Help dane101 “Be the Media”

From the fine folks at dane101 comes news of their “Be the Media” fundraiser:

“Dane101 is the premier grassroots, progressive media outlet for Madison and Wisconsin, doing original, investigative reporting and collaborating with area bloggers, journalists, and regular citizens to cover the stories that all-too often go overlooked or under-covered by traditional news organizations.”

That’s the pitch – help us keep swinging:

We started the website over six years ago as an all-volunteer effort to cover more of the arts and culture in the Madison area, and in the last couple of years have found our mission evolving to be far more focused on telling those stories that would otherwise fall through the cracks of mainstream media about the news and people that shape all of Wisconsin.

2011 proved to be a pivotal time for dane101, as we found ourselves in the middle of the worker protests at the Capitol, providing some of the most comprehensive coverage of events available, with readers coming to the website from across the country and even other countries to find out what was happening.

We did it because we knew it was important – but it was a major strain on our almost entirely volunteer stable of freelance writers, photographers and videographers. In order to continue providing excellent coverage of events not just in Madison, but statewide, dane101 is now working to build a sustainable future on the solid foundation we’ve spent the last six years laying. That means being able to pay freelancers, and eventually hire a very small staff, to keep the site running and growing.

We’ve begun a StartSomeGood fundraising campaign to help kick off those efforts – asking the community itself to help us put together a small reserve of cash so that we can pay freelance writers for the next year as Wisconsin heads into more recalls, the Spring primary, the presidential election, important mining legislation changes, challenges to the voter ID law, and much more.

Our “tipping point” – the amount that must be pledged before we receive any of the donations – is just $3,500. Beyond that, if we’re able to reach our ultimate goal of $10,000 we’ll be able not only to fund a stable of freelancers, but hire dane101’s first part-time employee.

There’s a lot of exciting work being done to ensure that the people of Wisconsin have more resources for learning about the news and issues that effect their state. We’re working with state bloggers and fellow independent media to share content, follow up leads, and generally spread the word. It’s hard but crucial work, and dane101 is dedicated to seeing it through.

Can you help? Go to http://startsomegood.com/Venture/dane101/Campaigns/Show/be_the_media_with_dane101 and pledge in whatever amount you can afford.

If you’d like to help dane101 “Be the Media,” you can visit Start Some Good and make a contribution.