[Impact Report]: The Difference Subscribers Made in Defending Democracy This Month
Our pushback is working. Let's accelerate.
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Dear Friends,
Thank you for joining Lincoln Square as a free subscriber.
We want to keep you in the loop about how support from our paid subscribers and donors allow Lincoln Square to publish the smart insights and commentary that make us all smarter here on Substack. We appreciate your belief in our mission to feature legendary strategists, scholars, historians, journalists, and new voices with important perspectives on this critical moment in our history.
We realize that there are many pro-democracy organizations to which you can subscribe. We are honored by your trust in this critical moment. All organizations fighting for democracy share the same essential goal: to protect our country from authoritarianism, but we all have different, but equally important, roles to play in that war.
To honor that trust, we will be publishing this monthly impact report at the end of every month detailing how donor and subscriber funds are being used effectively, the progress we’re making, how subscribers are helping us grow, and how paid subscribers are increasing our reach to disengaged Americans. When Americans are informed, they mobilize, rise, and take action against this fascist regime.
We only ask that you consider subscribing or donating to Lincoln Square to help amplify the work you’re learning by reading this report. To help encourage you to subscribe, we’re offering you a 40% discount on our annual subscription rate. You can join the ranks of the Lincoln Loyal for only $6/month or $60/year. You can cancel at any time.
Subscriber & Donor Support Amplified our Reach by 50% in September
Let’s take a look at what our subscribers and donors helped Lincoln Square achieve this month:
With the support of subscribers and donors, we’ve reached over 20 million Americans across social media, exposing the real impact of these policies on families. You’re helping us flood the digital zone with facts, change the national narrative, and ensure the truth reaches every corner of America.
The dramatic increase in paid subscribers and donors during September directly enabled us to amplify our outreach via paid ads, specifically targeting red states, key flippable districts, and disengaged voters. Just observe the impact: a 50% increase in monthly views of our short-form videos and graphics content on social media, where most disengaged Americans spend their time consuming news.
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The highest performing content through organic reach and paid ads this month includes:
The assault on our First Amendment rights and overreach by the FCC and DOJ. Reach: 4.0 million. Targeted to red states & flippable Congressional districts.
The disastrous effect of Trump’s Tariffs on American farmers and families.. Reach: 3.5 million. Targeted to red states and rural farming communities.
The authoritarian federal troop takeover in American cities. Reach: 2.8 million. Targeted nationwide.
The cover-up and corruption around the Epstein Files and Tom Homan’s bribe. Reach: 3.0 million in red states
The terror caused by Trump’s ICE agents on communities- Reach: 2.1 l
million. Targeted across America
The Trump regime’s $20 billion bailout of Argentina while American farmers go bankrupt. Reach: 2.0 million. Targeted at rural areas where soybeans are grown by American farmers.
What is Fascism? Reach: 1 million. Targe
Push back against the Right’s narrative about the “violent Left.” Reach: 600,000. Targeted nationwide
Trump regime’s retribution campaign against his enemies. Reach: 400,000
On Substack:
Currently ranked #5 on Top 10 ‘Rising Daily Best Seller Substack Charts. Achieved the #1 Rising Best Seller ranking 15 times since March.
Currently Ranked #21 Substack Best Seller US Politics. Entered the charts at #50 on March 19th.
Achieved the coveted highest best-sellers Purple badge-10k paid subs.
Achieved +53% paid subscriber growth over 90 days, which is 3.5 times higher than the Substack 90-day paid growth benchmark of 15% for similar-sized publications, placing Lincoln Square in the Top 1% across ALL political substacks.
Lincoln Square content has achieved 30 million monthly views and is increasing monthly.
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Our Expert Team: Driving a Greater Return on an Investment with Lincoln Square
With expertise spanning digital marketing, social media, journalism, graphic design, and content production, our five-person team employs focused strategies to guarantee maximum content impact.
With a combination of strategies like A/B testing, expert targeting, and testing, we reach more Americans with the support from our subscribers. Here’s a few examples:
Email Performance- Average Open Rate- 32% (High 80%, Low-19%) vs average Substack open rates among accounts with over 100k subscribers- 18%
Digital Marketing- Our targeted ads achieved 30-37% CTR (Click-through-rate), 30x higher than the. Facebook benchmark CTR of .90%-1.2%. This is a testament to effective copywriting, images and calls to action. This results in more clicks and consumed content than the average Facebook ad by other like organizations.
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Achieved +53% paid subscriber growth over 90 days, which is 3.5 times higher than the Substack 90-day paid growth benchmark of 15% for similar-sized publications, placing Lincoln Square in the Top 1% across ALL substacks.
Our Pushback Is Working. Let’s Accelerate.
We refuse to let Trump’s authoritarian regime erode our constitutional rights or control the narrative. The administration is creating crisis after crisis—a desperate tactic to hold power—but their desperation is turning the tide against them. The content produced by Lincoln Square is working, but we must press the gas harder right now to build this resistance. We cannot slow down.
In the coming weeks, we are working to expand Lincoln Square’s reach with new platform tools to significantly boost our capacity to gain subscribers, raise more funds, and mobilize Americans to put direct pressure on lawmakers.
With your help, we plan to launch on NationBuilder. While we will continue to deliver content on Substack and social media, NationBuilder will enable us build the capacity to strengthen our fight leading to the mid-term elections and beyond.
Nationbuilder offers the tools that Substack lacks to let our followers take the next step in the fight:
One-click contact for lawmakers on key issues.
The ability to create and sign petitions.
Enhanced capacity for soliciting and acknowledging donors.
Better data collection on public sentiment.
The ability to collect city, state information on our subscribers so we can provide state-level tools to users to mobilize on key regional issues and elections.
Social media tool-kits designed for users to help disseminate content across their own social media networks.
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This is our Generation’s Call: How An Additional Investment Directly Builds Our Capacity and Defends Democracy
Acting now, while it’s still possible, is far easier than trying to reclaim our democracy once it’s completely lost. Your support is vital to inform Americans and grow this opposition from the ground up.
We would appreciate it if you became a donor or subscriber today. When you do more, we can accomplish more. If you can’t, we understand, and sincerely thank you for your ongoing support.
We don’t have billionaires backing us like the vast right-wing media machine. We are fighting their dark influence, and it’s going to take ALL of us to pitch in to inform and mobilize Americans. Fascism thrives in darkness!
Today, we’re facing more damage to America with the potential government shutdown–giving us more ammunition and content to further grow the resistance to Trump and amplify the truth that MAGA Republicans are not interested in legislating on behalf of the American people. We are ready to strike now.
Every day, we wake up committed to bringing you critical news and commentary you need to be smarter at this moment while reaching our mission to wake Americans up with the facts. We’re asking you to help continue to make this work possible and become stronger because the future of our children, our grandchildren and our great nation are on the line. Together, in solidarity, we can defeat them.
Please upgrade your subscription or chip in any amount you can swing to ensure we don’t lose this momentum. If you can’t, we are still deeply grateful for your current support. To encourage you to join the Lincoln Loyal, we are extending this 40% off our annual subscription rate today. This offer ends at midnight ET. You can cancel at any time.
Sincerely,
Lincoln Square- Susan, Velda, Sam, Josh, & Anthony
If you’re interested in supporting our work differently—perhaps with gifts of stock , starting a peer-to-peer fundraiser, if you’d like to expand the visibility of your business by reaching our audience of 500,000 subscribers and/or our 30 million viewers by sponsoring a live stream/newsletter, or by advertising, please contact [email protected].
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