catapult magazine

Five good reasons to donate to *culture is not optional in 2009

by Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma

Maybe you’ve been reading catapult for a while, but haven’t put two and two together: catapult is published by a non-profit organization called culture is not optional (cino).  *cino makes up some of its income through grants, partnerships, product sales and conferences, but the bulk of our support comes from individual donations from folks like you.  Here are five good reasons you should become one of our donors in 2009:

1. You enjoy reading catapult magazine and want to demonstrate your support for it.  Good and simple.
2. You can help keep the content free.  We’re working on a catapult subscription that will add features for a small annual fee, but we strongly believe our articles should be available to anyone online and in the road journal, regardless of economic situation.  If you have a little money to spare, help us keep our content available for someone who doesn’t.
3. A little goes a long way.  In 2008 with individual donations totaling $7,670, *cino produced two books, four journals, 23 catapult issues, and a conference.  Imagine what we could do if 500 of our mailing list subscribers donated just $5 a month (doing the math…that’s $30,000 a year to work with!).
4. Donating is easy.  We have a secure server for online donations and automatic monthly donations.  Or if you prefer paper, our address is *culture is not optional, P.O. Box 1, Three Rivers, Michigan, 49093.
5. [Insert your reason here.]  Our hope is that the variety of resources we provide meets diverse needs in a multitude of ways.  If you’ve made it this far into the list of reasons to donate, chances are you have your own story to tell about how *cino has filled a good space in your life.

If you can’t donate (or even if you can), you can also contribute in-kind by submitting essays, artwork, reviews and more.  We couldn’t do what we do without all kinds of people contributing to this project according to their unique gifts.  Thank you for your consideration and have a good 2009!