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Vital
News About EarthLight's Transition...
September
2005
Dear
EarthLight Readers and Supporters,
For the past
15 years EarthLight Magazine has
been a campfire around which some
of the deepest thinkers of our times
have told and reflected on the Great
Story. It has been the spiritual
center of a worldwide community
of people longing to live in right
relationship with our Earth and
all its inhabitants. Because you
our readers are the source of our
strength and inspiration, we must
tell you that EarthLight is now
facing a challenge to its continued
existence.
For nine years
Editor Lauren de Boer has given
his heart and soul to the creation
of each issue. His spirit and genius
have expressed themselves on every
page. In late July Lauren tendered
his resignation. He told the EarthLight
Board of Directors that, despite
all the efforts of the community
over the past year and the generosity
of donors, it has become impossible
to sustain the magazine in its current
configuration.
We want to
acknowledge and celebrate Lauren
and the people who have been willing
to work for subsistence wages or
have volunteered their time and
energy to publish a magazine that
readers have described as a "lifeline"
and a catalyst for new and expanded
awareness.
Although it
is a difficult moment in our history,
it is also a rare opportunity for
us all to discover radical trust
in the evolutionary processes of
the universe. The Board and members
of the local EarthLight community
have been meeting to discuss the
future of the magazine. At this
point there are several proposals:
- Continue
the magazine under volunteer
editorship in the local community.
Two people with writing and
editing experience have offered
to explore ways of keeping the
magazine alive as a broader
community-based endeavor.
- Cease
publication of the magazine
but continue an EarthLight presence
and promotion of the EarthLight
Principles. This would be done
through the web site, local
salons and conferences, and
continuation of the Kindred
Spirits Directory.
- Turn
over publication of the magazine
to a non-profit organization,
perhaps one of the Kindred Spirit
centers, that has a network
of folks with the desire, skills,
and financial capacity to publish
EarthLight.
- Turn
subscription fulfillment over
to a similar publication.
We welcome
your ideas for carrying EarthLight
forward. To enable the wider EarthLight
community to discuss possibilities
for the future, our webmaster, Dennis
Rivers, has set up a Yahoo! discussion
group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/earthlightlink.
If you have
a specific proposal for EarthLight,
you can send it to Board Chair Bill
Collins at billcollins50@yahoo.com.
We anticipate making a decision
by October 1. We realize that a
proposal would be somewhat general
at this point but would include
a letter of intent, expressing your
understanding of the mission and
vision of the magazine, plus ideas
for generating the income necessary
to continue publication.
During this
transition period we will be working
on fundraising strategies and making
appeals to you and all our supporters
to minimize or even retire EarthLight's
outstanding debt of approximately
$30,000. If possible we would also
like to fund a final issue under
Lauren's editorship. If, for example,
each subscriber donated $15, we
could pay off the entire debt and
give Lauren and Circulation Manager
Joyce Rybandt a small severance
package.
We greatly
appreciate your continued financial
support in donations, purchase of
back issues and back issue sets
(contact joyce@earthlight.org for
more information). See our website
at www.earthlight.org/order.html
for a printable donation form or
to make a credit card donation through
the EarthLight PayPal account. For
larger donations, a gift of stock
offers the donor a tax deduction
for the full value of the stock
without incurring capital gains
tax.
EarthLight
is a community on many levels, an
ever-widening circle of kindred
spirits, reaching from the office
staff, to dedicated local volunteers,
to individuals and organizations
around the world. EarthLight is
about our primary sacred relationship
to the Earth Community and the importance
of keeping faith in challenging
times.
As we move
into an unknown future, we seek
to remain open and committed to
the EarthLight principles and to
one another. We ask your continued
support, your good energies and
your prayers.
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