The final week of YachatsNews’ local fundraising campaign: Can we make our goal? And answering some questions

YachatsNews is extending its month-long local fundraising campaign through July 4 in order to get closer to its goal of $50,000. As of Thursday, readers, businesses and local organizations had donated or pledged a total of almost $36,000.

Coupled with a recent $5,000 grant from the Roundhouse Foundation of Sisters, Ore., that brings total donations and pledges in May and June to $41,000. If we reach $45,000 that triggers a second $2,500 additional donation from a major donor.

The idea of a fundraising campaign started last year as YachatsNews transitioned from a community service project started in 2019 by editor Quinton Smith to a 501c3 nonprofit. The transition was necessary to be able to hire a full-time reporter to do much of the work that Smith, 73, and freelance reporters were doing.

The alternative was to drastically shrink the site’s operations or shut it down entirely. Your generosity last year and again this year gives us confidence that YachatsNews should continue providing as much local news and humanly and financially possible.

The one-month campaign is one of three ways the nonprofit generates the $81,000 in operating funds needed to provide local news coverage for the next 12 months. The other funds come from foundation grants, advertising revenue and from regular, smaller monthly donations from 35 readers.

YachatsNews’ readers and supporters have been very generous with their donations during the campaign. With one more week we hope to hit our local fundraising goal.

Once the local drive is over, the focus of financial support will move to state, regional and national foundations who are beginning to realize the importance of local sites to help the mostly rural areas — “news deserts” — without reporters and editors providing regular news coverage.

Clearing up some questions

Questions from readers during the campaign also bring up the need to explain more how the site operates. This includes:

• While readers can sign up to receive an email synopsis every Friday morning of YachatsNews’ stories, please remember that we post local and statewide stories 5-6 days a week. This is a 24/7 publication and not just on Fridays. To check daily just go to YachatsNews.com via any search engine;
• We think there is added value using some statewide stories from our news partners, which include the nonprofit Oregon Capital Chronicle, Oregon Public Broadcasting, the Oregon Capital Bureau, Ashland News, Oregon ArtsWatch and others. There is no cost for this collaboration. Also, so not to detract from local news, these stories are published in a separate “Oregon News” section of the website. Yet, metrics on readership show that 20 percent of the Top 50 stories on the site are these stories from elsewhere in Oregon. We think this is an important, value-added service.
• Those same metrics also show that two event or entertainment stories a week shared from Oregon Coast TODAY are also popular with readers. We value this collaboration.
• So, speaking of metrics, how many people go to the YachatsNews website? The number of readers varies based on the day of the week and what type of story might be most popular. Some small briefs or stories may be read by 200 to 300 people. Bigger, seemingly more important stories are usually read by 3,000 to 10,000 people. The most-read story in the past 12 months was viewed nearly 50,000 times. Over any 30-day period during the past year, YachatsNews had an average of 100,000 people visiting its website. In 2022 that totaled more than 1 million unique page views. That’s unprecedented in a county of 50,000 people.
• OK, about the name. We get some pushback from people in Waldport, Newport and other parts of Lincoln County who think a name like “YachatsNews” means we’re just reporting on stories from Yachats. Yes, I chose the name YachatsNews in October 2018 thinking this would be just a little news site reporting 3-4 stories a week from Yachats. That changed during the pandemic when the site grew and grew and grew as we expanded the geographic scope of its reporting to regularly include Waldport, Newport and elsewhere in Lincoln County. I could change the name to reflect something broader – but it would be expensive and an administrative distraction I don’t need at the moment. I like to use this comparison – if you are reading about Afghanistan, lost submersibles exploring the Titanic or the war in Ukraine on the New York Times’ website, do you ask why a New York newspaper is doing that? While the difference in scope is massive, think of it the same way when YachatsNews is reporting – as we are today — about news in Newport or elsewhere in Lincoln County.

How to help support

I know there are lots of organizations and groups in Lincoln County worthy of your hard-earned money. Please support as many as you are able. If you want to support YachatsNews’ local reporting, you can do so in one of three ways:

• Write a check to YachatsNews and drop it in the mail to: Yachats News, P.O. Box 284, Yachats, Ore. 97498. For tax purposes, you will get a letter acknowledging your donation;
• Use the PayPal feature on the fundraising “thermometer” graphic with this article or via the “Donate” button of this website;
• Use the GoFundMe donation portal on the fundraising “thermometer” with this article.

Because we are a 501c3 nonprofit, any contributions are tax deductible.

If you have questions, please email me at YachatsNews@gmail.com or call me at 503-970-3867. I am happy to answer questions and share any nuances of the campaign, the transition, future plans, and operations the past 4½ years.

— Quinton Smith/editor