February 25, 2011

Friday Cat Blogging – 25 February 2011

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So here’s the latest craze here at the homestead: piling on top of Kevin right after dinner time. Dinner for the cats is always at 5 pm and takes about two minutes to scarf down, and in the past they just meandered around the house for a while afterward. Lately, though, they track me down and they both want to flop down on top of me. This picture shows a typical scene of postprandial domestic bliss.

And what am I doing with that glazed expression on my face? I dunno. It must be 5:05, so I’m probably channel surfing between O’Reilly and O’Donnell and whoever’s on CNN at 5 pm. Or maybe watching the local news. Who knows? Whatever it is, I’m trapped until I finally get tired and toss the cats onto the couch, where they maneuver to see who can claim the spot I was just sitting on. Usually Inkblot wins.

WE CAME UP SHORT.

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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.

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