Week No. 4 of YachatsNews’ local fundraising campaign: With your donations we want to do more and better

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews

This week on YachatsNews you can read about the long-awaited work by Yachats volunteers and the city to finally get two small “pocket parks” underway. Or about actions taken by city councils in Waldport and Yachats, or scenes from Waldport’s big Beachcomber Days event.

There are also stories about Lincoln County government – an email phishing scheme that cost the county $109,000 and commissioners voting to raise yearly vacation rental license fees by 300 percent.

And, there is a report later Friday from the only local meeting the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service so far on a proposal to reintroduce sea otters to the Oregon coast, and a wonderful first-person story from a YachatsNews freelance writer describing her dive into the world of ham radio operators, including those in Lincoln County.

Plus there are lots of small but important local news briefs and developments from the Oregon Legislature (self-service gas anyone?) and elsewhere around the state.

And none of this would appear in local media unless YachatsNews reporters were out covering the news.

I bring this up because YachatsNews is in the home stretch of its month-long local fundraising campaign to support its operations for the next 12 months. So far readers have contributed $30,150 toward our fundraising goal of $50,000. Surpassing the $25,000 mark also triggers an additional $2,500 contribution by a major donor. Getting to $45,000 will mean another $2,500 bonus contribution.

Our expenses this year – everything from our full-time reporter’s salary and benefits to web services to liability insurance – are expected to be $81,000. While we have had help from four charitable foundations, it is the support of readers that helps keep this 501c3 nonprofit operating.

We do it because we believe this community service project delivers valuable information to the public on a wide variety of subjects. Not every subject, or not every meeting of every local government, and certainly not everything that happens. That’s just not possible.

But I’d like us to do more.

YachatsNews missed out on a foundation request this year for a grant to contract with a reporter to cover education and youth in Lincoln County, with a particular focus on schools and services in south county. Education and schools are a foundation of communities and are very much under-covered in Lincoln County. It is a goal to find the money and person this year to help YachatsNews do better.

I’d also like to find a regular science writer who can help us do more covering the ocean to the west and the forest to the east, including critical institutions such as the Hatfield Marine Science Center and NOAA’s research fleet in Newport, the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. There are also many local conservation groups or efforts in this area that could use more coverage.

I’d like to resurrect a feature that we introduced this winter called “5 Questions and a Secret” that explored the lives of people who do not make the news in a traditional sense. We were unable to sustain it because of the cost and finding someone to regularly do it.

And, I think the Newport area deserves better and more insightful coverage. Not so much meetings and community events, but growth and development, health services, housing, the fishing fleet, the waterfront and businesses – major topics that are centered in the county seat and affect most everyone in Lincoln County no matter where they live. Just one story a week would be helpful to us all, I believe.

The point is this – while we think YachatsNews covers some of the basics in this area fairly well, but there is potentially so much more we could do. And wanting to do more and do better is important.

Donations – big and small – help us cover some of the basics. You are very generous and your donations are appreciated.

So here’s another request this month for your help with a tax deductible donation.

Many people can’t write a check for $100, $500 or $1,000 during our June campaign. But there are 30 or so readers who contribute $5 to $20 a month through an automatic contribution system via PayPal – just like they would handle a subscription for a TV streaming service or online newspaper. The result is a steady $300 to $400 a month that helps provide a base of support.

So if you can’t write a check this month, consider a small regular contribution through PayPal.

Otherwise, you can contribute 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.

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