October 24, 2008

Friday Cat Blogging – 24 October 2008

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FRIDAY CATBLOGGING….I had something new and exciting planned for today, but a combination of technical problems and feline noncooperation scotched my best efforts. Maybe next week.

But things turned out OK anyway. Domino is taking the week off because I ended up snapping this picture of Inkblot at the last minute (i.e., about an hour ago) and I thought it deserved more prominent treatment than usual. Magnificent, isn’t he? Mother Jones is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which means I’m not allowed to endorse candidates for office, but my reading of the law suggests that this applies only to human candidates. So consider this Inkblot’s official campaign portrait. That’s a face you can trust to get tough with Wall Street, get tough with Ahmadinewhoever, and get especially tough on our nation’s growing problem of barking suburban dogs. Inkblot ’08!

By the way, if you’re in the Orange County area, I’ll be on a panel today at UC Irvine that features “conversations among important contemporary bloggers.” Unfortunately, Ezra Klein had to cancel, so they got me instead. My session is at 3:45. Details here and here if you want to drop by.

WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

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And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

payment methods

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