Thank you for helping YachatsNews’ effort to grow and expand.
By the time the last of checks or PayPal donations trickle in this month, YachatsNews’ local fundraising campaign should get well beyond $48,000 with the help of dozens of donations big and small, two Oregon foundations and one match by a local donor’s employer.
While June’s effort is short of the (probably too big) original fundraising goal of $100,000 to hire a Newport-based reporter, there are other ways to get there – and this is a commitment to keep trying to do that.
First, here’s the June fundraising breakdown:
- Reader donations: $28,000
- Employer match: $5,000
- Oregon Community Foundation: $10,000
- Roundhouse Foundation: $5,000
That brings the total to $48,000. It does not include the 30 people – there are now 55 total — who signed up through PayPal to make small, monthly contributions to offset YachatsNews’ day-to-day operating expenses.
The total is in line with donations during our first and second local fundraising campaigns in June 2022 and June 2023.
Thank you one and all. Your generosity is appreciated and shows you believe in our commitment to provide strong, local news free to readers. This is also a vow to put your hard-earned money to good use. So here is the plan.
The goal of YachatsNews is still to hire a Newport-based reporter to cover city and county governments there, the countywide school district, the busy port, housing and homeless issues – and the best story of the week in that area. We have outlined the reasons for that effort in previous fundraising stories.
We think YachatsNews needs $100,000 in the bank to launch that effort and believe many of June’s donations were made with that Newport reporter in mind. So YachatsNews will put those donations aside into a certificate of deposit and pursue getting the remaining money needed from Oregon and national foundations – and any local donors, of course, who hear of our work and are able to help.
The goal is to secure the rest of that money by the end of the year to hire that reporter.
In addition, in September we hope to offer a small, incentivized campaign to entice more monthly donors.
But this is the last of YachatsNews’ fundraising updates until we get enough of those grants and/or donations to announce we are ready to hire our second reporter. But if you are reading this for the first time and want to help us reach that goal, you can still do so:
- Write a check and drop it into the mail to YachatsNews, P.O Box 284, Yachats, Ore., 97498;
- Use the “Donate” button on the website to make a one-time contribution through PayPal;
- Paypal also has a feature where you set up an automatic monthly contribution. More people are doing that now (ranging from $5 to $40 a month) and it is a great stabilizer for our monthly operations and much appreciated;
- Advertise your business or organization on the site. Not only will you gain the additional exposure that 130,000 page views a month can bring, but you will be helping sustain this operation. Here is a link to rates and how to get that process started.
YachatsNews is a 501c3 nonprofit so state and federal governments recognize your donation as a charitable tax deduction.
YachatsNews, its staff, freelancers, board – and thousands of readers – appreciate your generous support.
- Quinton Smith/editor
