Our Commitment to Community

When we founded Collected in 2023, we made Community one of our core values.

We incorporate Community into our collaboration with our colleagues in the office, our interactions with our friends and counterparts in the communications industry and our daily life in and around our New York City headquarters.

The most tangible way we live the value of Community is through our commitment to donate at least 1% of our pre-tax profits to worthy causes, with a focus on those that foster a strong, free press.

A free press has never been more important than it is today. It has also rarely been more threatened, as technological changes have stressed traditional media business models to the breaking point. The resulting vacuum makes it harder to hold the powerful accountable, makes it harder for citizens to find out what’s going on in their local communities and makes it harder for young people to learn and understand the value of a robust media in the first place.

Three of the organizations we supported this year seek to remedy this state of affairs. The American Journalism Project is investing in local journalism by building non-profit newsrooms that serve local communities and are led by the people in the communities they serve. ProPublica produces sophisticated, in-depth and nonpartisan journalism that spurs real-world change. And closer to home, Press Pass NYC supports the next generation of journalists by providing faculty training, student programs and operational resources to start student newspapers in New York City public schools.

As part of our pledge, Collected also supported City Harvest — a vital organization that rescues food from restaurants and delivers it for free to our neighbors who are food insecure— and the Madison Square Park Conservancy — the organization responsible for the operation, and 100% of the operating funds, of the beautiful park around the corner from our offices.

All of us at Collected Strategies wish you, and all the communities you call home, a happy and healthy New Year.