Part 7: Emergency Inaugural Fundraising Request

WE DID IT.

Thank you.

Yesterday we did it. Y'all came through.

Your donations this past week... I am so grateful for your generosity.

All week long the emails have been coming in, the little notes in PayPal, the quiet comments on the side from personal friends, your remarks in comments. Your confidence we could and would do this is why I jumped off the cliff Wednesday and got on the plane even before we were there.

Those of you whom have made commitments to contribute in the days and weeks ahead, we did hear your promise and marked it. And yes, we are still expecting your promised contribution then, thank you very much. *smiles*

To help GNB reach above the minimums needed to cover the inaugural, please feel free to keep the donations coming: $100, $75, $50, $25.

Mostly, thanks to each of you from the bottom of my heart. Your donation is personal for me. It is a gift you've given GNB impacting LM and myself. Yes, there's the finances to travel to see President-elect Obama sworn in and the other events of the Inaugural. But more, what's personal is you've given us of yourself. Of money you donated which could have been used to save you time and energy, which probably took you time and energy to earn.

Your donation is personal to you and that moves me.

Thank you for making this week possible.

Thank you for being the living expression of Group News Blog.

There's more...

Part 6: Emergency Inaugural Fundraising Request

Dateline: New York City

From the GNB News Desk in New York City, this is Jesse Wendel reporting LIVE.

Arrived on JetBlue's Seattle red-eye about 6 am ET/3 am PT (post time; all posts are made on Pacific Time.)

New England, New York, Philadelphia, and more... snow, slush and COLD.

Last night I flew out from Seattle through the night towards New York at flight level 36, almost SEVEN MILES above sea level... even though we didn't have all the money raised. It's what I call, JUMPING OVER THE CLIFF.

Four and a half hours later I and about 150 other people had traveled coast to coast. While we traveled at 550-600 miles an hour, 50-60 degrees BELOW zero, dependent on the oxygen/nitrogen/hydrogen mixture being circulated inside the Airbus 320 being flown by the two pilots, Air Traffic Control, GPS, and really sophisticated avionics...

As all that happened, y'all kept coming through, donating repeatedly, yesterday evening, night, overnight, and some of you this morning.

Please keep it up!

Donate today & tonight FULL OUT and LM & I will hit our minimums.
Promise. We're absolutely close enough.

That's minimums, mind you. *smiles*
Obviously we'd like to go a little over so we have a safety margin.

I'm so grateful for what everyone is doing. Later today I'll give you a post about some stuff I noticed about New York City early this morning.

Your donations are making this possible.

LM is taking a shower. We're about to go grab a bite before LM goes to work. (I've been up non-stop for over 36 hours, and am HUNGRY. Hungry hungry hungry,)

Later tonight LM's promised I can have ROASTED CHESTNUTS. Yummy. *smiles*

Please keep the donations coming: $100, $75, $50, $25. Not so I can buy roasted chestnuts. But because tomorrow we're renting the car we're driving to D.C. and back.

LIVE from the GNB News Desk in New York City, it's Jesse Wendel...
Be back later today with more stories.

Thank you SO much for your support. It means the world. *hugs everyone*

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Part 5: Emergency Inaugural Fundraising Request

Your donations have been pouring in. A few $100 and $50 donations, and the rest in smaller amounts.

Ya'll are amazing, wonderful, terrific people.

We still have a ways to go. We're 60% there. Need to get the rest of the way TODAY...before my plane leaves tonight.

Please help fund GNB's coverage for our inaugural trip right now.

We have media credentials for the inauguration. Our first coverage is from the Lincoln Memorial for the big "We Are One" opening concert Sunday night on HBO.

Please help send Jesse and LM to the inaugural. Donate now: $100, $75, $50, $25.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Update: 1:00 PM PT

JUMPING OFF THE CLIFF

Money is trickling in this morning. Little bit here, little bit there.

Decision time...

We're going.

Don't have enough money yet. Still, we're going.

What with the donations so far, and my trust in y'all, I believe if we can keep up the fundraising today through tonight, and tomorrow, we'll break the $1,000 mark.

Then if the folks who promised (or suggested they would donate if they only had a few more days) go ahead and throw in the kitty over the weekend, it won't be so bloody tight.

I'd intended to have $1400 saved. Well, more actually. But what with this and that and the holidays, it became $1400. And then the car. Now we're locked in to the bare minimums.

