By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews
YachatsNews is asking for your financial help this month to continue expanding its free, reader-supported news coverage in Lincoln County.
This request is an outgrowth of our yearly local fundraising campaign in June which focused on larger, one-time personal donations and grants from Oregon foundations.
During October we’re asking our readers – especially those in the Newport area — to consider signing up through PayPal to make a small monthly donation, all depending on what you can afford and think our news coverage is worth. This campaign is not aimed at the many people who made larger, one-time donations in June. Instead, it’s our continued attempt to provide free, professionally reported news coverage of Lincoln County by widening our monthly financial base.
Click on this link to set up your donation.
During a reader survey late last year, 80 percent of the more than 300 people who responded said they would consider making a small, monthly donation to help support our work. Here’s your chance – with an incentive from a YachatsNews supporter.
The donor and his employer have pledged to match your contribution for a year up to a total of $10,000. That means if you sign up to donate $5 a month through PayPal the donor will contribute $60. If you donate $10, the donor will contribute $120, or if you sign up to donate $20 a month, the donor will contribute $240.
You get the idea.
There are currently 55 readers who contribute $3 to $25 a month via automatic, monthly donations through PayPal. The typical donation is $10 to $15 a month for a total of about $900. A link to sign up is here, or go to the Donate graphic with this story or the button at the top of the YachatsNews home page.
We would like to double the number of contributors and monthly total to help broaden our financial base – and to help expand our news coverage more regularly to the Newport area.
Goal: hire a Newport-based reporter
YachatsNews is in good financial shape for its current operations – one full-time staff reporter, three paid freelancers and my mostly volunteer work that provides 24/7 news coverage of south Lincoln County, a roundup of pertinent Oregon news, and work from our local news partners such as Oregon Coast TODAY, Oregon ArtsWatch, KLCC News, Oregon Capital Chronicle and others.
Our yearly budget is about $85,000 a year – everything from the reporter’s pay and benefits, freelance expenses, numerous insurance policies, bookkeeping, web maintenance, to half a dozen fees for everything from checking court records to twice-weekly email blasts to subscribers.
As any small business can attest, expenses add up fast.
Our local fundraising campaign in June raised $48,000 from readers and foundations. But that money is earmarked to potentially hire a second reporter to be based in Newport to cover Lincoln County government and schools, housing issues, and the best stories of the week from that area. This is the original reporting that few – including YachatsNews – is doing now and I believe really needs to be greatly improved.
But doing so needs your financial support. And that’s why we are asking readers to support this one-month campaign – to help bring top-notch news coverage to more of Lincoln County.
Other ways to help
Of course, there are other ways to contribute if doing so by a small, monthly donation does not fit your charitable giving plan. You can:
- 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;
- Advertise your business or organization on the site. Not only will you gain the additional exposure that 140,000 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.
I’ll update progress on this effort through the month and tell a little bit about what a second reporter could do to grow and improve news coverage in Lincoln County. If, as always, there are questions please feel free to reach out to me by email at YachatsNews@gmail.com or simply call me at 503-970-3867.
The staff and board at YachatsNews appreciates your support.
- Quinton Smith is the editor of YachatsNews.com and can be reached at YachatsNews@gmail.com
Quinton, the YachatsNews.com is an excellent source of local news from Yachats all the way up to Lincoln City. As a regular monthly contributor, I can only tell you that I feel my small contribution is well spent and helps us get really good local information. Thank you many times over!
I would be willing to donate monthly but I don’t want to use PayPal.
From the website:
Of course, there are other ways to contribute if doing so by a small, monthly donation does not fit your charitable giving plan. You can:
— Write a check and drop it into the mail to YachatsNews, P.O Box 284, Yachats, Ore., 97498;