Front Porch Forum is in the running again for a Knight News Challenge grant. Check out our entry here and please give it five stars! (Just click on the rightmost star.) We’d love to read your comments about the proposal too (scroll to the bottom of our News Challenge page to leave a comment).
Thanks and thanks too to the Knight Foundation… they catalyze and fund loads of important work at the intersection of local news, community, democracy and technology.
Dan McLean wrote a solid piece about Front Porch Forum‘s first membership appeal for today’s Burlington Free Press. Here’s the letter we sent to our local subscribers and the page where anyone can become an FPF supporting member.
Social media venues such as Front Porch Forum, which are offered as free services to the public, are not spared the fiscal realties of business. Revenues must exceed expenses… Founded in 2006 after operating informally under a different name for several years, Front Porch Forum is being forced to adapt, Wood-Lewis said. “As we grow, our business model is evolving,” Wood-Lewis wrote to the forum’s 16,000 “subscribers” in kicking off the “first annual member appeal”…
“We are grateful for our local business partners and their support of our community-building mission,” he wrote. “Their ads cover many of our expenses, but not all.”
While the Free Press did find a “social media expert” to offer criticism of FPF, they regrettably didn’t print comments on the matter from any of the thousands of local folks who use it daily. I’ll cull some of those messages out of the neighborhood conversations to share in the next blog post.
UPDATE: This just in…
I disagree with the comment attributed to Joe Mescher in the article published on November 1st that FP forums “be shared more widely on the Internet instead of keeping the contents confined to each neighborhood.” The beauty of such “confinement” is knowing the information has relevance to me and my close neighbors. I occasionally submit information to my neighbors regarding actions of the Lake Iroquois Association – actions that matter to those near the lake and not necessarily to the residents of other areas or the Internet world at large. To remove such “confinement” just means everyone’s mailbox fills up with unwanted stuff – just another blog or tweet – stuff that I merely trash. The value of something like FPF becomes lost. I’m will support FPF financially and I strongly encourage others to do the same.
Keep up the great work, Michael.
Roger Crouse, President
Lake Iroquois Association
Where do you turn when your car is broken into? Or when you need to borrow a stroller, find a reliable mechanic, sell your couch, or track down your AWOL dog? Increasingly in Chittenden and Grand Isle Counties, people turn to their nearby neighbors through Front Porch Forum (FPF).
After just three years of FPF’s service, 16,000 local households are participating. We publish in 140 neighborhoods across 25 towns in northwest Vermont… week in and week out. Local residents have posted 75,000 messages to their neighbors through FPF.
Our small band of committed staff are working day and night to keep this all going. We’re grateful for our local business partners and their support of our community-building mission. Their ads cover many of our expenses, but not all. If you enjoy and value Front Porch Forum, please become a supporting member today. WE NEED YOUR HELP NOW to maintain, improve and expand FPF. Please go to this web link to make your contribution via credit card, PayPal or check:
http://frontporchforum.com/about/donate.php
Considering that the local newspaper costs $15/month and a daily coffee drink can exceed $60/month, what is FPF worth to you? To your community?
It’s our privilege to offer our community-building service — a Vermont original — to so many people. We want to build on the success that you have made of FPF. As we grow, our business model is evolving to include this, our first annual member appeal. We have high hopes that FPF users like you will each contribute $12, $24 or $36 right now — or choose to make an automatic monthly contribution. Any amount is welcome and will make a difference. Please become an FPF supporting member here (credit card, PayPal or check):
http://frontporchforum.com/about/donate.php
Or send a check, payable to:
Front Porch Forum
PO Box 64781
Burlington, VT 05406-4781
802-540-0069
(FPF is not a charity and contributions are not tax deductible.)
Your contribution is critical to keeping FPF going strong — and will be enormously appreciated. We look forward to serving you and your neighbors in the coming year.
Your FPF team,
Michael, Nina, Linda and Jamie
Front Porch Forum is available to anyone who lives in one of these Vermont towns [list UPDATED 02/23/2011]…
And we’re expanding to other areas in the coming months. Sign up or join our waitlist. FPF is free to local residents.
Contact us if you want to sponsor FPF’s launch in your town. Join our growing list of launch sponsors: Grand Isle County sponsors, Orton Family Foundation, e-Vermont, Town of Johnson, Johnson State College, Comcast, Lake Champlain Islands Chamber, Franklin County Caring Communities, Franklin Central Supervisory Union, City of St. Albans, Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, Revitalizing Waterbury, Town of Duxbury, Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, and others
A guest post today from Front Porch Forum’s most recent hire, Jamie Seiffer. Take it away, Jamie…
For those of you familiar with De La Soul, y’all know that three is the magic number. For those of you unfamiliar, check this out. Three is the magic number for us because that’s how many pairs of tickets our friends at Higher Ground have graciously donated to Front Porch Forum. As a result, all of our neighbors (that’s you!) have the chance to enter a raffle for a FREE PAIR OF TICKETS.
Grammy award-winning hip-hop group De La Soul is performing at Higher Ground August 21. If you’d like a shot at a pair of tickets all you need to do is comment on this post.* You can post about whatever you want – how you use FPF, why you like De La Soul, an awesome show you’ve seen at Higher Ground, whatever – any comment gets you an entry into the raffle (limit one per person).
Here at FPF we use this blog to keep our neighbors (and everyone else in the blogosphere) up to date about Front Porch Forum happenings. These include unique success stories, updates about our progress/expansion, and fun raffles like this De La promo. La la la la lah, this is a D.A.I.S.Y. age.
*TO ENTER: Comment on this blog post below by 7 PM EST on Aug. 20. Comments on Facebook will not get your name in the hat… you must comment at http://frontporchforum.com/blog Winners will be selected at random on Thursday night and will be notified via the email address attached to your comment.
Thanks to our many supporters, Front Porch Forum is hitting some great milestones…
And FPF is growing. More people sign up every day, more postings flow through FPF to neighbors, and we’re expanding to more towns… stay tuned!
Ghost of Midnight is an online journal about fostering community within neighborhoods, with a special focus on Front Porch Forum (FPF). My wife, Valerie, and I founded FPF in 2006... read more