So I'm getting on a plane without enough money, trusting by the time I get there and pick up LM to head for D.C., y'all will come through. It's called jumping off a cliff and learning to fly. *smiles*

Talk to y'all from New York City tomorrow.

Please keep the donations coming: $100, $75, $50, $25.

Thank you.

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Car Repair Part 4: Emergency Inaugural Fundraising Request

Leaving the house now to get the car. King County Metro to the repair shop.

Then $984. Plus tax, which I forgot about yesterday. *sighs*

Please help fund GNB's coverage for our inaugural trip right now. Otherwise we'll have to cancel.

Last night we raised $210. We need to raise $790 before my flight leaves tomorrow evening, or I'll have to call this off. I can't be without my car... what with being a gimp, my car is my everything. It's what gets me around.

LM and I are meeting in NYC. We're going to D.C. to give you live coverage.

The $1400 I had saved up is now shot. What with towing costs for my car, after I pay the bill, plus tax, I'll have under $200 left. Four months of savings (since Denver) shot.

Sorry to ask, but we have to raise almost $790 in 36 hours. Can you help?

We do have media credentials for D.C.

Please help send Jesse and LM to the inaugural. Donate now: $100, $75, $50, $25.

Thank you.

Update: 10:55 AM PT

Picked up the car about an hour ago, after riding the bus an hour to get there. Then had to walk UP a very steep hill and go another couple of blocks. Ouch.

Tried to get the car shop to let me just pay them half now, half when I get paid, but no going. *sighs*

We've had two donations so far this morning. Still a long way to go.

Talked with LM this morning. We both very much want to go. Know precisely what we intend to cover. This trip has been four months in the planning.

Our media credentials are GREAT. (There were lots of different credentials we could have received.) We're covering the big concert at the Lincoln Memorial with every mega-star around Sunday night, and we have the run of the National Mall all day Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

PLEASE... Donate now: $100, $75, $50, $25 to GNB's Inaugural coverage.

Thanks.

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Car Repair Part 3: Emergency Inaugural Fundraising Request

Stuck at home.

The repairs are going to cost between $500-800, money I had budgeted (carefully saved) for the inaugural. I fly out Wednesday night.

And I don't get paid again till AFTER the inaugural. I've been saving for this trip for months. This totally blows. Originally I'd planned a major (two-week) GNB fundraiser for this trip, but I decided not to because of everything we've asked you to do for Maggie. However if anyone does want to chip in, at this point I won't mind.

My car won't be ready till tomorrow. If I'm lucky. They're currently tearing apart the wiring over the engine block, which is an eight-foot section of electric wrapping. They have to look at each foot of it bit by individual bit, looking for the short.

Arrrrrgh!

Update: Car is ready for pickup in the morning. $984. I don't get paid till the 22nd.

Which means either a lot of people help fund GNB's coverage for our inaugural trip right now, or I'll have to cancel. We've got two days before I leave... or don't. I'm picking up LM in NYC and we're going down to D.C. together to give you live coverage.

I had $1400 saved up. What with towing costs for my car, after I pay the bill, I'll have about $300 left. This is the money I've been saving for four months (since Denver.) And no, I don't have anything else saved up, nor do I keep charge cards. Me and charge cards = bad news.

I can't make this trip with only $300 for ten days. Thanks to the generosity of friends and colleagues, our housing is taken care of, but I'll need transportation and food.

Yes, we have media credentials for our time in D.C. Which were very hard to get.

Sorry to ask, but we have to raise almost $1,000 and we have ONLY two days.

Please help send Jesse and LM to the inaugural. Donate now: $100, $75, $50, $25.

Thank you.

There's more...

Car Repair Part 2

Goodyear kept the car most of the day.

Did close to three hours of work, trying to figure out what was going on.

Charged me for none of it, zeroed out the bill.

Decided it wasn't the starter -- that was clear immediately.

The main fuse kept blowing, which means there's a power short to ground in the main electrical system. Somewhere an electrical line has worn through and is against bare metal. That kind of tracing a short isn't something for a tire store to be doing.

I had the car towed 15 miles to Burien, to a shop which does nothing but electrical work. Got there right at 6 pm as they close for the weekend. They put it inside, so at least the car is locked up tight.

Monday morning first thing they'll get to work. They believe they can fix it quickly. I'll take a taxi over, pay them, and be mobile again.

