From Election Fraud to Memogate... a Fundraiser for Raw Story

[paineinthearse]

Folks,

Take a moment and reflect who our #1 alternative source of information since Guckertgate to ink-for-pay to to Negroponet to Bolton to DSM, with a few exclusive interviews and rabble rousing (remember the paper chase?) thrown in, has been.

Some of my favorite Raw Story stories:

Social Security Scam Letter Series
Gannon/Eberle
Baker/Carter commission
Interview with Ritter, Conyers, Reid, etc.
Social Security Playbook/handbook talking points
GOP Shiavo talking points
Apartheid

What are your favorites?

Post as you open your wallets for a very worthy cause.

==========================================================================

http://rawstory.com/contact/rawheldp.html

Fundraiser for Raw Story
Two Week Help-Us-Out-A-Thon
June 17 - July 1 2005

Dear Readers:

As you know, Raw Story works hard to bring you the news and information so critical in understanding the world in which we live. Raw Story is proud of its original investigative reporting work as well as its dedication to bringing to you the most important news from around the world.

Raw Readers know that the majority of our funds come from the advertising pop-up and banner ads that we have posted on the site. Those ads, as annoying as they are to all of you (we have heard your complaints), only really cover the cost of the site up-keep and hosting, an editor, with some to spare for our news editor and one researcher.

The little that our news staffers make goes back into researching stories because we pay for our own research, phone bills, and some cases travel. We would like to be able to pay our staff something for their hard work and we would like to hire additional staff to help make Raw Story become even better.

If you value the work that we do and if you feel we are helping to keep you informed, we ask that you kindly help keep Raw Story going by contributing to our two week fundraiser.

Who Donates What?

If you are a company and wish to help with equipment and/or software donations, please contact John Byrne at [e-mail]. In particular, we have no laptops, which makes it difficult to cover events live.

If you are a service provider and wish to donate services such as broadband/T1 lines, research subscriptions, phone cards, etc., please contact John Byrne at [e-mail]

If you are an individual, please see the FAQ below.

FAQ of Why, How, What, And All of that Good Stuff

Why only two weeks? We want to raise some much-needed funds for the most-needed things. If this goes well, we might consider doing a monthly donation drive that will allow ad-free accounts, and to expand our resources. Right now, however, we need to address some key issues such as our staff, research costs, site upgrades, etc.

How do I donate? You may use the PayPal link below for credit card, debit card, and direct bank transactions. Just click on the paypal link below and you will be directed to the donation page.

What if I don't have or want to use a credit card or paypal? You may use our mailing address, also listed below. Checks are non-refundable.

Is this tax deductible? No, this is not tax deductible.

How much do you want/need to raise and what do you need it for? Well, it would be easier to list what we don't need. We don't have a figure on how much we "want/need" to raise. We have never done a fundraiser before, so this is all a bit new.

We don't know what to ask for, but we know that our two journalists have been working almost 24/7 with very little pay; our researcher has been working 24/7 with no pay; our site needs a serious overhaul; our equipment is outdated; we have no research accounts whatsoever; we have large phone bills; and so forth. In other words, we end up volunteering a lot of our time to bring as much as possible to you. Any help is appreciated.

I have no way of helping financially, is there something I can do? We rely on the kindness of volunteers greatly. While we are in fact looking for researchers, PR help, and administrative help, this particular request is not for staffers, volunteers.

That said, you can, however, help by spreading the word of the fundraiser, getting word out about Raw Story, and by simply being supportive of our work.

Will this fundraiser pay for the hiring more writers? We would first like to pay the writers that we do have at least a minimum wage. But yes, if we raise enough, then one of the things we want to do is hire a few more writers, an additional full time researcher, and a business person to manage the stuff that we writers don't have a clue about.

How much should I donate? Whatever you feel comfortable donating is fine. We appreciate everything and anything you can do or donate.
What if I have additional questions? Contact Muriel Kane.

Donate Here
Donate via Paypal to use your credit card, debit card, checking account, etc. Donations of $75 or more can be paired with a t-shirt, though we'd prefer you just buy the t-shirt separately to help us out.

http://rawstory.com/contact/rawheldp.html
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr

If you wish to send a check, please do so to using the address at right Raw Story
C/O Donations
PO Box 398091
Cambridge, MA 02139

To buy a t-shirt, go to http://heretikriotgear.com/blog_rawstory.htm. We get a few dollars for each shirt, and they are made in the USA (which is why they cost more than usual).



p.s. lala_rawraw made me do this! :spank:

[EFerrari]

1. I knew it. That lala is a SLAVE DRIVER

just what we need. :)

:kick:

:kick:

:kick:

[autorank]

2. Donating right after I post!

Thank's Raw Story. Hang in there. You've got the right format and a gooe nose for news. Since Salon is no longer serious, you're it!

Go for it!

[katinmn]

3. Of course we should support Raw Story!

:thumbsup:

Raw Story is an important cog in the progressive wheel.
We all talk about how corporate media has let us down.

Well,to combat that we must support alternative, independent, and progressive news outlets like RS, Democracy Now! BuzzFlash, AA and others.

Simple as that. I'll donate.

[paineinthearse]

4. Thanks for the support

Now maybe lala won't hit me so hard!

[dxstone]

5. kick! n/t

[Pryderi]

6. *kicked* and recommended

[EFerrari]

7. kick

:kick:

[althecat]

8. Raw Story is fantastic and I wholeheartedly support this effort..

reccomended..

Paininthearse... please check your PM...

[dalloway]

9. Raw Story--you are one of the best resources out there

I just happily donated. You deserve every penny.

Thank you for the service your provide.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Skinner]

11. I apologize for the locked thread.

Due to recent events, we are (understandably) a little skittish about fundraisers, and you should get admin approval before posting them. In response to a request from the mods, I have reviewed this and re-opened. Good luck with the fundraiser.

