Earlier this week, I was feeling pretty low. It was Day Two of our quarterly fundraiser and we had gotten a single donation of ten dollars. Usually by the second day we have a couple hundred, at least. It seemed like we were headed for a disastrous week and, with my business checking account nearly drained, there would be no way to pay my writers. I feel pretty certain that all of the Eclectablog writers would do it for free but, although some may see it as a mistake, I simply won’t bring on writers unless I can pay them at least something. What we do isn’t easy and they should be rewarded for it. That’s a progressive value I won’t compromise on.
Wednesday morning, Anne put a post up on Facebook that literally broke the logjam. In her post, she let people know the reality of our life. We are comfortable but, like most people, we’re a couple of paychecks away from losing our home. There’s no George Soros money or funding from a secret cabal of wealthy liberals keeping us going. We rely on advertising – which brings in an astonishingly small amount of revenue, especially in non-election years – and your donations.
Here’s what Anne wrote:
Team Eclectablog: (l-r) LOLGOP, Charles Gaba (Brainwrap), me, Anne C. Savage, Amy Lynn Smith, and Emma White. Not shown: Tony Trupiano.
We are not unlike a lot of other Americans. We have no savings, two older cars pushing 200,000 miles, and we rarely vacation. I mean we’ve had two one week vacations in 10 years. We might take off for a long weekend now and again and that too is usually to visit family or we camp. Together we make the equivalent of two teachers’ salaries. We have enough to take care of two special needs dogs and are lucky enough to buy organic food if we choose, and to go out to dinner from time to time. We love our life and feel very blessed everyday. We feel like we are right where we need to be.
But here’s the thing, Eclectablog has to stand on its own feet. We don’t have the money to support the blog and pay the writers. As much as we wish we could, we can’t. In an election year we can manage because of a few political ads but in off election years it’s very difficult to make ends meet. We rely almost completely on donations from folks who read the blog. Several thousand people go to Eclectablog each day and benefit from the information they get from the smart and thoughtful writers that make up Eclectablog. They help frame difficult issues in a way that makes it easier for people, like myself, to understand and talk about with others.
If you’re still with me, thank you, because I really want you to understand the big picture. The political environment is so tough for progressives right now, especially here in Michigan. We don’t have enough representation in government to make changes or even hold onto the things we value, like choice for women or protecting the environment. These things we value are being chipped away everyday and we can just give up or we can fight very hard to push back. This is what Eclectablog does, every day. It keeps us informed about very important stuff that we would be hard pressed to read about in the mainstream media. This isn’t a cut on mainstream media. They are overworked, understaffed, and neutrality is the name of the game. They are very unlikely to choose a side even if it is clear one side is doing damage.
This last fundraiser has hit Chris pretty hard. He made more on his very first fundraising day years ago than he did all week for this fundraiser, and there are thousands more readers benefiting from it’s content. The reality is he will have to let his writers go if we can’t raise the money. He’s been building Eclectablog for 10 years and to throw it all away is heartbreaking.
Thank you to those of you who have donated. I do not exaggerate when I say every dime helps. If you haven’t and would like to we would be very grateful. Go here to find out how. If you’re broke, we get it, but share the content when you read something that you liked. Talk to others about how this operation is small and vulnerable but so very important. Don’t give up on the power of communication. Eclectablog HAS made a difference and continues to and we really need you to be a part of that.
Thank you,
Anne
For those groups and individuals who find what we do here at Eclectablog worthy of supporting with a direct financial contribution, there are three ways to help.
First, you can make your donation using the PayPal form below. You can change the amount if you wish. The default is $60 which is basically $1 per week after the fees are taken out, a pretty good value.
[donateplus]
Or you can wait until the TinyPass pop-up pops up (every tenth click on the site) and donate that way. If you do that, the popups will go away as long as you have cookies enabled. Like with the Paypal form, the default amounts for annual or monthly donations can be adjusted to whatever you wish them to be. They are currently set to be around $1 per week. Again, it’s a great value.
Finally, if you would prefer to send a check, send me an email and I’ll give you the address. This is the most beneficial way for us because it avoids the Paypal and Tinypass fees that are taken from contributions to the site.
If you work for an organization that would like to support our efforts by placing an ad, click HERE for our ad rates and more information.
By the way, you don’t have to be an organization to run an ad. Maybe you’d like to surprise your favorite progressive with a birthday message on Eclectablog or help promote your favorite group. Again, click HERE for more info.
If you cannot afford to support us financially, there are a couple of other ways that you can still help.
First, you can do you Amazon shopping through the Eclectablog page. Use the search box at the top of the right sidebar to start your shopping. You can search for products directly from that box or click the “View more products on Amazon.com” link to go to the main Amazon page. If you order via that link, we get 4-6% of the cost of your purchase and it doesn’t cost you a thing.
Second, please share our content on your Facebook page or other social media like Twitter, Reddit, etc. Put a “Like” on our Facebook page and click the “Invite friends” button and encourage your friends to like us, too.
Thanks so much for your continued support,
Chris, Anne, Amy, LOLGOP, Tony, Emma, and Charles