Tomorrow afternoon I'll take a taxi down the hill to the bus system, then ride the bus to Bellevue, get my hair done (which I'd rescheduled), then reverse the trip.

What with being a gimp and all, the car is my legs for anything much longer than walking around the house or in and out of a store. The bus line is a mile and a half from here down a STEEP hill.

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Car Repair

Starter for 1999-2003 Mitsubishi.

“I've got the Car Shop Blues...”

After lunch at the diner yesterday afternoon, the ignition turned over once.

Then... Nothing.

Had my car towed (AAA) to the repair shop at the top of the East Hill. Turns out my mechanic went out of business six to eight months ago, so I'm using the Goodyear shop. It appears to just be the starter, however when we got there it was too late to put it in the shop and tell for sure. A starter is about $150 on the Internet, so figure they'll charge me $175 plus (again, guessing) an hour's labor.

The real test will be if the Goodyear shop charges me for a new oil filter. See, you don't have to change the oil filter when you change the starter. It's possible to simply cover over the filter, thus keeping debris out while working. If instead Goodyear charges me for a new oil filter without asking first, it speaks to sloppiness or a willingness to run up the bill. (And no, I don't want them to do a lube and oil, thank you, nor have I given them permission to do anything other than fix the starter.)

We shall see. It's a question of trust. And honesty.

Before this car I had an Acura Legend which I absolutely loved, the most favorite car I've owned, ever. Which I drove into the ground I loved it so much. Simply could not accept it was long past its prime. Ended up with over 400,000 miles and still on the original engine (I got it at 171k.) The car still sits in my carport, one (perhaps two) tires flat. And the battery dead of course. It was the brakes which died. Completely. The final drive I coasted into the driveway very slowly, dragging my feet. Seriously.

The car in the shop now is a Mitsubishi (a 2000) which I've had two years, maybe three? My oldest, Avian, was dating the youngest son of one of Puget Sound's better car dealers. The father did me a real solid, putting me in a car which hasn't needed any repairs beyond routine maintenance since I drove it home.

This spring I'm selling my home in the suburbs and moving to Bellevue. (With all the kids off to college or moved out, I don't need this huge place anymore. I can get an apartment in Bellevue with an extra bedroom for when a kid wants to stay. That will be easy for a cleaning service to handle, and Bellevue is more central to my life now.) Shortly after I move it'll be time to sell this used car and buy another. Quite possibly through the same dealer seeing as how he did such a wonderful job last time. I'm planning on taking my time and letting him find me another Acura, hopefully a used Legend.

Thursday afternoon AAA showed up promptly, packaged my car for towing quickly, and hauled the car and me up to Goodyear rapidly. First-rate professionals. It was inside the four mile limit on the AAA Basic membership. Of course, there's also the 100 mile towing of the AAA Plus membership, which has saved my ass MANY times over the years. What I love about AAA is it's valid for the PERSON, not the car, so you can help the people you're with when they get in trouble (or when you're in a car which gets in trouble.) Other than condoms, birth control pills, two or three Plan B packs and a cell phone, a AAA Plus associate membership card (off of your membership) is one of the major gifts on the Mandatory list for a college-age daughter headed off to school. (All of the above except the birth control pills will be on my son's list.)

Now the question is, will Goodyear have the job done in time for me to get to my appointment with my hair stylist at 3:15 this afternoon. Or should I call at 8 am and reschedule for early next week. I need to have my hair done before my flight to New York City Wednesday night. Also, I have dry cleaning I was going to take in today which now I'm worried about getting done. Decisions, decisions.

Plus now I've been up all night, so I need to sleep. And eat, but I can't drive down to the diner and get breakfast, 'cause my car is in the shop. Grrrr.

Good morning everyone. It's Friday!

Open Thread on anything in this Post.

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Joy of Fundraising

(The beautiful Blueberry Baby comes from a family blog in Kent, England.)

LIVE From the GNB Blueberry Pancake Desk...

Fundraising hooray!: $200, $100, $50, $20, $10, $5, mix and match.

$135 in SUBSCRIPTIONS to go.

I decided to take a few days off over New Years to give everyone a rest. But we're BACK...

On Monday I'd promised to tell everyone what the best fundraiser I've ever worked with had to say about fundraising. This is a woman named Lynn Twist. At the time she made these remarks, she'd raised over 100 million dollars in 14 years.

