While every day is Local News Day at The Swellesley Report headquarters, a coalition of journalists, nonprofit leaders, and media innovators in Wellesley and far beyond have united to promote April 9, 2026 as the official Local News Day.

The goal is to reconnect people to trusted local outlets, empower newsrooms to grow, and spark a national movement that sustains local news for generations in a world that’s become used to getting its news for free.

We’ve been publishing Swellesley in Wellesley for more than 20 years now, and have appreciated all of the community support we’ve had along the way, from news tips (not just press releases…) to photos to contributed articles. Send ’em here: theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

This is our actual job. Believe us, we don’t plow through more than 12 hours of recent Annual Town Meeting proceedings entirely for the fun of it. (And what the heck are those “cost-of-living adjustments” they were talking about at Town Meeting anyway? We don’t see any of those doing what we do…)

Reader support: The financial support of readers—who since last year have been able to make tax-deductible donations thanks to our partnership with the non-profit Tiny News Collective. Donations have been career sustaining for this self-employed couple. Your contributions help us to cover costs for the glamorous stuff—web hosting, newsletter software, tech support—that enables us to do our jobs. Contributions even make a dent in our health care premiums, which have risen some 80% this year.

Advertising support: So have all the sponsorships from local businesses and non-profit organizations who advertise on our site and in our email newsletter. Their support allows us to provide the news stories we report on for free—no paywall here.

We also are thankful for state agencies (MassDOT) and town departments and bodies (Celebrations Committee, Climate Action Committee, Health Department, Natural Resources Commission, etc.) that support us by paying for legal notices and promotions. As you may or may not know, municipal governments are required by outdated state law to post their paid legal notices in “print” newspapers even though the information would reach many more people through online sites like ours. Some state reps, including Wellesley Rep. Alice Hanlon Peisch, are working to change this.

Grants: New for us over the past year as well have been grants from organizations such as the Wellesley Cultural Council, Needham Bank, Truly’s, and The Village Bank. These allow us to pay stipends to student interns. We’re thankful to organizations that recognize not only non-profits are providing valuable community services, and that organizations like ours amplify what many non-profits do.

Education: We also thank Boston University and its BU Newsroom for partnering with us. This semester we have three students who as part of a journalism class have been writing for Swellesley. We’ve been in this program since last spring, and also have begun partnering with Wellesley College journalists.

Our peers: We find great cooperation among our peers running news operations in communities such as Boston, Brookline, Needham, Newton, and Lincoln. We learn from them, and vice-versa.

Please consider supporting Swellesley with a tax-deductible donation by scanning the QR code or by clicking on it.

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.

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)

Please support your local online news source with a tax-deductible donation by scanning the QR code or by clicking on it.

The Swellesley Report is a local news business that we’ve built and run for two decades — and it’s our full-time job.

This Giving Tuesday (Dec. 5), we’re asking for your support to help sustain this work.

Every day, we work to bring you reliable, community-centered reporting on everything from local government decisions to school news, arts and culture, and the stories that define Wellesley. Most-read coverage this year has included that on housing developments (“Emotions run high at Wellesley board meeting over future housing on MassBay property”) , restaurant and other business openings (“Karma: Good things come to those who waited”)and closings (“E.A. Davis in Church Square has closed its doors after 120 years”) , and slices of life about your neighbors (“Operation Band of Brothers: Wellesley siblings ready for Boston Marathon debuts” and “Quite a Shock: Wellesley woman wins on Wheel of Fortune”).

Thanks to our new partnership with the nonprofit Tiny News Collective, donations to Swellesley — including those made through donor-advised funds — are now tax-deductible.

Like many independent newsrooms, we operate on a mix of ad revenue, grants, and reader contributions. While many have become accustomed to accessing news for free, please know that your donations help cover the many costs involved in running our local news site:

• Web hosting and newsletter distribution tools
• Tech support
• Access to real estate data and public records
• And yes — basics like health insurance

We’re committed to growing our coverage, too. We take part regularly in local media information sharing sessions, including the New England Newsrooms meeting and Google News Initiative, and are frequently approached by those looking to launch news startups in their communities. We’re active in town activities, from the Annual Wellesley Veterans Parade to Babson College’s student club/organization resource fair to the new “We Are Wellesley” exhibit.

