The Colorado Sun

The Colorado Sun is an online news outlet based in Denver, Colorado. It launched on September 10, 2018, to provide long-form, in-depth coverage of news from all around Colorado.^[2] It was started with two years of funding from blockchain venture capitalists at Civil and from a Kickstarter campaign.^[3] The operation is now funded by reader support, through memberships, and from sponsorship and grant revenue. The Sun is an associate member of the Associated Press.^[4]

The Colorado Sun

Type	Digital daily newspaper
Format	On-line
Owner(s)	Founding journalists[1]
Editor	Dana Coffield
Founded	2018
Language	English
Headquarters	2101 Arapahoe Street Third Floor Denver, CO 80205
City	Denver
Country	United States
Website	coloradosun.com
Media of the United States List of newspapers

History

Ten former employees of The Denver Post started The Colorado Sun^[5] in response to multiple layoffs^[6] following acquisition of the Post by the hedge fund, Alden Global Capital.^[7] None of the founders of The Sun were laid off from The Post. They left on their own volition.

The Colorado Sun was initially started with a combination of financial and technical support from Civil,^[8] a blockchain platform for news organizations to independently found and run newsrooms,^[9] and from a Kickstarter campaign that more than doubled its initial goals.^[3] This combination provided The Colorado Sun with two years of initial funding, and a subsequent grant from Wend Ventures in late 2018 provided two years of funding for educational reporting.^[10]

The newspaper accepts advertising, and is supported through a combination of memberships, sponsorships, grants and donations.

In May 2021, The Colorado Sun and nonprofit organization The National Trust for Local News became joint owners of 24 local newspapers after acquiring them from the previous owners, Colorado Community Media.^[11][12] In November 2023, The Colorado Sun announced it would donate its ownership shares of those papers to The Trust because it was in the process of converting from a for-profit public benefit corporation to a nonprofit.^[13][14]

In November 2023, The Sun became an employee-directed nonprofit.^[15][16]

The Colorado Sun's editor is Dana Coffield. Larry Ryckman is publisher. Jesse Paul is the political editor. David Krause and Lance Benzel are team editors.

Newsletters

The Colorado Sun generates several newsletters:

• The Sunriser: five-day-a-week newsletter with Colorado headline news
• The Unaffiliated: weekly newsletter covering Colorado politics
• The Outsider: weekly newsletter covering Colorado outdoor recreation
• The Temperature: weekly newsletter covering Colorado health and climate news
• Colorado Sunday: weekly newsletter covering Colorado news and arts and culture
• Mike Littwin: twice-weekly newsletter with commentary on Colorado politics