Lynn Twist on The Joy of Fundraising.

This may sound very backward to you – but in my experience, people don’t often discover their commitment before they give their money. They discover their commitment in the action of giving money. I had thought that first you have to get them really convinced, clear and committed, and then they will give money. Actually, it’s often in the action of giving the money that they find their commitment.

I would say it is absolutely essential for you to be putting your own money into whatever you are fund-raising for. Your relationship with the person you are speaking with has a lot to do with your own relationship to your mission. They will contribute in the environment of your commitment first, and then they will find their own. A good fund-raiser is so convinced that it’s infectious.

More important than the message or words you use is who you are about it. That’s where the real power is in fund-raising, not in how logical and rational and worthwhile and clear and understandable your work is – but who you are being, how turned on you are, how deeply committed you are, how much the work you are asking them to fund means to you.

What you really get when you fund-raise is people – people who are invaluable to you, people who will give you way more than financial results, people who will give you their heart and soul and their relationships and their initiative and their energy. And that’s what we’re always really after. The money is kind of a fringe benefit and when people give money and become donors, they become owners, they become accountable in partnership with you, like stakeholders.

You will begin to develop an understanding of the boundaries between a gesture, where somebody gives you money to get you off their back, where it’s just enough to get you to stop asking, and a sacrifice, where people are going overboard and they begin to get resentful. Somewhere in between gesture and sacrifice there is an accurate contribution for every single person.

A request is an acknowledgment, especially when it is a request for money. It’s an acknowledgment that means you think highly enough of this person to ask them to make a financial contribution consistent with the vision that you are going to express to them, a vision that you know deep down inside they probably share.

There are three rules of fund-raising:

• The first, the most important one, is to ask for the money. It’s a rule most people forget – they don’t like that part.
• The second rule of fund-raising it to ask only those people who you see are fundamentally open to a commitment, those people in whom you can see integrity, those people you respect, those people you want to honor, who are naturally committed.
• The third rule of fund-raising is to ask everyone.

These three rules are really a possible way to look anew at the world. You’ll never run out of prospects if you look at things that way. You’ll have plenty of candidates.

Most people don’t discover their wealth until someone gives them an opportunity to contribute money. This quote by the Indian poet Rabbinathe Tagore sums up what we’ve been talking about.

I lived on the shady side of the road and watched my neighbors’ gardens across the way reveling in the sunshine. I felt I was poor, and from door to door went with my hunger. The more they gave me from their careless abundance the more I became aware of my beggar’s bowl. Till one morning I awoke from my sleep at the sudden opening of my door, and you came and asked for alms. In despair I broke the lid of my chest open and was startled into finding my own wealth.

I'm asking each of you to take a moment and make a monthly commitment to help someone you know: Maggie Jochild. To commit from as little as $5 to $10 monthly, to $20 or $50, and for a few of you, all the way up to $100 or $200 a month.

Please take the opportunity of the New Year to help. We only need to raise $135 more on a monthly basis.

I'm asking you to please help us take care care of our friend, Maggie Jochild. We need your help to accomplish our mission. Maggie needs all of our help for basic necessities such as food for herself, water, keeping a roof over her head, food for her cat Dinah, electricity, a telephone and net access, along with pain medicines and medicines to avoid getting ill.

Please contribute $200, $100, $50, $20, $10, $5, or in any combination.

It's in the giving of ourselves we discover ourselves.

This New Year, please help us help Maggie.

Happy New Year.

There's more...

Maggie Fundraising: Sunday Edition

(The beautiful Blueberry Baby comes from a family blog in Kent, England.)

LIVE From the GNB Blueberry Pancake Desk...

Sunday fundraising: $200, $100, $50, $20, $10, $5, so mix and match.

$185 in SUBSCRIPTIONS to go.

As promised, here's a bit about how to write an effective fundraising letter.

Today I'm going to tell you two keys:

First, you need to ask people three times. At the top, in the middle, and again at the end.

Part of the ask is to give people a RANGE of amounts. People tend to pick towards the middle of the range. Even if you never receive a single donation from the top, those possibilities, they serve their purpose by pulling people towards your intended giving range.

Like this: $200, $100, $50, $20, $10, $5, so mix and match.

Second, the more specific you can tell people what the donation is for, the more you can personalize the ask, the better. Tell folks, look... this is for MAGGIE. It's for her food, rent, electricity and medicine.

