Why I give my time and my money to WyoFile

Dear WyoFile reader,

Thank you for the support you give WyoFile just by reading us. It means a lot to see our subscription list and our site visits growing and growing. It makes me think we were right to start WyoFile, almost seven years ago, and keep it going.

We all know what a great place Wyoming is, and how lucky those of us are who get to live here. A good chunk of our readers live out of state – but you, too, follow WyoFile because you care about Wyoming. The landscape of Wyoming speaks to us daily, and makes plain the challenges and rewards we all face as citizens of a unique place. The small population means each of us can make a difference. We can know everyone else involved in key issues — from child care to oil and gas and everything in between — and we can have an impact on what happens. WyoFile was founded on the belief that, armed with good information, Wyoming people can have a say about their fate and the fate of this place.

As you know, people who come to Wyoming either can’t leave — or can’t wait to get away and never come back. It’s a handy self-sorting mechanism. I came here 35 years ago from the Appalachians. I wanted to see if another rural place could better handle minerals industrialization, and I’ve always been impressed by the Wyoming goal of “growth on our terms.” I haven’t wanted to live anywhere else. I’ve volunteered for WyoFile since 2008 – editing, writing, and eventually chairing the board of directors because it’s the best way I can keep engaging with the state and give something back. Five others have joined me on the board to do the same, while former editor Rone Tempest still donates his freelance time.

We’ve gotten a long way on passion and commitment in six years. We want to go a lot further. Wyoming deserves a Washington bureau, covering our Congressional delegation and the federal agencies who manage so much of the state; Wyoming deserves more energy coverage, Wind River Reservation and Indian affairs coverage, education coverage, healthcare coverage, digital access coverage — the list goes on and on. Right now we have only three people whom we can afford to pay full-time to bring thoughtful reporting to the endless issues that pour through our state.

We need your help. Any donation you can make, makes a difference for us. And if you can’t give money, you can still help us. The more subscriptions we get, the easier it is to raise money to fund all the reporting we want to do. The more engaged readers are with the website — commenting and offering information on what you see happening in Wyoming — the easier it is to raise money. Our readers have made wonderful financial commitments this year, making it possible for us to completely overhaul our website, due out in the next few weeks, to make WyoFile accessible to people all over on whatever device they might use. Thank you for that. Thank you for whatever more you can give — in donations, or in campaigning among your friends to get them to sign up for our free subscriptions, and comment on our coverage. WyoFile is free to any reader, and to any Wyoming news outlet that wants to republish our material (with a link to WyoFile so people can read more). We plan to keep it that way. Help us keep making the best information about Wyoming available to everyone who needs it.

Thank you, again. And happy holidays.

Anne MacKinnon

WyoFile Board Chair