TC Jewfolk Turns Two! Will You Give Us a Birthday Gift?

Yom Huledet Sameach, Yom Huledet Sameach!  Happy Birthday to Us!

TC Jewfolk is officially TWO YEARS OLD.

Wow.  What does that mean?  It means we’re starting to come into our own. We’re walking, talking, demanding things, pushing our boundaries – you know, we’re acting like any two-year-old.
If you read our birthday post from last year, you can learn a little bit more about how TC Jewfolk started. How we went from a fledgling idea of a website that could bridge the Mississippi River-gap between our two communities by providing events listings and articles with interesting Jewish content, to a (pending) non-profit organization committed to connecting individuals to Jewish ideas, organizations, and communities. We’ve also published 1,000 articles, and grown from less than 500 unique visitors/month to an average of 10,000.
That’s right, the biggest thing we’ve done this year is become a non-profit, formally known as Jewfolk Media, Inc. We realized that if we wanted to ensure that TCJewfolk.com stays around for months, years, and decades to come (we can’t wait to see what TC Jewfolk the teenager looks like!), we were going to need a bit more structure and organization behind our words.
Luckily, we’ve had some help getting there. We’ve met with many people in the community to get their advice and ideas for next steps, and we’ve formed a rockin’ Board of Directors for our new nonprofit. Attorneys at the Maslon law firm have helped us draft our application to the IRS on a pro bono basis. And, as always, our fabulous volunteer writers have continued to write amazing content for TC Jewfolk, inspiring us with their words and making sure that as we’re setting up a structure for the future, we’re still providing excellent news, commentary and creative expression on an almost daily basis.

So what’s next?

In the next few months, the Jewfolk Media Board of Directors will be meeting to carve out our plan for 2011 and 2012 – what we hope to accomplish, and how we are going to get there. We know that a big part of this next year will involve fundraising, since it costs approximately $1,000 to run TC Jewfolk each year, and that’s without any paid staff helping to shape this organization.
So today, on our birthday, we’re asking that you help us kick off a major fundraising campaign. We want to raise $3,000 before December 31, 2011. That money will ensure that TC Jewfolk can operate into 2012, debt free, by covering our organizational expenses – web hosting, domain registration, postage, mailing, copies, software, advertising, marketing, technology support, and Board expenses, as well as any remaining money we owe our patient graphic designer and web developer.

How can you give us our birthday gift?

The easiest way is just to decide how much you want to give, click on the DONATE NOW button to the right of this article, and donate on Paypal.com (you don’t need a paypal account to do so). You can also mail a check payable to Jewfolk Media, Inc. to

Jewfolk Media, P.O. Box 2294, Minneapolis, MN 55402.

All donations are tax-deductible since Jewfolk Media, Inc. is a pending nonprofit.

Thank you, in advance, for your birthday gifts! And for making a difference in ensuring TC Jewfolk’s sustainability as a multi-author blog and virtual communal space for years to come.

(Photo: atelliertally)