By Will Collette
One of our most valued friends is ecoRI.org, Rhode Island and southern New England's only investigative news sources. We count on them to cover the stories that are out of our reach, and from time to time, to work with us on big environmental stories.
They are a small non-profit with a dedicated professional staff - meaning that this is what they actually do for a living - as opposed to Progressive Charlestown's crew who are mostly retired, but all volunteer. For ecoRI to keep doing what they do, they need your support. I strongly urge you to give it to them.
Here's their end-of-year message:
Help us reach our $20,000 fundraising goal by
Jan. 1
It's a big number — $20,000, but it represents what we need to
put our organization on good financial footing in order to continue to bring
you the news in the coming year. We need your help getting there.
Your support ensures that we can keep doing
our job.
Ours is a lean operation. Our annual budget is less than
$90,000, only enough to ensure part-time wages for our staff. Next year, we'd
like to ramp up our coverage, shoot more video and produce more podcasts; but
we can't do this without your help.
In the past year, ecoRI News brought you more than 500
environmental news stories written by local reporters. We're keeping an eye on:
the effects of climate change on our coastline; how federal regulations are
effecting local farms; innovative plans for transportation and urban smart
growth; the renewable-energy sector; people making a difference in our
communities.
In addition to reporting the news, we've been making headlines
too. This year, our outreach arm worked with the Rhode Island Department of
Environmental Management to implement a door-to-door residential food-scrap
collection program, a breakthrough effort that could help develop municipal
and/or statewide composting programs in the future.
It takes money to report the news and run our programs. Our
small staff of five is working hard for you and the environment, giving voice
to environmental issues that often go unrecognized and unreported. To
help us continue our work, we're asking you, our readers, to help us reach our
most epic fundraising goal ever.
Your donation is tax deductible, and when you donate, you will
be automatically entered in a raffle to win a $100 gift certificate to Tallulah on
Thames in Newport, R.I.
Thank you for your support.
To donate on-line, click here.
Prefer not to donate online? You may send checks in care of
ecoRI Inc. to ecoRI News, 111 Hope St., Providence, RI 02906. ecoRI Inc. is a
501(c)(3) nonprofit, and all donations are tax deductible. Thank you for your
support.