[lala_rawraw]

14. Thank you, most kind

We really appreciate this you guys and Skinner, thank you again.

[paineinthearse]

41. Thank you for unlocking.

DU :yourock:

[katinmn]

12. Saturday morning, slept in kick

:donut:

[Nothing Without Hope]

13. kick for Raw Story! I don't know what we'd do without it and I don't want

to find out!

:kick:

[lala_rawraw]

15. Um... stop saying that, people will

Think you are serious:D

[wookie294]

16. Thanks, just donated $$ n/t

[Coexist]

17. Rawstory is the best!

donated as soon as I saw their little headline promo.

Keep up the good work - we need you!

[Coexist]

18. kick

[Al-CIAda]

19. Sending monetary support! kick.

[starroute]

20. Kick (n/t)

[Nothing Without Hope]

21. For some reason this isn't on the Greatest Page - have PMed Skinner

about the oversight. (I assume it's related to the thread being locked and then unlocked.)

...and Kick!

[Nothing Without Hope]

22. I've posted a headsup in GD-P - please help keep it kicked

It's here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1865857

We need to keep it kicked too to help people fiind this thread. :)

[starroute]

23. That one got locked

Only one thread to a fundraiser, it seems.

So the only way to keep this visible is the old fashioned way, one kick at a time.

[lala_rawraw]

24. This is funny...

So lock, unlock, lock, unlock... maybe we could just send smoke signals?

j/k...thanks guys for trying to get it on front page, very kind of you:D

[EFerrari]

26. lala, I won't have a dime for a week or so, but you guys on

'top of the list.

Thanks for your work.

B.

[EFerrari]

25. Kick for real live journalism!

:kick:
:kick:
:kick:

[Coexist]

27. kick - RawRadio about to begin!

[Nothing Without Hope]

28. kick n/t

[lala_rawraw]

29. kick (quietly)

[lala_rawraw]

30. kick (runs away)

[Nothing Without Hope]

31. Still haven't heard why this was witheld from the Greatest page after

being unlocked. If we can replace it with a single new thread, we should be able to get there.

This is a GOOD CAUSE. We rely on Raw Story for so much, yet most of us have paid nothing for everything they do. There is a LOT of research and original writing every day at that site and it's taken for granted by to many of us.

Time to demonstrate what Raw Story has come to mean for us!

KICK!!!

[lala_rawraw]

32. Your new thread got locked, so I think this is the one and only

No?

[Nothing Without Hope]

33. If this thread isn't going to be allowed on the Greatest page despite

11 votes and we are only allowed one thread at a time for this fundraiser, then we could ask Skinner to re-lock this thread - it's never going to be visible enough - and start over with a fresh one that CAN be voted onto the Greatest page. Then we can do it again each time the new thread falls off the Greatest page until the end of the fundraiser. What do you say, LaLa? I won't ask him for this without your okay.

[Coexist]

34. makes sense to me

[Nothing Without Hope]

36. Let's just keep this thread kicked until we hear from Lala

Then, if we do start over with a new thread, we will see to it that part of the locking agreement is that the old thread gets a link to the new one.

Actually, I don't see that it's really necessary to lock the old thread, provided we agree to stop posting on it except for the link to the new thread. Since it's not on the Greatest Page and this is the fast-moving General Discussion forum, it would sink very quickly into invisibility once the kicking stopped. Half an hour, certainly an hour, and it would be effectively gone.

We might want to consider posting the new one in the GD-P forum, where threads don't move down the Forum list as rapidly and so don't need to be kicked as often. Most people read Raw Story for the poltical coverage anyway.

...and KICK!

[lala_rawraw]

39. Sorry was gone, had to sleep.

I don't mind, if Skinner is okay with it, then sure and thank you:)

[paineinthearse]

43. John Conyers never sleeps

We expect the same from you!

[lala_rawraw]

46. Yeah, that is true,

And I sleep rarely, but I also have this little health problem and I had to get oral surgery last friday because my nose bleed turned out to be a long story. I finally napped enough to be able to type and that is a good thing:D


Back to non-sleeping dear.

[NJmaverick]

35. I gave

This news source is too important to our nation not to.

[NJmaverick]

45. kick

kick

[lala_rawraw]

47. Thank you so much

:D

[Nothing Without Hope]

37. kick n/t

[Nothing Without Hope]

40. kick n/t

[paineinthearse]

38. .

self-deleted

[Nothing Without Hope]

42. Skinner unlocked it, but he hasn't responded to my question

as to why despite having 11 votes it did not get on the Greatest page after unlocking.

So, this is the strategy I'm thinking about and LaLa has just given her permission:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3887747#3896447

I'm leaving for several hours shortly and won't have time to PM Skinner with this new request before I do. (We can't post or repost a fundraiser thread without permission.) I do think that a new thread might do better in GD-P, where it won't drop so fast between kicks. Most people read Raw Story for the political coverage anyway.

[paineinthearse]

44. good idea......the new post is in GDP at

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1868197

[lala_rawraw]

48. just gonna kick this one up too... we have two weeks of this

will be hard to keep up:(

[Mr.Green93]

49. Raw Story

Is a valuable resource.

[symbolman]

50. If you guys want to get some donations from

Takebackthemedia.com then PM me.. we have many sites that are linking back to TBTM where we are offering the Conyer's Hearing/Rally and Interviews that I shot while in DC -

For each person that a site sends to us that donates for a two set DVD then we donate a portion of that back to the originating site - we give you a URL so that we can track who comes from your site and orders the DVD set..

good luck on the fund raising, it's hard doing it with your own bucks, I know, we've done it for 4 years now :)

symbolman co founder of takebackthemedia.com