Since The New York Times launched a program that allows supporters to sponsor digital student subscriptions last week, the program has already grown large enough to fund 209,000 subscriptions.
Donations to the program, which began on Feb. 9, have ranged from $4 to $20,000, according to an announcement from The New York Times. More than 100 contributions came from international sponsors even though the program only serves U.S. public schools.
Under the terms of the program, The New York Times matches reader contributions to double the number of students that receive a digital subscription.
The latest announcement comes on the heels of a subscriptions surge that came during and after the conclusion of the U.S. presidential election. The New York Times added 276,000 new digital subscribers in the fourth quarter, bringing total digital and print circulation to over 3 million.
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Benjamin Mullin is the managing editor of Poynter.org. He previously reported for Poynter as a staff writer, Google Journalism Fellow and Naughton Fellow, covering journalism innovation, business practices and ethics. He’s also reported for USA TODAY College and The Sacramento Bee, and he was editor in chief of The Orion, Chico State’s student-run newspaper. An Air Force brat who grew up around Northern California, he’s still adjusting to the Florida sunshine.
