Dear John,

I don’t usually send you emails, but my name is Heather Lofthouse, and I’m the executive director of Inequality Media, the organization co-founded by Robert Reich.

Part of my job at Inequality Media is to keep a close eye on our finances and make sure we’re raising enough money to cover our expenses — and, unfortunately, that can include having to say no when this team wants to launch some big project that doesn’t fit in the budget.

Let me tell you: I hate when I have to say no, because so many of this team’s ideas are so good and so effective at changing people’s minds.

But right now we’re approaching the midpoint of the year, and the amount of money we raise between now and July 1 will have a direct impact on how much money we’ll have to produce and promote videos and our message out to the millions of people who need to hear it.

So I’m asking you today, on behalf of Robert Reich, myself, and the whole team at Inequality Media, to make a donation to help make sure we have the resources we need to say “YES” to all of this team’s best ideas for the rest of this year.

I’ve worked with Robert Reich (or Bob, as we call him) for years, and many times I’ve seen him put out a video or an article arguing a point or providing a framework that no one else is talking about, and within weeks, the idea gets traction and suddenly there’s a bill moving in Congress or a shift in how the mainstream media is presenting an issue.

I’ve also seen scientific data showing that our videos and online explainers are some of the most effective content anywhere on the internet for debunking right-wing lies and convincing “undecideds” and even persuadable conservatives to support progressive ideas.

It’s truly incredible. I’ll consult with social media experts who will tell us our videos will definitely do better than average, but that we should expect only a relatively small percentage of people to watch an entire two-minute video about some complex (but hugely important) economic concept. And then we’ll test something from this team featuring Bob and we'll see numbers double or even triple what we were told to expect.

Plus, we’re not just preaching to the choir. Every time we review the data about who is following us on YouTube or Twitter, we find an unusually large percentage of conservatives and independents not just following but engaging, by commenting, clicking “like,” or sharing with their friends.

And we all know how badly we need to be fighting against disinformation coming from Fox News, Donald Trump, and the galaxy of right-wing hate-mongers who get so much attention online.

So please, if you can afford even a few dollars, chip in and help make sure we have the funding to support Bob and the team get our videos and explainers in front of as many people as possible in this truly dangerous moment for American democracy.

Thanks for joining with us in the fight for democracy,

Heather Lofthouse (on behalf of the team)
Inequality Media