I'm going to try to make this quick.

JWR IS IN TROUBLE

There, I said it.

I'm not being pessimistic. I'm not trying to scare you.

I'm merely telling it to you like it is.

And I'm sure you care.

We are in trouble because we have expenses -- for content, images (including toons ), computer repairs, hosting costs, etc.

We've yet to cover the costs for the coming year's expenses.

PLEASE hear me out. Just a bit longer.

For the life of me, I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.

• The other night, on Brian Williams' TV show "Rock Center", he had a report about folks who turn to the web to fundraise for some really "unconventional" stuff. And how successful they've been.

• Then there was the last presidential campaign. Obama was able to raise millions of dollars through "micropayments" of a few bucks each donated via the web.

These were total strangers donating to causes they weren't, for the most part, familiar with.

To date, however, of our 100,000 daily subscribers, only a few hundred have responded.

As I said: For the life of me, I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.

• Like you, in recent weeks I've been bombarded with electronic fundraising letters. I've been watching carefully how well these causes have been doing. If the solicitors, for informational websites considerably smaller than JWR, are to believed, they've collected enormous amounts of resources.

• I've also been monitoring sites whose values are diametrically opposed to those JWR advances. They, too are claiming successes as the end-of-the-year donation period winds down.

PLEASE help me understand what I'm doing wrong.

More importantly, PLEASE HELP.

Please mull over this: Is ten bucks for a 52 weeks a year publication too much?

How about five bucks?

How about just one dollar?

I'm not in the least bit kidding.

For the record: I have no intention of folding JWR. I've dedicated more than a third of my life building the site and, cliched or not, making the world a better, more informed place.

I'm absolutely not giving up!

But we are in need of tens of thousands of dollars for next year's expenses. That sounds like a lot, right? But it's NOT INSURMOUNTABLE if each reader just gave something.

PLEASE click on this secure link to make a tax-deductible donation of ANY amount.

A number of readers asked that I also provide a physical address to send donations. Here it is:

Keren Yehoshua V'Yisroel Foundation/JWR
140 Cables Ave.
Waterbury, CT 06710

Tax ID: 22-3209160

Please note on the check "memo line" it is for the Internet educational project.

In gratitude and friendship,
Binyamin