# Mensagem (Portugal)

**Summary**

Mensagem describes itself as a hyper-local,community-focused media organization serving all of Lisbon. It was "born from the desire of a group of Lisboners, who happen to be journalists, to improve their city." Founded in 2020 by Catarina Carvalho with financial backing from a local business owner, Mensagem is now an established entity with a 7-person team. Their website has 300,000 monthly views, and they reach 20,000 newsletter subscribers every week.

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="Overview" %}

| **Name**                                            | <p>Mensagem de Lisboa</p><p><br></p>                                                                                                                                                              |
| --------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Website**                                         | <https://amensagem.pt/>                                                                                                                                                                           |
| **Location / Location of coverage**                 | Lisbon, Portugal                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| **Size of potential audience/ town region covered** | 548,703 people in Lisbon                                                                                                                                                                          |
| **Year they started publishing**                    | 2020                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| **Language**                                        | Portuguese and English                                                                                                                                                                            |
| **Mission statement**                               | By empowering the communities, sometimes just by showing how they live and what they do, we give way to dialogue and create a safe space for debate - also in the real world, not only digitally. |
| {% endtab %}                                        |                                                                                                                                                                                                   |

{% tab title="Management and team" %}

| **Founders**                | Catarina Carvalho                  |
| --------------------------- | ---------------------------------- |
| **Current management team** | Catarina Carvalho                  |
| **Team**                    | Full-time equivalent employees: 13 |
| {% endtab %}                |                                    |

{% tab title="Governance Structures " %}

| **Legal form of company** | LDA        |
| ------------------------- | ---------- |
| **Tax status**            | for-profit |
| {% endtab %}              |            |

{% tab title="Products & Revenue Streams" %}

| **Main products**                              | Stories shared through different channels                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| ---------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Additional products**                        | <ul><li>Website</li><li>Newletter</li><li>Podcasts </li><li>Social Media </li><li>Books</li><li>Events </li><li>Other cultural projects</li></ul>                                                                                              |
| **Audience and community reach**               | <ul><li>Website: About 300,000 readers per month</li><li>Newsletter reaches 20,000 subscribers (44% opening rate) </li><li>Instagram: 37,8000 Followers</li><li>Facebook: 17,000 Followers</li><li>X / Twitter: 7,840</li></ul>                |
| **Most important community engagement format** | <p></p><ul><li>Newsletter which works as a dialogue channel with the readers</li><li>Events at their café</li><li>Pop up newsrooms and meetings/focus groups</li><li>Yearly survey</li><li>Readers volunteer in writing for mensagem</li></ul> |
| **Revenue streams**                            | <ul><li>One major donor  </li><li>Grants</li><li>Donations </li><li>Sponsored projects</li></ul>                                                                                                                                               |
| {% endtab %}                                   |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |
| {% endtabs %}                                  |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                |

{% hint style="info" %}
On the next pages you can read our in-depth portrait about Mensagem. If you want to jump into a specific topic directly, here's the overview for you:&#x20;
{% endhint %}

<table data-view="cards"><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th></th><th data-hidden data-card-cover data-type="files"></th><th data-hidden data-card-target data-type="content-ref"></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>How Mensagem started</strong></td><td>Read the founding story of the Bürgerportal</td><td></td><td><a href="https://3104887601-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FhbO2Qj4wcNeF31vh6RNL%2Fuploads%2FxSQfSk2WgFe7oQ3q2gxs%2FHistory%20red.png?alt=media&#x26;token=7f9824e8-9c54-43a3-8756-b68e4153ea75">History red.png</a></td><td><a href="mensagem-portugal/how-mensagem-started">how-mensagem-started</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Products</strong></td><td>Read about Mensagem's most important (journalistic) products</td><td></td><td><a href="https://3104887601-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FhbO2Qj4wcNeF31vh6RNL%2Fuploads%2Fb859yYzXHPopI6PQtEQg%2FShopping%20red.png?alt=media&#x26;token=cd95dac3-be80-433a-99e8-ac746a0cf748">Shopping red.png</a></td><td><a href="mensagem-portugal/products">products</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Revenue Streams &#x26; Finance</strong></td><td>Read about how Mensagem earns money</td><td></td><td><a href="https://3104887601-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FhbO2Qj4wcNeF31vh6RNL%2Fuploads%2FKmo5pDFsNvv8Ywag6dYJ%2Frevenue%20red.png?alt=media&#x26;token=5388d274-2935-4e62-8596-0fbe64952468">revenue red.png</a></td><td><a href="mensagem-portugal/revenue-streams-and-finance">revenue-streams-and-finance</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Community Journalism</strong></td><td>Read about how Mensagem engages its Community</td><td></td><td><a href="https://3104887601-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FhbO2Qj4wcNeF31vh6RNL%2Fuploads%2F016MAHDdOt2nCmZkVwsL%2FCommunity.png?alt=media&#x26;token=40198032-beba-4e72-8345-e6aee8af45a0">Community.png</a></td><td><a href="mensagem-portugal/community-journalism">community-journalism</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Biggest Challenges</strong></td><td>Read about challenges and barriers Mensagem is facing</td><td></td><td><a href="https://3104887601-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FhbO2Qj4wcNeF31vh6RNL%2Fuploads%2FD2yXp9KSm11LSMtpLNfY%2Fchallenges%20red.png?alt=media&#x26;token=a74ad2c4-fa69-4115-8a5c-e1872c89e6af">challenges red.png</a></td><td><a href="mensagem-portugal/biggest-challenges">biggest-challenges</a></td></tr><tr><td><strong>Success Factors</strong></td><td>Read about Mensagem's biggest factors for success</td><td></td><td><a href="https://3104887601-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FhbO2Qj4wcNeF31vh6RNL%2Fuploads%2FXizK6s2ek4EOu196BS0X%2FRocket%20red.png?alt=media&#x26;token=3196c899-b72a-498c-822f-7564d698c248">Rocket red.png</a></td><td><a href="mensagem-portugal/biggest-success-factors">biggest-success-factors</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

***

<p align="center"><strong>Get involved:</strong></p>

<p align="center"><a href="https://starthub.correctiv.org/crowdnewsroom/your-question-for-our-wiki" class="button secondary" data-icon="message">Ask a question</a> or  <a href="https://starthub.correctiv.org/crowdnewsroom/your-contribution-to-our-wiki" class="button secondary" data-icon="pencil">Make a contribution</a> or  <a href="https://starthub.correctiv.org/crowdnewsroom/your-feedback-for-our-community-journalism-wiki" class="button secondary" data-icon="comments">Give feedback</a></p>