Help independent journalism shape the future
From decisions made at local government meetings, to projects spearheaded by those who wish to make a difference in their neighborhoods, the Eagle’s independent journalists have pursued the stories our readers care about for over a century and a half.
Now, in collaboration with the Local Media Foundation, the Butler Eagle is launching its community impact fund as part of an ongoing initiative to ensure the important stories continue to be told today, tomorrow and well into the future.
“The newsroom works hard to keep Butler County informed; we ask tough questions and seek answers when they’re not easy to find,” said interim managing editor Tracy Leturgey. “But we can’t do it without your help.
“Local news needs more than subscriptions or advertising dollars. We need community support to keep our work — important information like how your tax dollars are being spent — out of closed door meetings and accessible to anyone who wants to know.”
The Community Impact Fund will support four key pillars of the Butler Eagle’s mission: community reporting, civic information, investigative journalism and student journalism.
Investigative journalism is one pillar that especially requires additional resources.
“Investigative journalism takes time. It takes money. It takes resources,” Leturgey said. “We have the team here that can do those things, but because its so costly, it takes intentional planning and support to keep it part of our routine and in front of Butler County residents.”
The Eagle’s student journalism initiatives include the annual “student journalism summit” held each year at Butler County Community College. The event, along with in-classroom programming in area school districts throughout the academic year, helps teach students how to navigate the sheer amount of information available online.
“This is a world where there is so much information out there. There’s so much misinformation, so much AI-created content, and in the mix, there’s the real, factual information, too,” Leturgey said. “It has become genuinely hard for anyone to just hop on social media and, with a quick scroll, know what’s real and what’s not real.
“We see part of our role as the local news organization to make media literacy more accessible. We need to be able to to show people, ‘Here’s how you can verify this stuff. Here’s what a source is, and here’s how to go and check these things yourself before you just trust the content that you’re seeing online.’”
Jill Zoria, the Butler Eagle’s vice president of strategic partnerships and community impact, said the Community Impact Fund builds on the newspaper’s Giving Tuesday fundraising efforts over the past two years.
“What it's all about is creating a culture of philanthropy here at the Butler Eagle and across Butler County,” Zoria said.
Local businesses have already stepped forward to support the Community Impact Fund, contributing several thousand dollars in sponsorships, according to Zoria.
“We’ve spent the past few weeks meeting with local businesses, sharing our vision for the Community Impact Fund and building enthusiasm around the four pillars that are at the heart of this initiative,” Zoria said.
Earlier efforts supported the Eagle’s “Civics and Civility” and “EMS Crisis” reporting projects.
The first was an intentional effort by the Eagle to elevate civil conversations and educate the community on local government procedures, including those related to elections.
The more recent effort shined a light on how emergency services’ problems are everyone’s problems. A series of news stories, photos and videos since the beginning of 2026 have shown ambulance services are struggling.
“There’s just a lot of important work that we need to do,” said Butler Eagle publisher and general manager Tammy Schuey. “We want to make sure we can do it, and this fund will help us achieve that.”
Every donation — no matter how big or small — helps the Butler Eagle strengthen community reporting on the people and issues shaping Butler County.
Those interested in supporting the fund can visit impact.butlereagle.com.
“We’re asking our community to support us in a greater way,” Leturgey said. “It’s a way for people to support us beyond subscriptions. It’s a way to say local journalism matters every day.”
All donations to the Community Impact Fund are tax-deductible.
