After 7 Years of Service, What’s Next for oc115?
The oc115 started on June 1, 2009 as The Ferndale 115 News. On June 1, 2014 we expanded our dream to all of Oakland County with the oc115.
Progress has been steady over the years, and in Feb. 2016 we reached a big goal of 50,000 unique readers for the month!
Here is the thing… The oc115 is a great resource with many successes… but it can be a lot better.
We are asking our readers to invest in helping us get to the next level. With stable income directly from our readers, the oc115 can:
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1. Shore up the Event Page to make it an effective community calendar for people in communities and for attracting visitors across communities to new experiences. (This also helps regional economics and is great for local businesses)
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2. Create marketing materials. As we grow from a grassroots project to showing other communities what we are all about, we need to make a consistent first impression. This will also help us better get the word out about the site.
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3. Provide financial stability to the organization so that time can be used more effectively. If 115 people pledged $15 a month we would have exactly the right amount to cover the basic operating costs of the site. With a stable base, the advertising revenue would be used for marketing materials, event page work, freelance writers, and other improvements and time could spent better in these areas.
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4. Protect the oc115 from having to add annoying features like surveys, popups, paywalls etc. Our goal is to keep the oc115 free to the general public and simple in appearance. We want our readers to be able to enjoy being there, and we want to honor our sponsors by not drowning their ads in a sea of ads.
The oc115 has grown in a steady, smart way since we began seven years ago. Help make this a top notch community information source, and a way to grow a more informed, inspired and united region through quality local journalism.
Please make a monthly pledge at https://www.patreon.com/oc115. Being a patron of a site that helps many organizations is a great way to uplift the community. Anyone who pledges $15 or more will have a flower in the online community garden. There you can also see who else supports the oc115. You would be in very good company.
You could also make a one time donation.
You could also sign up for a business ad.
You could also mail a check to “Ferndale 115”, PO Box 20293, Ferndale, MI 48220.
Lastly, please think about the ways the oc115 has worked for the community in the past seven years. Think about why we need trusted, central, independent sources of journalism. And have conversations with your friends about why the oc115 matters, and why they should support it too.
Thank you everyone who has been a part of making the oc115 what it is today, and to those who are on board for the next 7 years.
Sincerely,
Crystal A. Proxmire
Editor & Publisher
Oakland County 115 News Hub