Tomorrow... the key to ALL Fundraising as quoted from one of the most effective fundraisers I've ever known. *smiles*

At the end of the letter, make a final request..

All we still need is $185 in Subscriptions. Please, won't you SUBSCRIBE today?
$200, $100, $50, $20, $10, $5, or in any combination.

Only $185 in subscriptions to go and we're solid!!!

Thank you all. *hugs*

There's more...

Maggie Fundraising: Saturday Edition

(The beautiful Blueberry Baby comes from a family blog in Kent, England.)

LIVE From the GNB Blueberry Pancake Desk...

We are two-thirds there. Hot diddly-damn.

And over Christmas and Boxing Day.

Your generosity of spirit astounds me. Y'all are AMAZING people.

Sunday and Monday I'll tell you the inside scoop of bigtime fundraising.

Today is Saturday: $200, $100, $50, $20, $10, $5, so mix and match.

Saturday for most blogs (for sure at GNB) is the lowest volume day.

Thus we'll be brief.

We only need $200 in SUBSCRIPTIONS. Our GNB core is handling $800. We know times are hard. People are losing jobs, being foreclosed, getting sick. The economy sucks. This is ugly.

Maggie lost her job two months ago. Last month she went hungry for five days.

We're asking you to subscribe even at five or ten dollars if that's the monthly amount you can commit. If ten people commit to $20, $10, or $5, whatever works in their life, that averages $100 monthly for Maggie.

Every subscription means food, rent, electricity and medicine for Maggie.

Every subscription matters to Maggie.

YOU, literally YOU make the difference. YOU are the difference in Maggie having food, water, a roof over her head, electricity, a telephone, and medicines she needs. YOU matter. Whatever amount, small or large, you can kick in EVERY month, even if it's only five bucks, that GENUINELY makes a fracking difference. It's not for someone you don't know; it's for Maggie.

Tomorrow and Monday as we push through this last third, I'll coach y'all on writing effective fundraising posts.

Today, please click and SUBSCRIBE to Maggie Jochild's Meta Watershed:
$200, $100, $50, $20, $10, $5, or in any combination.

Only $200 in subscriptions to go!

Thank you.

There's more...

Maggie Jo the Child

(The beautiful Blueberry Baby comes from a family blog in Kent, England.)

LIVE From the GNB Blueberry Pancake Desk...

Half way plus five bucks. Wa-hoo! Y'all are SO GREAT.

Two days, and we are rocking. You people BLOW ME AWAY.

Today is Christmas Eve: $200, $100, $50, $20, $10, $5, so mix and match.

We have $295 in subscriptions to go.

It is monthly subscriptions which make the difference.

Today is Christmas Eve. Last minute shopping. What a perfect Christmas gift to SUBSCRIBE to help take care of a real person's rent, food, electricity, and medicine.

In your heart, there's an amount which says Christmas:
$200, $100, $50, $20, $10, $5, or some combination.

In only two days, we're halfway there. How far can we go today?

Again, we're asking for SUBSCRIPTIONS, monthly commitments to help take care of Maggie Jochild who was laid off two months ago.

Maggie's blog is Meta Watershed. If you've not yet read Ginny Bates, you're missing a treat. Highly recommended.

Please subscribe generously: $200, $100, $50, $20, $10, $5, or in any combination.

Thank you so much for your caring and support. We love and appreciate you.

Happy Christmas Eve.

There's more...

Maggie Maggie Maggie

LIVE From the GNB Blueberry Pancake Desk...

Yesterday was GREAT. Way to go and thank you!!!

On Day One of the Maggie Jo fundraising, we got one-quarter there.

Y'all subscribed major: $200, $100, $50, $20, $10, $5, mix and match.

Today's a new day, bright and shiny.

We have $450 in subscriptions to go (not counting the $800 monthly GNB core.)

This covers Maggie's rent, food, electricity, medicine, phone. Her essentials.

There's no car payment. Maggie can't leave her apartment. Disabled.

I'm often asked during fundraising drives, what amount is the right amount to give. My answer is always the same. For every person there's one right number, a perfect number. You know what it is.

• It's not so big it hurts.
• It's not so little it's meaningless.
• It's right there... Sometimes it stings a little.

There's one perfect number. You know what your perfect number is. *smiles*

When you give your number, life gets very perfect. Because you're telling the truth about how you see the world financially.

