. It reframes the whole fight. We tend to talk about misinformation as something to combat, but you cannot fight all of it. The slime accounts, the bots, and the outrage machine are relentless and well funded. What we can do is make sure the people telling the truth are just as loud. One of the most powerful tools we have is amplifying the voices sharing facts.

Which brings me to a question I get asked all the time: Do creators really care about getting the facts right? It's a fair thing to wonder since algorithms reward outrage. Misinformation is often more profitable than the truth. So why would a creator bother to be careful?

Eliza answered it better than I could.

"To me, primary sources are the most important thing," she said. When a Supreme Court decision drops, she doesn't repackage someone else's headline. She downloads the ruling and reads it front to back, annotates it, and reads it again before she says a word about it. "I care so much about the accuracy of the information I put out there because of the trust I've built with my audience. People DM me every day saying, 'Eliza, you're the only person I trust on this.' I take that responsibility very seriously."

The creators worth investing in aren't chasing outrage. They're building something far more durable: trust. And trust turns out to be a competitive advantage. Eliza told us her longer, more in-depth videos actually outperform the quick hits because people are hungry for someone who won't talk down to them and won't get it wrong.

This is exactly why News Creator Corps exists. We've trained and supported 40 creators across 16 states, and our third cohort, which is focused on 10 creators serving rural areas, is running right now. We’ve received applications from more than 600 more who want to do this work in their own communities.

We didn't hit our fundraising goal this week, but I walked out more certain than ever that this is the work. If it resonates with you, become a monthly donor and help us keep going. And if you know someone who should know about what we’re building, we'd love an introduction.

Misinformation isn't going anywhere. Our job is to make sure the truth is just as impossible to miss.

Join The Jed Foundation and News Creator Corps for an honest conversation about what burnout can look and feel like for creators, what you can do about it, and how to navigate creating content for audiences who may also be burnt out. This workshop is built around your experiences and meets you where you are. You'll receive applicable strategies and resources to prevent or manage burnout and a path to keep the momentum going long after the session ends. Come ready to share, learn, and connect with fellow creators.

News Creator Corps and Open Secrets is hosting a webinar for creators on how to find, analyze, and share campaign finance data. By the time Election Day arrives, billions of dollars will have been spent - but where exactly is it coming from? Following the trail through PACs, super PACs, political parties and campaigns can feel like an impossible maze. In this session, OpenSecrets shows you how to crack the code. We’ll give you the practical skills needed to turn complex campaign finance data into the content your audience demands. We’ll cover essential finance laws, FEC document navigation, and introduce brand-new OpenSecrets tools built to break down candidates and individual races. Don't just report on the election - uncover who is funding it.