I”m no longer on the board and have had to move on to other things, but I still find the station very worthy of supporting in whatever way you can.
Dear WYOU members and other persons of interest,
As most of you know, for the past two years WYOU has been run by a volunteer Board of Directors and a handful of members volunteering their time and expertise to keep the station open and functioning. There have been a few glitches here and there, most noticeably in cablecasting, and we apologize for that and try to fix problems as they appear.
For the most part, we have increased membership, continued camera and editing classes, increased local programming, reestablished live shows and created new projects like the Wisconsin Uprising Archive which gathers media from the recent labor struggle in Wisconsin and already is putting WYOU’s name on the credits of three national documentaries, among them “ As Goes Janesville” recently released by PBS.
So we are ALIVE but not WELL.
We spend around $2000 monthly for the basics: rent, telephone, utilities, office supplies and minor maintenance. We are thankful for the revenue from our membership but it doesn’t come close to cover the expenses for the station, even when you add revenue from classes, two successful fundraisers, some media services jobs and ongoing phone/mail fundraising to neighborhood businesses and individuals in the community. We still come up short and definitively are not in a position to make any capital improvements to our crumbling, outdated equipment and technical infrastructure.
We have approximately $5000 in the bank – the equivalent of two or three months of survival. We’re not interested in survival for survival’s sake. We have the desire and vision for modern, striving community televising and are in the process of developing a Kickstarter campaign to make $25,000 for establishing a fiber optic connection, new HD cameras, new computers and new editing software. This will take some time and a lot of work but with your help we can get there! We call the period we’re in ‘ALL HANDS ON DECK’ because it’s obvious that the Board and handful of volunteers cannot do this on our own.
In the spirit of this end-of-year giving period, please consider making a tax-deductible donation of $100 or more if you can afford it (or whatever you’re able to give). Every individual donation will make a difference in providing breathing room to gather more substantial funding for capital improvements.
How to donate: Use our web site at: http://www.wyou.org/pc/Donate.html
or send a check to: WYOU Community Television
1202 Williamson Street, Suite 101
Madison, WI 53703Your involvement in funding WYOU is crucial. It’s YOUR station in YOUR community and you are all key factors in determining our collective success. Now you have an opportunity to ensure that we keep our award winning community television station alive and well and maintain the vital community resource that it has become.
Thanks for all your support throughout the years. Let’s bring ALL hands on deck and have WYOU prosper!
Happy holidays,
WYOU Board of Directors
Cable Channels 991 (digital) and 95 (analog)
We also stream on-line at: www.wyou.org
