Time is Running Out

When people ask how the Real Change summer fund drive is going, I usually say “great!” Not because it’s especially true, but because the real answer is more complicated than what anyone wants to hear. Since the drive began last May, our readers have responded with a whopping $54,984 in donations. This is almost $1,000 bucks a day.

By street newspaper standards, or for any small press community newspaper for that matter, this is a wonderful show of community support.

Our circulation, which has increased by 18% this year and at 12-13,000 copies per week, is at its highest ever. Last month we had 279 active vendors. Again, a new record. We’re having a great year.

But here’s the thing. Our goal is $140,000. This is to stabilize news team funding, accomplish our ambitious organizing goals, and fund the staffing we need to end our chronic overextension.

To hit that goal, we need to raise about $8,500 a day through the end of the month. We do that one donation at a time. Every last bit of support matters.

Lots of people think that Real Change will continue to produce quality journalism and effective poor people’s advocacy whether they help or not.

Think again. If we miss the goal, something’s going to have to give. Real Change makes a real difference in hundreds of lives every day. We are an essential resource for the progressive community. We are a unique and powerful advocacy organization with a track record of success. Our broad base of community support makes our work possible. Here's what you can do.

• Make a donation today by mailing a check to Real Change, 2129 2nd Ave., Seattle, WA 98121, or make a secure online donation.
• There's still time to take up the 20/20 Challenge. This means asking 20 people to give $20 to Real Change.
• Help any way that you can with the First Annual Real Change Book Sale on June 30-July 1.

We have ten days left to the Summer Drive. If everyone does what they can, we can still make that goal. Let’s break some speed limits and see what this baby can do! Please see realchangenews.org for more information.

Rachael's Dream

Today Rachael told me about a dream she had. I was in it. Rachael is Real Change's Director of Advocacy and Organizing. She's been here for five years now, which in Real Change years is really more like twenty. In this scheme, I've been at Real Change for about 50 years, which seems about right.

In her dream, the staff and the board are sitting in a room talking, and everything is going fine except that we're all bobbing around in these weird sort of bouncy chairs, and every once in a while someone's chair would just sort of hurl them off into oblivion. And Rachael says, "Hey, I don't mean to be a pain, but could we get some normal chairs?" She's not sitting in a bouncy chair. She's not having any of that. She's sitting on a phone book instead.

Rather that resolve the chair situation, I start screaming at her that she's being unreasonable. I tell her that we need to go to mediation to figure out how she can stop being a problem. And she's saying, "I don't want to be a problem. I just want a normal chair!"

I tell her to stop the whining about the fucking chairs. We're a non-profit. We can't afford chairs.

No. She didn't dream that part. I'm embellishing.

Chairs figure largely in Rachael's history at Real Change. She reminded me today of another story.

When she first came to work here, she had a choice between two chairs. One smelled like cat pee, and the other was screwed up in a way that threatened permanent damage to her back. One day she arrived at work and I was assembling a new office chair. It would be the best chair at Real Change. It was hers. I said, she reminded me, that no one should have to choose between the cat pee chair and the torture chair.

That was the moment, she said, that she decided she might actually be able to stay.

But now, this. She didn't read any deep meaning into her dream, but I did. Being symbolically inclined, I got it right away.

The life of making do in an under-resourced nonprofit gets to be a drag after awhile. Eventually, you want to stop being bounced around by circumstances beyond your control. You want to be able to just do your job, and not worry about being unexpectedly hurled off into oblivion.

That's not a lot to ask for. We have one more month to our summer fund drive. We've raised about $45K toward our HUGE $140K goal. We need your help. Find out more here, or make a donation at our secure site. Please do what you can. Thanks.

Real Change Needs Your Help

Once, not all that long ago, the thought asking anyone for money filled me with icy terror. I'm over that now. Eventually, my belief in the work I do trumped whatever issues I had around fund raising. I've seen the huge difference that Real Change makes in people's lives. I've experienced the caring community that Real Change creates. I've seen the difference we can make in building for power.

Twenty years ago, I considered raising money a necessary evil, and I was terrible at it. I lived in a Boston squat with four other people and eaked out the occasional publication of an underground newspaper called Street Magazine. I made maybe $3,000 that year. We ate at food banks. No one wanted to raise money. We reluctantly sold a few ads. There were a handful of subscribers. We didn't exactly have a business model.

I participated that year in a business plan writing workshop, at the end of which I had an interview with a banker. If he liked what he saw, I'd get money. He was impressed, but perhaps not in the way I was hoping. He said he'd "never met anyone less interested in making a profit."

The relationship between money, resources, and success was a bit beyond my comprehension. Eventually, the newspaper folded. Looking back, maybe what we were doing just wasn't all that important.

Real Change is different. If you watch our video, you'll see what I mean.

Over the years, I've learned two things. The first is that the goal of multiplying the impact of our work matters far more than any discomfort I might experience in asking for help. The second is that many people will happily support good work. so long as a.) they are asked, and b.) they are able.

And so, for the convenience of those of you who may not already be Real Change supporters, I've put a Giving Badge that connects to our secure Network for Good page at the top of my blog for the duration of our summer fund drive. We have a huge goal of raising $140,000 before July, and I'm thinking that some of you might want to help.

This summer, we need to find the resources to take our work to the next level. Here's the editorial I wrote last issue explaining why. We brought in $7,315 the first week. This is a great start.

We've made it easier for you to be a Real Change fund raiser yourself. If you believe in our work, you can put the Giving Badge on your own blog or website. The link is on the badge.

Another way to help is to take up the Real Change 20/20 challenge, which involves asking 20 friends to support our work with $20. We have a number of tools at the Real Change website to make that easier for you to do.

Or, you could email this link to friends with a note about why it matters.

Finally, you can give yourself. If you are a previous suporter, you'll get a letter soon if you haven't already. If you have not yet donated, this is a great time to start. We need your support. Thanks for believing in what we do.