Dear Supporters of Open Government in North Carolina, I am writing because we need your help.
The North Carolina Open Government Coalition (NCOGC) is making good progress in its efforts to improve education, awareness and ultimately compliance with the state’s open government laws. Since launching the Sunshine Center at Elon University in 2007, the work of the NCOGC has led to the development of an interactive website where citizens can access the laws that govern our state, sample letters so they can request public records and the latest news on open government. Additionally, the Sunshine Center developed teaching tools for high school social studies teachers, conducted numerous workshops around the state, assisted cities with developing policies that set the standard for swift compliance with public records requests and operate a phone line and e-mail account for citizens seeking answers to their questions. All of these efforts combined have raised awareness of open government laws in the state by 11 percentage points in the last two years, going from 26% awareness to 37% awareness.
But there’s work to be done to reach the remaining 63% of North Carolinians and we need your help.
The NCOGC operating budget of $25,000 annually is currently being funded by a grant from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation and the National Freedom of Information Council. These funds were awarded to help us as we raised an endowment to fund the Sunshine Center. Through the generosity of the Knight Foundation in 2007 we were issued a challenge grant, matching dollar for dollar funds raised up to $250,000 through the end of 2009. They have graciously agreed to extend that deadline for six more months, while we try to raise the remaining funds needed to reach our goal of $500,000.
To date, we’ve raised $202,000 and need your help in the final stretch to raise $48,000.
For every dollar raised, a dollar matched.
Please consider making a donation to the North Carolina Open Government Coalition’s endowment. Checks can be sent to the Sunshine Center of the North Carolina Open Government Coalition, Elon University, Campus Box 2850, Elon, NC 27244. Gifts will be acknowledged with a letter of contribution and supporting tax information.
Let’s make sure open government has a permanent and lasting voice in North Carolina.
Sincerely,
Hugh Stevens
President, North Carolina Open Government Coalition