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The most important email we've ever received
How one email means we're charting a different path here at Vancity Lookout in 2025 and beyond

For too long, local news and the people behind it, have been hidden away. Readers very rarely understand the how or why of the stories they read.
Our series Editor’s Notes explores issues in local news, our cities and society, the ideas we’re exploring and a look at our team and what we’re up to, to increase transparency with our community of readers.
Like many good things that happen to us, it starts by taking a chance.
Back on January 22, 2024, I checked the Lookout inbox. A curious message sat near the top, the subject line reading “Vancouver journalist seeking opportunity.”
“Hi Geoff, my name’s Nate Lewis and I’m disillusioned with the Canadian news industry. I’m a journalist, writer, and Vancouverite passionate about sports, food, arts and culture, parks and public spaces, and civic politics.”
Talk about an opening introduction. Nate went on to explain his work and his time in journalism school, signing off with “Hope to hear from you.”
When Vancity Lookout started in 2023, I originally hoped to hire a journalist immediately. But it became clear we wouldn’t have the resources to do it. Hiring someone like Nate wouldn’t have been possible.
Not having anyone to write the Lookout, I decided to do it on my own. I had chipped in writing our sister publication in Ottawa every so often, so I knew how to do it. But it wasn’t ever my intention to write Vancity Lookout full-time.
Yet, in spite of that, I wrote full-time, for over two years, producing three news stories a week, the odd members-only Insider and a weekly restaurant review. It was exciting. Thrilling. I loved talking to readers, hearing feedback and helping keep Vancouver locals informed about the biggest issues facing the city. I discovered a love for writing I never knew I had.
But doubts were growing. I’m not a journalist by trade; I only picked up the skills over time. I was and still am pulled in many directions: fundraising, replying to emails, overseeing editing in our other cities, food reviews, tech, membership requests… Something was going to give.
Sometimes, it was a few (or a lot of) grammar errors. Other times, I had to skip a restaurant review. It wasn’t sustainable.
All of that was on my mind as Nate’s email hit the inbox last year. I remember feeling a sense of excitement build. Could this be someone who could push the Lookout further? Could the Lookout do the journalism I always imagined, telling in-depth, long-form stories that the bigger players weren’t covering? Was it actually time to hire someone?
Our initial call led to him writing the odd newsletter. And then that led writing a few each month. And that led writing longer-in-depth stories on stories like the shutdown of a popular park by FIFA and an in-depth profile of the Eastside Cultural Crawl.
The mission of the Lookout has always been to help readers understand the biggest issues facing the city, to write the stories often ignored by bigger mainstream media outlets, and to help sustain local journalism by giving a platform to talented writers and journalists to tell local stories.
So, almost one year from the date that he sent that first email, I’m excited to announce that Nate has officially joined as our first journalist employee here at Vancity Lookout.
This is, arguably, the most important moment of our little publication. As a reader-funded outlet, we cannot hire people or produce our journalism without your help. Everything you read, the people we hire, the freelance stories we commission, all of that is because of readers contributing and funding our journalism by becoming members.
Nate is joining because over 500+ of you have become paying members, ensuring we have the resources to make our first hire.
They say local journalism is struggling. Big companies are laying off journalists as they shutter outlets. Clickbait and viral stories are written instead of the in-depth stories that locals want and need. And they aren’t wrong. It’s bad out there for many local journalists.
But I’m proud to say that we’re charting a different course at Vancity Lookout. It starts with being a mostly reader-funded publication. Without needing to worry about page and ad views for most of our revenue, Nate can head out to do on-the-ground reporting without worrying about how “viral” a story is.
Where does it end? Who knows. The world and local journalism is changing so fast. But with team members like Nate, I’m confident that the Lookout can and will become the most impactful, hyper-local publication in Vancouver without the need to produce clickbait stories.
I’ll finish off this with an ask. The Lookout isn’t funded by venture capital. We don’t have outside investors ready to catch us if we fail. And we don’t have any government subsidies. Just over 75% of our revenue comes from readers just like you.
That means to fund Nate, the stories you read and the freelancers we hire, we need readers like you to contribute.
If you enjoy reading the Lookout, and find our journalism valuable, please consider becoming a member today. The last 500 members who joined helped lay the groundwork for hiring Nate, and growing our publication to 25,000 readers. Imagine what another 500 members could do…
To those who’ve been with us for the last two years and those who joined in the last two days, thank you for subscribing and reading the Lookout. None of this would be possible without your support.
Sincerely,
Geoff Sharpe, Vancity Lookout founder and managing editor
