NZ Politics Daily needs your support
Dear subscribers
I’m contacting you to let you know about what’s happening with my NZ Politics Daily emails and my other political research and analysis. And to see if you can help.
Sorry for the long email, but the short version is: we don’t have enough funding to keep supplying NZ Politics Daily. Unless we are able to secure committed funding, we will have to stop sending NZPD after this week.
I’ve been emailing out NZ Politics Daily and related commentary for the last six years. My researcher Janette and I committed to covering this years election, and we hope it has been useful and informative for you. Our daily comprehensive aggregation of material on politics and current affairs currently has a subscriber base of 1350 people who either have an interest in politics or work in related areas. NZPD does seem to have developed into a highly regarded resource.
But we need to find a way to keep the service going. As you can imagine, it takes a huge amount of time to produce each day. My researcher, Janette, helps me do this, but I need to find her some secure ongoing funding if we are to continue.
Until May this year, I was employed at the University of Otago, and saw this work as part of my academic role as a “critic and conscience of society”. But I have taken redundancy from Otago and shifted to Wellington. I have become a Senior Associate at the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies at Victoria University, but this is not a full-time role.
What we really need is for some of the individuals and organisations that receive and value our email services to help contribute financially. So I’m asking you today if you would be prepared to contribute. While any amount is much appreciated, we are suggesting a range from $10 a month (ie less than 50 cents per edition) for personal use subscribers to $100/month for large organisations and businesses. We are hoping those who can afford it will be able to contribute at the upper end of this range. Please simply email me back, letting me know how much you can afford each month.
There are a number of ways you can contribute:
• If you would like to make a regular monthly payment, then our bank details are: Critical Politics: 38-9011-0754175-00.
• For those who would prefer to use a credit card or Paypal, we have set up a fundraising page on the Patreon website. Go to: http://bit.ly/PatreonBryce You will see that “Patrons” are asked to pledge a regular monthly payment.
• For organisations or businesses we can also provide an invoice on a monthly basis.
• You can also make a one-off donation to our account Critical Politics: 38-9011-0754175-00
Regular contributions will only be collected as long as NZ Politics Daily is being produced.
Regardless of what happens with NZ Politics Daily, we are committed to continuing to supply other services such as my column Political Roundup, along with new services we are developing, such as POLS101: An Introduction to New Zealand Politics (this is a weekly email aimed at those who are newer to politics – such as school students. This public political education service will outline basic political concepts that are in the news.)
Our future work will be done under the umbrella of Critical Politics – a not-for-profit service that seeks to build on our current work to foster critical thinking about politics. It aims to do this “for the public good”. I’m setting it up because we need greater debate in New Zealand about politics, democracy, and governance – and with the belief that this is aided by having a greater distribution of diverse views and analysis from critical thinkers.
So by being a Patron, you will ensure our services can continue, and you will help the development of what we think will become an essential part of public debate about politics.
Kind regards
Bryce Edwards
Director, Critical Politics