We've had the strongest launch for our end of year pledge drive to date.
Thank you to all our forum participants for reading, commenting, and
vitally starting new topics and sharing community information.
Thank you to the 101 donors so far who have rocketed us to nearly
$3,500 toward our end-of-year goal of $15,000.
On this slower-paced Sunday, please help us get to 200 donors as
quickly as possible by giving any amount that represents the value of
your forum(s) to you!
* http://e-democracy.org/donate - Donate secure via PayPal or
GiveMN using major credit cards
* Or mail a check: E-Democracy, 3211 E. 44th Street, Minneapolis, MN 55406
* Consider a recurring donation to shorten our drive
* See our blog post for 2015 highlights:
http://blog.e-democracy.org/posts/2670
Together, we've built the simple farmer's market of social media.
Community-based, non-profit, and led by local volunteers. Instead of
renting land or paying for signage, we pay for our technology hosting,
a million emails delivered each year, and crucial help desk* services.
Instead of limiting you to a members-only super store (that doesn't
ban small business owners, vital civil servants, former residents, or
those who work in or with our community who happen to sleep elsewhere)
or tracking your moves across the web to sell you to advertisers,
we've embraced member-supported open forums about the communities we
love.
Instead of accepting online spaces that connect only the most wired or
neighbors who are most similar, we've led the way with inclusion
efforts to build online community forums that welcome immigrants,
connect people across race and ethnicity, and vitally across
generations comfortable with different technologies. Any yet, our work
toward inclusion is just at the beginning.
In fact with heavy heart for those we've lost or were injured in the
Paris attacks, I'll be heading to France tomorrow to participate as a
guest of the Council of Europe's World Forum for Democracy in a
special session of local democracy with cities from across Europe. In
large part, this invitation is because of all our collective efforts
to build local bridges online with a spirit of integration and working
inclusively to "be neighbors" by making our communities stronger and
democracies more responsive to local voices.
My view is that every neighborhood, everywhere in the world can and
should be locally connected. No matter the online platform being used
- they should strive to do this as openly and inclusively as possible.
Luckily, we have real-world lessons to share. Thanks to your
participation and donor support, together we are creating new stories
and lessons every week.
Your passion for supporting open communication on an independent
locally-owned platform for your community is special and unique. Your
donations are a vote to build on what we've done so far and what we
can do together to take it further. Donate today:
http://e-democracy.org/donate
Thank you!
Steven Clift
Volunteer Executive Director, E-Democracy.org
P.S. Supporting Melody Ng, our Board Chair and Jennifer Armstrong our
pledge drive coordinator, are 22!!! other volunteers and Board members
who are part of a new volunteer e-group helping with our pledge drive.
THANK YOU! If you'd like to help, bring new ideas ... how about a
virtual silent auction or a couple in-person forum fundraising
parties?? ... contact us to join that group: <email obscured>
http://e-democracy.org/contact
P.S. *You "met" friendly Jennifer in a previous pledge drive post -
she is here to help you everyday from up on the Range with technical
questions: http://e-democracy.org/support