By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews
Thank you once again for your help and support.
We weren’t sure what to expect when a YachatsNews supporter suggested an October effort to seek more donors willing to make small, regular contributions to help fund our month-to-month operations. So he and his employer issued a challenge – they’d match donations up to $10,000 – and we took them up on it.
This is a short note to let you know how that went.
During October, 38 more readers signed up to make small monthly donations that will total $4,788 over the next 12 months. They join 55 readers already making monthly contributions. This is a big help to expand our financial base.
In addition, another 90 readers contributed $14,665 by writing checks or making one-time donations through YachatsNews’ PayPal account.
That means the local supporter and his employer will be contributing $10,000 to help YachatsNews provide – and hopefully expand — local news coverage in Lincoln County.
YachatsNews is in good financial shape to continue what we are currently doing – focusing news coverage on south Lincoln County with the occasional foray into countywide issues. (By the end of the year, our website will have grown to 2 million page views — the standard metric for online sites — for 2024.)
The October effort was a targeted attempt to broaden our monthly donor base (we also average $1,000 a month in advertising income) so that we can reach our 2025 goal to hire a second staff reporter to be based in Newport. We think this is a vital and important step to expand our news coverage to more of Lincoln County.
A number of Oregon or Northwest foundations open grant opportunities in December, and we intend to seek their help in working toward our reporter-hiring goal. There are local grant opportunities as well.
Our aim is to provide professional, local news coverage free to anyone in Lincoln County or people elsewhere interested in what happens on the central Oregon coast. We augment our daily report with stories from news partners such as Oregon Coast TODAY, KLCC News in Eugene, the Oregon Capital Chronicle in Salem, Oregon Public Broadcasting, and (my former employer) The Oregonian/OregonLive.
Not everyone loves what we do, of course, but several October contributors included notes with their donations. Here’s a few that I would like to share:
“Thanks for everything you do. Accurate, impartial journalism is critically important to society.”
“Thank you for all your work and professionalism. I’ve never seen a better local ‘paper’ and you are doing it from little ol’ Yachats.”
And from a donor who lives in Albany: “I find your work thorough and comprehensive – better than my local paper by far. Excellent journalism!”
So a very sincere thank you to everyone who reads YachatsNews, those who sign up for our twice-weekly email blasts, and those who help support this effort with their hard-earned money. It is appreciated.
Of course, for nonprofits like us, fundraising never really stops. So, if you are still thinking about donating, you can do that any time. Here are some ways:
- 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 become a monthly donor or make a one-time contribution through PayPal;
- Advertise your business or organization on the site. Not only will you gain the additional exposure that 150,000 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.
- Quinton Smith is the editor of YachatsNews.com and can be reached at YachatsNews@gmail.com