Please subscribe your monthly number: $200, $100, $50, $20, $10, $5, mix and match.

In the days to come as we take care of Maggie, I'll talk with you more about the Art of Fundraising. How it works, how to raise funds for the organizations and people about which you care. How to help people find their number.

We're one-quarter of the way there. Let's see what we can do today.

What we're asking for is SUBSCRIPTIONS, monthly committments to help take care of Maggie Jochild who is without work. Her blog is at Meta Watershed, along with her beautiful novel Ginny Bates.

Again, $200, $100, $50, $20, $10, $5, mix and match.

The holidays are a time for giving. Please subscribe generously.

Love to everyone. *smiles*

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Taking Care of Maggie

LIVE From the GNB Blueberry Pancake Desk...

Time to bring everyone inside.

Two months ago our Maggie hit some really hard times. She's disabled, as most of you know. Can't leave her apartment. Works via telecommuting.

In October her gig dried up. Her best friend paid Maggie's rent for October. Near the end of November she told me. She hadn't eaten in days. Rent was due shortly. The GNB staff took care of her food money, rent, and her monthly nut for November.

Now it's December, rent is due shortly, and her gig still hasn't kicked back in nor is that likely. So here's what we're doing.

Maggie's monthly nut is $1400, all in. Rent, food, electricity, medicine. Essentials.

The core of GNB can come up with $800/month. We're asking y'all, the readership, to come up with $600/month by subscribing to Maggie at whatever you can afford: $50, $20, $10, $5, mix and match to give more, whatever is the number that works for you.

These monthly subscriptions via PayPal (or your credit card) will let us keep Maggie afloat till she and we can find her a new gig. My guess is six months, more or less, but probably not less.

This won't be the only time this happens, I'm certain. Times are going to get tough over the next years and all of us will have to help each other.

I'm asking each of you right now to help us take care of our dear friend, Maggie Jochild. She's writing one of the most amazing novels I've ever read, "the great American lesbian novel" Ginny Bates. The second draft is being posted at Maggie's blog, Meta Watershed.

Maggie's health isn't good enough to survive in the shelters. It simply is not. So we're taking care of her. I say this not to shame anyone into giving, but to make crystal clear what is at stake. Maggie's one of my best friends and I love her dearly. Not to mention she writes so beautifully I often weep. She writes that way because she knows the heart's of people. She's lived in suffering and pain all her life. She understands.

How much should you donate monthly? Not so much it hurts. But enough that you know you're helping out, that you know you're making an actual difference in the life of a real person.

The core of GNB is donating a hundred, two hundred or more, each month. And we're happy to do so. Maggie's one of us and we have her back, come what may.

We just can't do it alone.

I know it's Christmas time, the holidays. It's a time for giving.

Please help take care of Maggie this holiday season and in to the future:
$50, $20, $10, $5, mix and match. If you want to donate $100 monthly, hit $50 twice, or to give $30, hit $20 and $10.

Over the last year and a half we've come to know each other well. Times are hard for everyone. If all you can give is $20, $10, or $5 a month, we'll understand.

Everyone -- please... Give what you can.

Love to all, and Happy Holidays.

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Netroots Nation: Online Auction Through Thursday

From now through Thursday, ONLINE AUCTION at Netroots Nation...

Includes LUNCH with Larry Lessig and COFFEE with General Clark.

And much, much, MUCH more. Go check it out.
LOTS of GOODIES are being auctioned.

Netroots Nation '09
Thursday, August 13, 2009 - Sunday, August 16, 2009

David L. Lawrence Convention Center
1000 Ft. Duquesne Boulevard
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
United States

The GNB Staff will be there... Will you?

PS. This should have gone up two days ago as I promised Mary from Netroots it would. I've been ill and haven't been posting anything. Sorry Mary.

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George Clooney Helps Out From Overseas

First Gwyneth, now George!


Americans overseas are helping out across all the important areas of this campaign. Get Out the Vote, issues awareness, and yes, fund raising.

GENEVA, Sept 2 (Reuters)By Stephanie Nebehay - George Clooney has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama by headlining an exclusive event for Americans in Geneva, one of the world's most affluent cities.

The Hollywood actor and director, fresh from the world premiere of the Coen brothers' comedy "Burn After Reading" in Venice, slipped without fanfare into the Swiss city on Tuesday for his first appearance on behalf of the Democratic nominee.

