The YearlyKos project began a little more than a year ago. A lot has happened in a year! There have been ups and downs. People have come and gone as is the nature of a large all volunteer operation.
But the mission has continued to grow and move forward and we are proud of what we have accomplished.
Community membership has more than doubled in the past year, so understandably, a number of questions and misunderstandings have come up regarding the YearlyKos project. The diary below is an attempt to address them.
But first...
Thanks
Thanks to our Advisory Board members for being our champions in the community.
Susan G
Armando
Bill in Portland Maine
Meteor Blades
Jeffrey Feldman
Georgia10
Maryscott O'Connor
pontificator
pastordan (co-founder)
ttagaris
nybri
Hunter
a gilas girl
grndrush
42
Special thanks to 42 and grndrush who after months of labor generously donated all proceeds from the dKos TrollHouse Cookbook to YearlyKos, and then agreed to join our Advisory Board.
Thanks to our Board of Directors.
Anika Culuci (co-founder): fabooj
Nolan Treadway: Nolan
Shanna Ingalsbee: Bobanna
Linda Lee: BCO gal
Bill Harnsberger: Bill in Portland Maine
(I'm also on the board, Gina Cooper, but am not into thanking myself. Also note, we are waiting on documentation to officially add our 7th board member.)
Thanks to all our new volunteers who have joined us in the past few days offering to do everything from analyzing data to redesigning our logo.
Thanks to our friends at CivicSpace who made the technology for our site manageable.
Thanks to our friends at BuyBlue who showed us that there are still ethical businesses out there who care.
Thanks to our Daily Kos community for being so incredibly talented and passionate.
And finally, thanks to Markos. Your encouragement, thoughtful advice, and faith in our ability to make this happen have made this project possible. (And thanks for the KOS branding too!) Markos, you are awesome and this country would be a hell of a lot better if more folks cared and acted with the integrity that you do. You are a true patriot.
And now to the questions you've been asking...
Why is YearlyKos so ambitious?
YearlyKos is organized for exclusively charitable purposes under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, an application is pending with the IRS for the recognition of YearlyKos as a charitable organization under section 501(c)3 of the IRC.
YearlyKos is an ambitious project because that is what has been necessary for trying to do what most of the community has said it wanted, including attracting big name speakers.
Yet, more important is producing a product that provides a service to our community by accomplishing something that we otherwise couldn't do. Our convention presents a real opportunity to take the talent of this community and impact the offline world. We need to promote our own blogosphere experts beyond the blogosphere. Much genius lurks in the diaries of Daily Kos, but what are we going to do with it?
You have said that you want a convention that is "community planned." Well, our community is huge. The diaries alone just do not provide the systems we need to really thoughtfully consider what you want, and then translate that into something tangible. We could pretend it is enough, pretend to listen to you, and pretend that the agenda was planned by you, but the reality is that there are no systems out there for going to the people, asking what they want, and gathering that information in a useful format. So we're inventing our own systems. We don't want to make assumptions about your beliefs or expectations. We don't think defining progressivism is that simple. We hope the payoff will be a great convention and a model leaders can follow to actively engage the blogosphere.
Why is the YearlyKos convention being held in Las Vegas?
First, choosing Las Vegas over Chicago was the best decision for the organization. It was the right decision and I stand by it. The Chicago contract was EXTREMELY PUNITIVE if somehow something didn't go as planned. It was also quite a bit more expensive just to get started there. YearlyKos is putting on its first event. If we had chosen Chicago and then didn't make the projected numbers, the liability to the organization would be nearly $100,000 more than the same in Vegas. We analyzed the contracts. The fact that the Chicago contract was less forgiving and less flexible was readily apparent. $100,000 is not chump change and we want a future.
However, we really screwed up in how the decision was presented. What should have been done better was explaining how the community vote was only part of what would go into the decision. We also consulted our advisory board, and our preregistrant survey, along with an analysis of the contracts. Our mistake was that we were unclear to the community that "input" on the location decision did not mean "you choose the location." In short, we should have handled keeping the community informed of the factors better. We will do differently next time.
