Beacon Announces “Local 3000” Fund Dedicated to Local Content

In the almost two years that The Portland Beacon has been serving Portland, the local support it has received has been overwhelming. I have heard and seen time and time again many area residents and community leaders who are very supportive of the Beacon and its goal of providing local news coverage for our community. Today I am asking for your help. For a small town, we have a lot of things going on. From local schools to small businesses to nonprofits to local government, there are many great topics that deserve to be shared. Information is power, and it is key to building a more engaged community. While I am not going anywhere any time soon, I am to the point where I have serious doubts if I will be able to make the Beacon sustainable financially. I personally spend countless hours working to share local news. I also have some very dedicated volunteers and trusted contacts helping me. But today I am honestly feeling exhausted. I have spent many hours working on my laptop at the kitchen table late at night while my family sleeps or in my truck waiting for the kids to get finished with a practice or event. As volunteer contributor Robert Lathers and I sat recently for lunch at the Wagon Wheel (a huge supporter of the Beacon by the way) discussing some projects, Wagon Wheel owner Chopper Schrauben made a comment that hit me like a ton of bricks. He said, “You need more Jim Townsends.” He is right. Not that we literally need to clone me... because I don’t think anyone would want to see how that turns out, but we need more regular writers. On top of a few wonderful volunteers, I currently have a team of part time paid contributors who write content for the Beacon for just $30 per piece. I know this is chump change for the time it takes to write some of these pieces, but they do it as a labor of love and as a service to the community they call home. In addition to these paid contributors, I am confident that I can find more writers willing to work for this rate. That is why I am coming to you today. I am starting “Local 3000”. A fund for the sole purpose of paying for content on the Beacon. The goal of this campaign is to raise $3,000. That amount will cover 100 pieces written by paid writers at $30 per piece. None of the money raised in this campaign will go to me personally or to other expenses of the Beacon, but will be used exclusively to compensate local writers who write content for the Beacon. The money will go to making the Beacon better. To develop a dedicated team of regular paid contributors. I am extremely hopeful that together we can reach this $3,000 goal. Please consider making a contribution to this fund and supporting local journalism right here in Portland. Please keep in mind that The Portland Beacon is not a nonprofit organization… at least not at this time. We are looking at moving that way, but have not made an official decision yet.

It is also important to note that with any Kickstarter campaign, the full goal must be reached for the project to be funded. It is all or nothing. If the project does not reach the $3,000 goal, it will not proceed.

To contribute or learn more about this campaign, click HERE .

Thank you for your consideration.