Some 170 contributors have paid $1,000 a head to attend a cocktail party with Clooney at a museum in Geneva's Old Town on Tuesday evening.

And 75 high-rolling supporters have spent $10,000 each to attend "an intimate seated dinner" with the 47-year-old star which follows at the organiser's nearby apartment, according to the American lawyer who organised the twin "private" events...

The two events could infuse more than $900,000 into the Democratic war chest ahead of the Nov. 4 election which pits the Illinois senator against Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, who is due to be formally nominated on Wednesday.

In keeping with U.S. laws, only American citizens were allowed to buy tickets to the fundraiser which has had the normally sober Swiss city buzzing...

Nearly 6 million Americans live abroad, including some 16,400 in Switzerland. Some 4,463 of them reside in Geneva, known for its high-end jewellers and watchmakers, as well as its private banks catering to the very rich. (Editing by Laura MacInnis and Tony Austin)

I just love George. And I am proud of our efforts all over the world.

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The Colbert Bump

Stuart and Colbert on the cover of Rolling Stone, Oct. 2006

Nation, in spite of stupid people like Rahm Emanuel not getting it, The Colbert Bump has been confirmed-- esp. in the realm of fundraising.

Democratic politicians enjoy a major spike in political contributions after appearing on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report,” according to a new study. Political scientist James Fowler of the University of California, San Diego found that Democrats receive a 40 percent increase in contributions in the month after appearing on the fake-news show. But Republicans, Fowler concludes, “essentially gain nothing,” according to a release. --Bob Cusack from The Hill

Good news and hopefully the word will get out and our Dems will choose the wonderful folks at Comedy Central over the Faux News Sleestaks.

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No More GNB Fundraising Till January

The $400 Question

When last we saw our heroes, they were struggling to raise one grand in 72 hours.

Y'all saved our asses.

I promised to explain what said $1,000.00 was for.

Let us review.

$400 -- embargoed till last Tuesday, to be explained in this post. Finally!
$350 -- OTR (off the record) then, OTR today, OTR tomorrow.
$250 -- shit we intended to pay for anyway in the final 3 days of fundraising.
---------------
$1,000 total emergency fundraising

That handles the last two, leaving only the story of the $400 to be told, which, I'm happy to explain very fast.

Only a few blogs were credentialed to report from inside the Democratic Convention this coming August. Some leading bloggers came up with The Big Tent -- a 9,000 sq foot tw0-story media center sponsored by the leading progressive blogs and liberal think tanks. Problem is, we didn't hear about the details till they let us know we'd been approved for four credentialed seats inside The Big Tent.

These seats solve a HUGE logistical problem for us during the convention. See, when we received our DNCC credential for the actual convention, that only lets one person inside the Pepsi center at a time. Plus, the actual "convention" only happens for a few hours a night. The question is, where do we work?

The Big Tent with its multiple large-screen television feeds and closed circuit is perfect. Perfect at $100 a seat...which I discovered when I logged in to their site late at night Saturday to register our core writers to write at the convention. When is why we turned to y'all Sunday morning for help.

Which you provided.

And we deeply thank you.

There's more...

Congratulations -- We Did It !

LIVE From the GNB Blueberry Pancake Desk...

The Group News Blog first fundraiser is complete.

Congratulations.

Great job everyone! We did it!

The fundraiser was scheduled from July 1 -- July 15. All was going just fine. Not explosive or off the charts. But we certainly were hitting our numbers and completely on budget. There wasn't any need to make a big deal of the fundraiser. That's what I consider a GOOD thing.

Then... kaBloom. We were tagged this past Saturday with two non-budgeted expenses.

a) $350.00 -- OTR (off the record.) It's a GOOD thing.

b) $400.00 -- embargoed till today. I couldn't tell you. Now I can.
I will. Later today.

I launched a full-blown all-out fundraising drive: $1,000.oo in 72 Hours.

Everyone came through. You did. My colleagues did. Bloggers everywhere.

We not only raised the $1 grand, we did a little better. We are solid for Denver and have your response to thank.

Which is why the fundraiser is over today, a day earlier. Because you got it done.

Seriously, check you out... Even though we had to respond in an urgent manner to a big deal problem, you handled it and more without breaking stride. I am SO blown away by what you have accomplished the last two weeks.

