It’s time for the people who care about The Daily Cardinal to stand up.

The Daily Cardinal Alumni Association was founded in 1998. In the past 20 years, we’ve raised more than $300,000 for the paper in endowments, scholarships and direct financial support. We’ve provided training, mentorship and advice to thousands of students used our professional networks to provide opportunities for the paper and its staff; and connected the paper’s future inextricably to its history with more than two dozen events from coffee hours to conferences.

Now, we recognize the vital role we play in the future of fearless, independent journalism and practical journalism education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Now we move from providing targeted, immediate help to the Cardinal to sustaining the paper far beyond this year. The current Cardinal staff is asking for our contributions to make up a significant part of its revenue base to take the paper into the future.

The local and even national advertising markets have collapsed. The university — facing significant cuts itself — no longer advertises at all and cannot provide a reliable source of funding for independent journalism. Digital revenue models are still finding their way, as is evidenced in every newsroom across the country. Every day, leaders in journalism look for someone to “save” it, and we must understand that no one besides us will do that for the Cardinal.

If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve worked somewhere that’s now closed, or whose staff and resources are greatly diminished. We’ve all attended reunions for things that don’t exist anymore. We’ve all watched news organizations make decisions based on poverty. We’ve all wished there was something we could do.

For the Cardinal, that something exists. It always has. The paper has always thrived based on the willingness of those who cared about it to go above and beyond what was expected of them, and we can have that same impact today. Just click here to make a monthly, sustaining donation to the Cardinal.

If everyone who said they cared about the Cardinal takes this small step — contributing $10, $25, $100 per month — we will have the paper where we once learned our craft in perpetuity. None of our memories there will end with a -30-.

And generations of students will continue to learn at the Cardinal, as we did, that nothing need hold you back because your Cardinal colleagues will always fight for you.