[OT] India Together Fund raiser

[Rakesh 'arky' Ambati]

FYI

Cheers

--arky

# # #
Ashwin Mahesh, Subramaniam Vincent
The Editors
India Together
Bangalore - 560076

Re : Support 'The news that matters.' 
Dt : 23 March 2006 

(~850 words; reading time: 5 minutes)

Dear India Together reader,

Twice a year, we write to our e-newsletter subscribers
asking for their 
financial support. India Together continues to make
rapid strides in its 
coverage of public interest issues year to year. With
our exclusive focus on 
'development', we record and cover India in a way no
other publication does. 
Much of this would not have been possible without the
nearly 400 readers have 
supported us over the last two and half years.
(****Our apologies to those of 
you who made a contribution within the last 12 months,
and have received this 
letter; please ignore it.****)  

This March-April 2006, it's that time of the year
again. Last year, we raised 
nearly 400,000 rupees through your annual
contributions. But to cover all costs 
at India Together at market rates, however, we would
have needed to raise close 
to a million rupees (ten lakhs). Bridging this gap is
crucial for us to continue 
to bring you more and more of the informed and
experienced writing that you see 
every day. For this, we need your help. 

If you've been planning to support India Together, but
haven't yet done so, now 
is the time. Please do your part in keeping relevant
journalism and independent 
publishing on India Together viable. 
http://indiatogether.org/support/contribute.htm

To continue reading this letter online, click here.
http://indiatogether.org/support/2006-7/ltr-marapr06.htm


Recent milestones
=================

In the six months since our last fundraiser, some of
our regular reporters and 
writers have been awarded/recognized for their work.
Two regular writers, M 
Suchitra and Deepa A, are now finalists in the
Developing Asia Journalism Awards 
2006 (Manila), for their recent articles at India
Together. The winners will be 
picked in April. Jaideep Hardikar continues to be
recognised - he won the 2005 S 
R Nanekar Memorial Trust Journalism award for his
reporting on the Vidarbha 
agricultural crisis on India Together and other
publications. M Suchitra of Quest 
Features received the 2005 Appan Menon Memorial Award
for a study on Special 
Economic Zones. Shree Padre continues to be recognised
for environmental 
reporting, most recently by The Telegraph as well as
the Government of 
Karnataka. 

India Together is seeing sustained increase in online
visitorship month to month 
as well as for our free e-newsletter subscribership.
For the last three 
months of Dec.05 - Feb.06, over 65,000 unique internet
visitors were logged on 
the site each month. Newsletter subscription is
growing at 30% annually and we are 
currently sending it to nearly 5000 email addresses. 

None of all this would have been possible without your
support. 


Why you need to support us
===========================

Our goal is to find a 1000 readers to contribute at
least Rs.1000 or more each 
year to voluntarily support India Together. This will
help us continue to bring 
you 'the news that matters' as well as expand our
reporting. You hold the key to 
this. 

Reader support for public-interest journalism extends
gains directly to you as 
well as the publishers. The most direct benefit is
that you will get more and 
better of what you already like at India Together:
public affairs news stories, 
expert insights, advocacy by practitioners, and
informed commentary - all in 
one broad-based magazine. 

Your support also means that we will be able to move
towards paying our regular 
writers more reasonable rates of Rs.2000-3000 per
article, and likewise for 
photographers and other artists. We know many talented
journalists who will be 
thrilled to bring you the best, but they need your
support.

Just as important, viability through direct reader
payments will ensure that we
will not have to rely on commercial advertising, or at
least not very much. We 
will be able to continue to bring you all of the
material you like at India 
Together clutter-free. Connected to this, we will
remain focussed on covering
the key development and public interest issues of our
times.


A gift in return for your support
=================================

In return for your support, you will get more and
better of what you already 
like at India Together, plus The Digital Edition for
your offline reading 
convenience. Learn about more about our print-friendly
digital PDF edition 
here. 
http://www.indiatogether.org/diged/ 


How to contribute
=================

Through the online transactions gateway CC Avenue, you
can make your 
contribution with a few quick clicks. The link below
works for all major 
international and domestic credit and debit cards. 
http://indiatogether.org/support/contribute.htm

We welcome rupee, US dollar or other foreign currency
cheques, should you 
prefer to not use the online system. Please send your
contribution in favour of 
'India Together' to either of the addresses listed at
the end of this letter. 
Our HDFC bank account number is also available for
those of you who wish to 
transfer funds electronically. 

We look forward to your contribution before 30 April
2006. If you have more 
questions about why your support matters, click below.
http://www.indiatogether.org/support/whyfund.htm

We're counting on you. With best wishes, 

Subramaniam Vincent, Ashwin Mahesh
www.indiatogether.org 
The news that matters.


====================== CONTRIBUTING BY CHEQUE 
===========================

Please send cheques made out to "India Together" to
either address below.

IN INDIA

India Together
B3-404, South City
Arekere MICO Layout
Bangalore 560076


OUTSIDE INDIA

India Together
P.O. Box 4304
Ithaca, NY 14852-4304
USA

***NOTE: We can make our HDFC bank account number
available for those of you
***who wish to transfer funds electronically. Thank
you.
==========================================================================



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Subscribe/Unsubscribe
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This special fund-raising letter is sent 4 times a
year on our e-newsletter mailing list.  Our
fortnightly e-newsletter contains links and summaries
to all our latest articles on a variety of topics. 
You can subscribe to this free fortnightly newsletter
at any web page on India 
Together. To subscribe, enter your email address in
the subscription box
on the page. You will be prompted for email
confirmation to verify 
your interest, and after that, the newsletters will be
on their way to 
you regularly. Should you decide to unsubscribe from
our newsletter, 
you may do so automatically as well at any time, by
clicking below.

http://indiatogether.org/cgi-bin/mojo/mojo.cgi?f=u&l=readers&e=rakesh_ambati@yahoo.com&p=6984

If your email client does not allow you to click on
the above line, 
cut and paste it into your browser instead.