The Swellesley Report is no longer a teen—as of this month, we’re a grown-up 20-year old local news resource.

People are always surprised to hear that The Swellesley Report started way back in 2005 as an unassuming volunteer project—now it is our actual job. We were indeed one of the first local independent online news sources, anticipating the decline of traditional newspapers and the convenience of accessing information online. We’re frequently approached by people looking to start news sites in their communities.

The Wellesley Celebrations Committee got the Swellesley anniversary party started in May by including us as honorees at the annual Wellesley Veterans Parade. That was a lot of fun.

Wellesley Veterans Parade POV — The Swellesley ride (photo courtesy of Beth Shedd Photography)

Coming off a year during which we covered everything from the MassBay property disposal to the closing and opening of businesses, we’ll continue to do what we do in 2026.

As always, we appreciate your help in keeping us in the loop about breaking news, trends, events, and interesting people in town (email us info, photos, and videos at theswellesleyreport@gmail.com). We thank all of you who have written letters to the editor or contributed stories.

We’ll also continue our partnership with the Boston University Newsroom, where BU assigns journalism students to sites like ours. We work with the students and professors to come up with story ideas, then the students report and write stories. We were in the pilot program in the spring, and part of the expanded program this past fall. We’ve been confirmed as a continuing partner in the new semester starting in January. We also were part of a pilot program involving data journalism students this past semester and will be part of a new audience engagement program this coming semester.

Also new in 2025 was our partnership with the non-profit local journalism support organization dubbed Tiny News Collective. Now you can make tax deductible contributions to support our work, including through donor-advised funds.

Grants also play a big role in keeping Swellesley sustainable. Google invited us to be one of the first 150 online news sites across the U.S. in its Google News Showcase that pays publishers for their work. Others in the program include Associated Press, The New York Times, and Wall Street Journal. We welcome grant organizations to consider us, especially now that you can contribute to us through Tiny News Collective (for example, an education-oriented charity could fund reporting on school initiatives or an arts organization could fund arts coverage).

Advertisers and sponsors play a huge role in sustaining Swellesley, and we thank all of you from big corporations to organizations like Wellesley Square Merchants to small businesses that have turned to us to help expand their reach and support our work.

Here’s to a news-filled 2026!

Thank you,

Bob & Deborah (aka, Mr. & Mrs. Swellesley)