My companies, and me personally, donate a lot of money to local business and causes. A $1000 to the Eldred Lions club, a $1000 to the Barryville Chamber of Commerce, $1000 to the local Eldred library, couple thousand to NACL- and a few more I can't think of. Today I'm going to an event at the Boys and Girls Club at the Monticello Motor Club.
I even consider my advertising in the River Reporter, or the Homestead School pamphlet and the like to be donations cause I'm not getting any business from that stuff - it's just nice to co-brand and support local organizations that work hard and offer unique services, whether I agree with them or not.
But based on the continued (actually increased) community manipulation that The River Reporter serves up as news, I've withdrawn my advertising support, since in the end, my support was to support their work, and their work sucks. For 10 yrs I've been buying $8-10k a year in advertising from them with probably a return of little if any business generated from the advertising. I mean I don't have to agree with them to want to support them, but I can't support an organization that is going out of its way to misinform, mis-educate and manipulate - It's actually just like Fox News - all the news is put through a filter prior to reporting, and that slant is incorporated into every nuance, texture and detail of a story. And since the local radio station, WJFF, who I've been supporting way before I could afford it, allows Fritz Mayer of the River Reporter to give weekly radio newscasts (propogandcasts), I've stopped supporting them as well.
It was all fine and dandy to have this nonsense playing out when the issues were small, but Sullivan County and the little towns like Narrowsburg actually are faced with pretty serious issues as of late, and the residents and readership of the River Reporter deserve more respect for their intelligence. The position of trust is even more important because people don't have any other source of news.
So, how do you save $15k a year? Stop supporting things you don't believe in.
Congratulations and best wishes to you. It takes spine and character to stand up for your values in a public way. We all need to do this. I discovered your site and blog when researching cottage living. I don't like to empower businesses that don't have their community's interest at heart.
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