A special request: Please support the Lowcountry Online Journalism Initiative
OK, so this is the post I have been nervous to make. Logistics have held it up, to be sure. The IRS transferring the address for our 501c3 has been a bit of a thing, but it’s done with two days to spare in 2021. Now, it’s just a matter of being afraid of rejection. One thing to ask for others, but asking folks to support something that is my life’s calling, that’s a bit scarier. But here we go.
I am asking you to support our Lowcountry good news reporting initiative, the Lowcountry Online Journalism Initiative (LOJI for short). We are launching a member-supported news organization that is focused on producing short videos, a “Today”-type streaming broadcast and a number of podcasts – all centered on life in Bluffton and the Lowcountry.
We’ll do interviews, promote upcoming events and all the good folks are doing in the community. If it has to do with Lowcountry life, we will talk about it – including how national pop culture and lifestyle trends impact us here.
I was a founding editor in Bluffton Today, the daily edition, back in 2005. It was a paper focused on community journalism and it was the most fun and the most rewarding gig I’ve ever had in my 30-year media career. It is mind-blowing that there are less media sources to connect us than we had in town in 2005, but that just creates a grand opportunity to think big here.
We are doing a couple of rounds of local fundraising to start. First, we are asking for founding supporters. You can give anything from $1 to $1 million. Honestly, I’m setting a modest goal of $2,500 to help us buy necessary equipment to get this launched properly. We will give gifts to folks at different levels of giving, anything from special shirts and sweatshirts to Founders Hall of Fame recognition to filming interviews with you or the topic of your choice.
From there, we will launch the first of our projects, a full-time version of the “Lowcountry Chronicle” videos we did earlier this year to gauge community interest (which was a success). Here is a sample below, an interview we did with Bluffton Mayor Lisa Sulka. We will charge a monthly membership fee to have access to the videos and all the special events we have planned.
For now, as I know folks are looking for charities at the end of the year to round out their charitable donations, we have two ways to give immediately.
- Donate through Venmo to @WHIBTim. Again, please designate in the notes if you need a 501c3 donation letter.
- If you prefer to donate through Facebook, you can donate here (a personal campaign as we jump through a couple of nonprofit status hoops with Facebook, but all monies will go toward our 501c3, LOJI, and we will send out donation letters on request).
- Checks can be made out to “Lowcountry Online Journalism Initiative.” Please DM me on Facebook and I will be glad to come by and pick up.
This is the beginning of something very exciting and we hope that you will come along for the ride in supporting our project.
Thank you so much!
Tim