After being selected as one of the first local news outlets to partner with the Boston University Newsroom program last spring, we were invited back this fall, pairing us with three student journalists to expand reporting for the community. And this summer, we welcomed student interns thanks to generous support from Truly’s.

We also rely on community content contributors throughout the year who share news tips and share photos.

If you value having a trusted, independent source of Wellesley news, we hope you’ll consider supporting us this Giving Tuesday.

Thank you,

Bob & Deborah

For Google search users, you can now designate preferred news sites so that their content shows up in your top search results.

Swellesley stories may already show up high in your results, but to increase the chances of this happening just follow this link and check the box for The Swellesley Report. Google also published a blog post to explain this new feature.

Thanks for following us…

The Swellesley Report is a for-profit small business. This is our actual job.

Many of you have supported our independent news venture over the years by making non-tax deductible contributions or by becoming advertising partners. Now, thanks to the partnership we entered in March with Tiny News Collective, you can make tax deductible contributions to support our work.

Tiny News Collective is a non-profit whose mission is to support new and early stage local news founders like ourselves. When you donate through Tiny News Collective, they will in turn pass the money through to us as a grant, minus a small cut to support their operations.

We’ve been part of this program from March, and it’s working out great. One thing it allows is for supporters to donate via their donor-advised funds. That’s been a new thing for us, and we really appreciate those who have done this.

We’ll be able to use funds to support everything from technology updates to intern stipends. We have lots of behind-the-scenes costs, such as web hosting and newsletter distribution software, plus as small business owners, we have various insurance and other expenses.

Swellesley today generates revenue through advertising partnerships as well as other publishing agreements, such as through Google News Showcase. Our partnership with Tiny New Collective has been encouraging more readers to support us, and opens up grant opportunities from organizations that have wanted to back us, but haven’t been able to because we’re not a non-profit.

Thanks for your past and future support. We love doing what we do for the community.

Questions? Let us know: theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

Hello! I’m Zoe Chen, and I’ll be interning at Swellesley this summer. I come to Wellesley from the nation’s other coast, from a town just outside of Los Angeles that is similar in size and feel to Wellesley. I’m a rising high school junior, and I often spend my summers over in Needham with family. 

I’ve been a staff writer and photographer on my high school newspaper since freshman year and will serve as a Managing Editor this coming year. I wanted a chance to continue reporting over the summer while my school newspaper’s on pause, so here I am at Swellesley. Journalism (sports and photojournalism in particular) is something I’m really passionate about, and I’d love to pursue it in college and beyond. 

This summer, I can’t wait to contribute to Swellesley and provide accurate local news from hopefully interesting angles. My greatest thanks to Truly’s and to readers for sponsoring Swellesley’s internship program. Feel free to reach me at zoelchen12@gmail.com. 

The Swellesley Report is a for profit small business. Many of you have supported our independent news venture over the years by making non-tax deductible contributions or by becoming advertising partners.

Now, thanks to a partnership with Tiny News Collective, you can make tax deductible contributions to support our work.

Tiny News Collective is a non-profit whose mission is to support new and early stage local news founders like ourselves. When you donate through Tiny News Collective, they will in turn pass the money through to us as a grant, minus a small cut to support their operations.

We’ll be able to use funds to support everything from technology updates to intern stipends. We have lots of behind-the-scenes costs, such as web hosting and newsletter distribution software, plus as small business owners, we have various insurance and other expenses.

Swellesley today generates revenue through advertising partnerships as well as other publishing agreements, such as through Google News Showcase. We’re hoping that our partnership with Tiny New Collective will encourage more readers to support us, and open up grant opportunities from organizations that have wanted to back us, but haven’t been able to because we’re not a non-profit.

We’re now entering a transition period in adopting the Tiny News Collective system. We’ll be reaching out to current contributors who make recurring payments to allow them to switch over to the Tiny News Collective system.

Thanks for your past and future support. We love doing what we do for the community.

Questions? Let us know: theswellesleyreport@gmail.com