ELi Truly Appreciates Our Donors

By Beth Peck, Executive Director and Publisher

Happy 2024! As we reflect on the past year, all of us at East Lansing Info are overwhelmed with gratitude for the incredible support we’ve received from our dedicated community.

Thanks to your generosity, our annual fundraising campaign raised over $122,000 from 610 donations. Forty two of those donations came from new donors!

This figure includes $42,250 in matching funds from individual supporters, $15,000 from NewsMatch, and a $3,000 bonus from the Knight Community Fund. These contributions play a crucial role in sustaining our mission to bring East Lansing the news in 2024. 

Though we fell short of our hefty $200,000 goal, we are still impressed by the amount ELi was able to raise in a couple short months. In light of this, myself and the board will be making some tough decisions and will be updating our 2024 operating budget to accurately reflect our current financial status. 

As many of you know, I came on board at ELi as executive director and publisher roughly seven months ago. I joined an outstanding team that has helped ELi succeed every step of the way. And this campaign has been no different. 

I’d like to thank ELi’s development director, Al Hargrave, for playing an integral part in the success of this campaign. Al puts perfection in everything she touches and she managed many aspects of our work over the last couple of months. 

Very special thanks go to Jodi Mullett, ELi’s business manager, for handling the backend of the campaign. From tracking hundreds of donations to printing and stuffing appeal letters and much more, Jodi is the glue that holds our organization together. (If you donated to ELi in 2023, be on the lookout this month for an acknowledgement letter for tax purposes, managed by Jodi!) 

I am also incredibly grateful to our tech managers, Morgan Lees and Lisa Lees, for always keeping our systems up and running, and to Cait Palmiter, our designer, for creating graphics that tied in beautifully with our campaign theme of “spotlighting local news.”

Big thanks also go out to ELi’s Managing Editor Julie Seraphinoff and all of our reporters for continuing to bring the news to the community during our fundraising campaign. We are nothing without the work of Julie and her skilled team.

And last but certainly not least, I’d like to thank ELi founder Alice Dreger for creating a long standing legacy for our community. ELi exists because of all the years and work Alice put into creating and building it into a reputable nonprofit news publication for the East Lansing community. Alice managed the creation of ELi’s beautiful year in review paper edition that went out in November, and her historical knowledge was an asset to the fundraising team.  

Most importantly, we want to extend our heartfelt thanks to our donors and readers for your ongoing support to ELi. Thank you for being a vital part of our community and for championing the importance of local news. We look forward to serving you in 2024 and beyond.