'Crushing It in the Mon Valley'? Well....

By Jason Togyer
The Tube City Almanac
December 11, 2018
Posted in: Announcements

I was pleasantly surprised today to read an editorial in Print, a newspaper serving the East End of Pittsburgh, praising Tube City Almanac for its efforts to cover the Mon-Yough area.

We're grateful for their kind words --- but we're especially grateful for your support over the past three years. Thank you.

According to them, we're "crushing it." I'm not so sure about that. In my opinion, there is a lot of room for improvement in 2019, and many things that need to be done that we're simply not able to get to.

But all of us are doing the very best we can, with very limited resources. And we hope to do even more in 2019.

A quarter-million page views in 2018

Last year, we served 240,745 pages to more than 64,000 readers. That's a 32 percent increase over 2017.

Another 133,983 people used Tube City Almanac's obituaries page. That's an increase of 9 percent over the previous year.

We appreciate your support

If you do use this service, and you can afford to make a donation, we would be grateful for a contribution.

We are an IRS-recognized 501(c)(3) charity, and your donations may be tax deductible as allowed by law.

Donations may be made by check or money order to Tube City Community Media Inc., P.O. Box 94, McKeesport 15134; or via PayPal at: http://www.tubecityonline.com/contact/

Over the past year, we've been helped financially by the G.C. Murphy Co. Foundation, the E.R. Crawford Trust, Finney Funeral Homes, Willig and Jaycox-Jaworski Funeral Homes, and many, many other people. We also receive some digital advertising revenue. (The ads are a necessary evil, and we know many of you don't like them.)

In 2018, we used your support to add coverage of North Versailles Twp. news, resume coverage of McKeesport Area School District news, and continue our coverage of Duquesne and White Oak.

We have momentum, and we want to build on it in 2019 --- but we are a charity, and we can only continue our work with your donations.

Regardless of whether you can contribute money, THANK YOU for your continued support of the website --- we look forward to continuing to provide you, and Mon-Yough residents, with this service, in 2019.

Take care, and have a safe and joyous holiday and happy new year!

Sincerely,
Jason Togyer
Executive Director and Board Member
Tube City Community Media Inc.

Board of Directors

Alycia Bencloski, Andrea Cartwright, Dan Dougherty, Doug Goffus, Brandi D. Gongaware, Daniel C. Malesky, William Phillips, Judy Rosenfeld, Thomas Schroll Jr., Jennifer Sopko, Rev. Chris Stillwell, Jason Togyer

Why are we asking for money? What about the advertising?

Yes, we do make some income on digital advertising --- it's up to about $5 per day --- but it's not enough for us to grow, or even build up any kind of a fund for expansion.

Your donations, as well as foundation grants, provide a stable base for us to pay our day-to-day, week-to-week operating expenses. (Mostly server space, a Comcast Business internet connection and office rent.)

Do people read our websites?

Yes! A lot of people, in fact.

In addition to the nearly 134,000 people who visited the Tube City Almanac obituary page in the past year, readership of The Tube City Almanac is at an all-time high (240,745 page views vs 181,474 the previous year) and listenership to our Internet radio station, WMCK.FM, is slowly, but steadily, growing.

What will we use the money for?

We use any donations collected to add and improve news coverage. We're also not a subsidiary of a large media corporation, and we don't have any stockholders or venture capitalists backing us.

None of us is a millionaire or billionaire with an agenda. (Actually, each of the board members either works a full-time job, or is retired from one and living on a pension.)

It's just you and us! And that's what makes your donations so important, and so appreciated.

Disclaimer: We are not tax advisers and this email does not constitute tax advice. To determine whether or not a donation is tax-deductible, please consult a tax professional.

You can find our GuideStar profile here: http://www.guidestar.org/PartnerReport.aspx?ein=26-4497864&Partner=Demo

Originally published December 11, 2018.

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