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Year-End Fund Drive
Obituaries | The Tube City Almanac | December 29, 2016
You are hearing from a lot of non-profit organizations right now, asking for donations.
I hate to be the 20th organization asking for money, but I have to.
Tube City Community Media Inc., the operator of McKeesportObituaries.com, is an IRS 501(c)(3) charity and is eligible for tax-deductible donations.
If you are financially able, and would like to make a gift, please consider doing so; donations may be made by check or money order to Tube City Community Media Inc., P.O. Box 94, McKeesport 15134; or via PayPal at: http://www.tubecityonline.com/contact/
If you are able, please also consider advertising on McKeesport Obituaries; we are asking for $25 per week for a static ad (photo or logo with up to 50 words), or $150 for a 30-second video, posted for 30 days. There's more detail below.
Regardless of whether you can contribute money, THANK YOU for your continued support of the website --- we look forward to continuing to provide you, and McKeesport-area residents, with this service, otherwise free of charge, in 2017.
Best wishes for a safe holiday and successful new year!
Sincerely,
Jason Togyer
Executive Director and Treasurer
Tube City Community Media Inc.
Why are we asking for money?
When we launched the McKeesport Obituaries website on the day after the Daily News closed, we promised to make sure the site was free to the readers, and we didn't want to charge funeral homes for posting obituaries.
We did that for two reasons --- we know that many people in the Mon Valley are on fixed incomes; and we also know that many people are cutting back on funerals, which is hurting funeral professionals.
We are NOT going back on those promises, and we do make some income on Google Advertising --- about $3 per day --- but it's not enough for us to grow, or even build up any kind of a fund for expansion.
Do people read the website?
It's very successful --- much more successful than we ever predicted.
Every month so far, our traffic has gone up. Last month, according to Google Analytics, 9,770 different people read the website. They collectively looked at 72,487 pages. (Each person, in other words, clicked on seven to eight obituaries.)
For 2016, so far, we've had a total of 75,812 unique visitors who read 584,599 web pages.
What will you use the money for?
We will use any donations collected to beef up our news coverage in the McKeesport and White Oak area. With the loss of the newspaper, there is a crying need for a local information source.
We are still in the planning and discussion stages, but our goal would be to be able to pay a part-time freelance reporter. (We are nowhere near that goal, yet.)
What about your radio station?
Yes, we also would like to improve our online radio station, WMCK.FM. Last month, we had 493 listeners, who listened for an average of 16 minutes each.
We are the only 24-hour, volunteer-run Internet radio station in the Mon Valley, and we are programming content that ranges from local talk shows, to big band music, to bluegrass and country music, to soul, to new rock and roll.
But our equipment is old, and much of it is going to be due for replacement, sooner rather than later. We need a contingency fund for when the inevitable break-downs happen. Music royalties keep increasing as well.
We also have been lucky to receive funding from three local foundations, but each of them have told us we can't rely on getting our entire budget from them each year.
Disclaimer: We are not tax advisers and this email does not constitute tax advice. To determine whether or not a donation is tax-deductible, please consult a tax professional. You may obtain our charitable organization information at
http://www.guidestar.org/PartnerReport.aspx?ein=26-4497864&Partner=Demo
Photo by "Pictures of Money," via Flickr; used under Creative Commons License 2.0.
Originally published December 29, 2016.
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