Friday, July 31, 2015

OK, It's Fundraising Time

Yes, I hate it too. But since my revenue model is "create content, ask people who like it or its effects to cough up for it," I have to do it.

At this moment, my "support KN@PPSTER" recurring (as opposed to "one-time donation") revenues are at $277 a month. But $250 of that was a six-month commitment from a long-time supporter, whom I expect will end or reduce it after the August payment. Bottom line: In order to keep doing things the way I'm doing things, I need to keep that number above $250. The closer to $500 the better.

Here's what you're supporting if you choose to hit the "support" links in the right sidebar:


  • At the end of January, I launched The William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism. High-falutin' name, but it's not a government-registered "non-profit;" it's just me. Occasionally I'll pay an outside writer to pen an op-ed, but not that often -- IIRC, a total of three times out of more than 75 op-eds so far. The Garrison Center is my "libertarian outreach" project. I write libertarian op-eds and submit them to mainstream newspapers and non-libertarian political publications. So far in July, I've made 46 publication placements. My initial goal was to average 50 placements per month by the end of the year. I'm pretty much already there (and have a plan to drive that number up quite a bit starting next week).

    If you value "libertarian outreach," this is the ticket. It's also the thing I'll have to cut back on or quit if I can't make the financial nut. I spend about 40 hours a month on it. If it can't carry its financial weight, I'll be knocking on (virtual) doors in the libertarian think tank community and offering them that 40 hours or more per month for a regular paycheck. Which would be a shame, because I think my Garrison Center work gets a lot more bang per solicited buck (low- to mid-four figures per year) than does the similar work of outfits operating in the six- to eight-figure range.
  • This blog. It's been online since 2004 and lately I try to average a post a day. Some months I make that goal, sometimes I fall short. It's my "personal space for throwing ideas around." Some of you readers seem to find those ideas interesting. Maybe even, say, $12 a year (a buck a month!) interesting. If you think you're getting value here, I hope you'll cough up some filthy lucre in return.
  • The KN@PP Stir Podcast. Fifteen minutes or so, once a week. Definitely still in its experimental phase (by the end of the year, I expect it to have more professional presentation, etc.). The listening audience seems to run to 25 people or so per episode. My goal by the end of the year is 100 listeners per episode ... and I'd like to blow the doors off that goal.

There are other things -- a couple of freely downloadable books, for example, one of which I'm still considering issuing a revised and expanded edition of (the other one is a 20-year collection of my political writing). And then of course there's Rational Review News Digest (the oldest daily libertarian email news roundup on the Internet), which has its own separate fundraising setup but which I think is relevant to whether or not you might find my work worthy of support. But those three bullet-pointed ones are what I'm throwing at you as a "help keep me at $250 or more per month" pitch.

Thanks in advance.

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