And now my personal opinion. Say what you want about the "evils" of Vegas, there are "evils" in all cities. Personally, I am proud that the first annual YearlyKos Convention is being held in the most unionized city in the US, a city where hard working middle America has a chance of making a living, owning a home, saving for the future, and has a real chance to achieve the American dream. Pick your top five liberal cities. Can the same be said for them?
Thank you, Las Vegas progressives, for hosting YearlyKos. We hope we can give something back to you.
What will my donation pay for?
We have diaried about convention and organization expenses here, here, and here. Posted below is a summary below of our most pressing expenses.
Fourth Quarter Expenses:
Filing Fees $700
Initial bank deposit $150
Web development $1,000
Programming $300
Anticipated Server costs $4,000
Repayment for first down payment $12,000
Second Down payment $15,000
BOD insurance (approx) $700
Misc. Expenses: $797.87
Total: $34,647.87
Our current fund raiser is for our second facility down payment of $15,000. We have another down payment of $27,000 due March 19, 2006.
Why is YearlyKos seeking corporate sponsors?
We have progressive allies in the business community. Check out BuyBlue.org and read about some of them. What is wrong with letting some of the good guys invest in us? We are a large community and we have economic power. Why not use it? The YearlyKos Survey will help us do just that and we urge you to participate.
I'm not going. Why should I invest in YearlyKos?
First, we hope to use every bit of technology we can get our hands on to make the events of the YearlyKos Convention accessible to all. We have to finance it somehow, whether through grants, sponsorships, donations, or fees. Your donation will aid in that effort.
Second, as mentioned above, the systems we are developing to have a real community planned convention are the same kinds of systems needed to build netroots infrastructure for a larger progressive coalition.
Third, we are doing important research in the context of building our convention. We have found no research attempting to objectively define the issues important to the progressive blogosphere, or gauging the range of beliefs within those issues. The Common Ground Project will attempt to do that and give us an objective starting point for developing our agenda. But we think this has larger implications as well. Don't we want "the leaders" to know what is important to us? We think the Common Ground Project can tell them just that in a clear objective format.
How can I support YearlyKos?
Volunteer: We need fundraisers, grant writers, and public relations specialists. If you are a Las Vegas local, we need you to volunteer for the LAB.
Participate: Help shape the organization that believes in the best the netroots has to offer by participating in discussions on the YearlyKos website.
Buy the TrollHouse Cookbook: Purchase this e-book full of delicious recipes and snark, and don't forget to read the story behind the production of this terrific community project.
Register: Take advantage of the discounted early registration, or you can choose one of the other options that will allow you to include a donation with your registration.
Donate: Of course, a direct donation is always appreciated. And, if you are from Iowa, Los Diablo has agreed to match donations up to $200! Thank you Los Diablo! Read the details here.
Connections: If you are a business owner or have connections to businesses that might be interested in sponsoring us, please email us and tell us about it.
Survey: Take the YearlyKos Survey and help us identify responsible corporate citizens that we would like to sponsor our convention.
What is the bottom line?
Look, here's the bottom line as we see it. The #1 complaint about the left is that we're fragmented and we don't have a message. "What's your message? Where's your message? You're not going to win anything without a message." Well this is our chance to get together---in person---and help shape that message and communicate it directly to people in power so they can communicate it to the rest of the country and have a direct influence on the future of America. Did you ever think you'd have that kind of influence? Neither did we. But we're sure as hell going to run with it. Looking at how the radical right is running this country into the ground, there's simply too much at stake.
All of us at YearlyKos promise to keep our workings as transparent as possible. The road to Vegas will encounter its share of bumps along the way, but the end result will be like grassroots politics on speed;) To accomplish it, though, we need your help. Let's get busy.
Gina Cooper
Executive Director, Co-Founder
and
The Board of Directors
YearlyKos Inc.