Fundraising is about momentum, about causing stuff to happen. It is about POWER: the differential ability to cause results in the world. The access to power is PROMISES: giving and keeping your word.

I was certain we could accomplish our original goals. But then the extra $1K need came in and only three days to raise it.

I looked hard before I put it up as a challenge. To put up a "goal" which a blog doesn't hit, especially early on in its history, sets up a pattern which tells people:

• it's okay to not keep your promises (the goal),
• nothing really happens when you fail,
• we're not good enough or strong enough to make it,
• we not really a team, and
• I don't count.

No fucking way that was going to happen here.

No kidding people. I thought LONG and HARD before I put up $1,000.00 in 72 HOURS, that is, *laughs*, I thought for about 30 seconds... Just long enough for me to calculate out it was really 70 hours and 10 minutes. Because I needed to tell you the real truth about the time. *smiles sweetly*

Why was I so sure?

I know y'all. I know the staff.

I thought I did, anyway. Three days to One Grand. I was so damn wrong.

It took two days, not three.

Each day there was one specific donation which turned the tide, flipped the momentum around. We were struggling but then one donation out of the tide came along and BOOM, momentum turned and everything shifted.

I have more to say in thanks.

This post is just a quick one to let you know fundraising is officially over. Which isn't to say you can't donate anytime. But we are done asking for funds for GNB till January 2009. Not to say if you have a promise you made that you'd donate TODAY (the final day) that you shouldn't keep your word. You ABSOLUTELY should. As I said, keeping your word is at the HEART of how Group News Blog has been so effective, of who GNB is.

If you promised us you were going to send us a check, or drop us a PayPal or credit card, then please, keep your promise.

I'll post later today or this evening, on the story of the $400 that was embargoed till today. I just don't have time this moment.

I'm so proud of you and all you've accomplished this fortnight. Please take the time in this thread to thank yourselves and congratulate yourselves on a job really well done.

Thank you cards and notes will go out AFTER I return from Netroots next week.

LIVE from the GNB Waffle Desk. With bacon, this is Jesse Wendel reporting.

Nom nom nom nom...

There's more...

Hola, send me money

Last week, I helped some people in my VFW post make sure one of our
members, who served in not one, but two wars, get the plane he needed
to get to the hospital he needed, to get a surgery he needed. It was
not easy. We called in favors, we pushed some people to give a lot,
and we pushed everyone to give at least a little. And we were able to
help one of our own.

This is what it's all about.

We (LM, Doc, Mrs R. Evan, TLG and I) want to do the best blogging we can and we need to fundraise a little to make sure that we are in a position to do that.

So... please, if you can, cough it up.

There's more...

$500 and Only 42.5 Hours Left

Doonesbury. October 30, 2005. Click for LARGE.

Let's Finish Up TODAY

Recap of yesterday's post:

$1,000 To Go, Three Days Left

Saturday we got slammed with $1,000.00 in unexpected expenses.
Yesterday we set out to raise $300+ daily: Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

We asked you to donate generously... and guess what?

• You didn't come in at 25% -- a quarter.
• You didn't give at $300+ -- a third as we had asked.
• You didn't even give at 40%...

HALF. You donated HALF.
Yesterday, Sunday, our second slowest day of the week, you folks gave HALF the funds we need.

You rock. You rock hard.

Today is Monday, our best circulation day of the week. Let's end this today and not wait till tomorrow.

Please contribute right now. Let's close this out. We accept credit cards, checks, and PayPal, and you can also mail us a check or money order.

PayPal or credit card:

Group News Blog
PO Box 809
Bellevue WA 98009

Give what you can: $200, $100, $75, $50, the number you know is right.

We have under 42 and a half hours left to raise $500.00. Let's do it TODAY.

We ask, request, invite, and urge you to donate NOW.

GNB is here for you no matter what or if you donate. We care and honor you, and we thank you.

You are the best.

Update: 1/10 pm/am ET/PT

We're at $125 so far today.

PLEASE, please, donate what you can.

Only $375 to go and GNB fundraising is over till Jan.

More importantly, we will be fixed for the Democratic convention.

Please give now. We're almost there. Let's close this out today!


Update: 4/1 pm ET/PT

Climbing sloooowly. Up to $185 today.

We have $315 to go.

Come on folks. YOU CAN DO IT.

I'm going to the dentist now. Hubris asks for your help next.

Please... Make this happen TODAY.

There's more...