This is Still An Experiment. I’m asking Free edition readers if they would like to fund “scholarships” for others in exchange for not having ads in the free newsletter. To test the idea, I funded the first 5 scholarships myself, and am happy with the results. (Summary of the first 5 at the bottom of the page.)
“If you have always wanted to have a Premium subscription but have higher priority needs (aka, can’t fit it into your budget)” and believe you are deserving of a year of Premium, then I encourage you to fill out the form below. All fields are required. Please apply only one time.
The selection criteria will not be released for obvious reasons.
Update: Within around 2 hours of the newsletter release quietly announcing this, applications outstripped supply, and that is still the case. Very sorry, but due to demand I will only reply to your application if it is granted.
Want to Sponsor?
My idea and preference is to not “hit up” current Premium subscribers: they have already been very generous in their support, and the idea behind this is for those who can afford to upgrade, but “don’t want to” for any reason whatever, such as you have limited time to read fun stuff, and want to help.
This program also gives a better understanding of exactly what your contribution will go to. One such reader already stepped forward before I added this section. I would love to have you contribute too! Just go to the regular Contributions page and put in any amount of contribution you wish, which (unless specified for something else) will go to the Scholarship Fund.
The fund will be used $44 at a time (the minimum amount of a year’s subscription). If 2 people put in $22, that will net 1 Scholarship. If 1 person puts in $440, that will net 10 Scholarships. And each scholarship will count as 1 upgrade toward omitting ads in the Free edition so that you (and everyone else) benefits, in addition to supporting the newsletter as a whole. Everyone wins.
Thank you!
The Application
Whether you are awarded a scholarship or not, thank you for being a reader.Recipients
Not all will be listed here, but here are the first five scholarship recipients:
- The first is a welder turned caregiver in Colorado who has been a 25+ year reader. She was able to afford one year of Premium a decade ago, and reads some of the stories to her teenaged sons.
- A laid-off store manager in Illinois with a disabled husband who managed to get Premium for six months well over a decade ago. She first subscribed to True on 8 September 2008: she still has her Welcome message.
- A Canadian with a cool name who had a “sample” Premium well over a decade ago, and later got knocked down by long Covid. I really liked this note in her app: “The world is interesting and beautiful. You can do so much on just a little, or no money. In fact, it wasn’t until my kids were grown adults before one of them said they only just realized we were poor growing up! That’s success.” It is indeed.
- An English teacher turned freelance book editor who specializes in pop culture. He has read True for years, but never had the funds to upgrade to Premium.
- A 25+ year disabled reader in Ireland who clearly has a good head for marketing. She commented, “redesigning how you present the ‘premium only’ strap lines has been really effective, for me at least. Putting the link in the content space so you can see exactly what you’re missing strongly communicates the extra value. Once I could clearly see exactly what I was missing, I started thinking about whether I could justify a paid subscription. So far, the answer is no.”
So while I do not have specific criteria in mind for how to award the few scholarships available, I know the recipients when I see them. Thanks to the Contributors who make it possible for these folks to read all of the stories each week.