Please Help Save QSaltLake
QSaltLake was launched in 2004 during the anti-gay marriage Amendment 3 campaign with the publisher’s savings and a $55,000 home equity loan against his house.
In August of last year, we pleaded to the community that decreasing ad revenues and increasing print and distribution costs put us in a financial crisis.
Through frugal living, many overhead cost reductions and increased focus on generating revenue, we have made it these 10 hard months.
We found out this week the $40,000 remaining balance of the home equity loan is due and payable in September.
We need your help to stay alive and continue our work as the voice for Utah’s gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and ally community.
We are a registered not-for-profit organization.
Where we are now
We recently went through a complete re-think. We realized our shortcomings, recognized our strengths and threw everything on the table for change. What we are now is nowhere near what we were when we started:
- We now print between 10,000 and 15,000 copies per issue
- We have an incredible online presence at http://gaysaltlake.com/
- Our business directory is now available online at http://biz.gaysaltlake.com/
- We are appealing to a younger demographic while maintaining what our more mature demographic looks for in each issue
- We have a mobile app that allows you to read news of the day, find local gay-friendly businesses and find out what’s happening in Salt Lake’s vibrant nightlife scene
Why it’s important
We are making great strides as a community. We are proud to be a part of that progress. We have a long way to go:
- Many of our readers can be fired from their jobs or kicked out of their homes for being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender
- Amendment 3 is still on the books and thwarts our efforts to provide for our families
- Our youth are at great risk for suicide, being bullied, or being left on the streets by their families
QSaltLake is a bridge-builder. Nearly a quarter of our readers are allies — moms, dads, friends and other family of the LGBT community. By reading QSaltLake, they know our issues, know how to respond at the water cooler to anti-gay remarks. Our members not yet out of the closet and our youth look to us to provide them community and support in a safe and non-threatening environment.
You may not know that QSaltLake is run by a not-for-profit organization, much like NPR Radio and PBS Television. We support Utah’s LGBT community through information and education. We provide vital health inormation and resources to cope in a conservative state.
What we can offer in thanks
We would love to mail you our issues directly to your home, offer a Q sticker for your car and other perks — even up to a private dinner with our publisher, editor and arts editor at our publisher’s home.
We will succeed
We have to. We are passionate about providing a service to our community. We know many of you are passionate for our community as well. We hope you will consider throwing what you can at helping us retire this debt and thrive for our community.
How you can help:
- Paypal to ads@qsaltlake.com
- Chirpify “Pay @qsaltlake $40.00 for membership”
- IndieGoGO at http://www.indiegogo.com/save-qsaltlake?a=762238
- Mail a check to QSaltLake, 1055 E 2100 S Ste 206, SLC UT 84106. Put “Save Q” in the memo field.
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