Donation appeals

 

To solicit donations, Rense maintains a “Rense Kitty” donation page, and holds fund-raising drives.

Rense Kitty

Donation link on Rense.com (click to enlarge)

On the Rense.com homepage, adjacent to the top headlines, is a section which reads “Rense Kitty: Support Free & Honest Journalism At Rense.com.” Clicking on this takes you to “The Rense.com Kitty” page[1], with three lines of text at the top:

  • Help Save Your Freedom Of Speech
  • Help Save Your Right To Question And Dissent
  • Help Save Truly Free And Independent Journalism

The copy reads in part:

We continue to bring you the most thorough panorama of facts, data and opinion we can assemble in order to keep you informed… Like so many other essential services, our costs are rocketing and we are hoping you will be able to support us so we can continue to help you to the very best of our ability.

At the bottom are links for making donations by Paypal (including recurring donations), and an address to which cheques can be mailed.

Fund-raising drives

First Amendment support drive 2009

Rense also holds fund-raising or “support” drives. These have been advertised on his radio show and website, and through direct email marketing.

In July 2009, the “Rense First Amendment Support Drive” was launched via direct email, with a prominent banner on the Rense.com homepage[2], linked to a fund-raising page[3] and audio spot.[4] The campaign solicited donations by appealing to “freedom-loving people”, as this transcript from the audio shows:

In order for our program and site to thrive and grow, all freedom-loving people who believe in our work hopefully will take this opportunity to step forward now, by going to our special Support Page link near the top of Rense.com, and make your stand with us. The contributions will be used to help defray the over $100,000 a year it takes to produce the site and the program… Do whatever you can to assist us while there’s time.

Fund-raising email Feb 2010 (click to enlarge)

In February 2010, another fund-raising drive was run by direct email marketing, with a link to a fund-raising page.[5] The appeal was repeated in March 2010, this time with a link to an almost-identical fund-raising page (the two differing only slightly in format).[6]

The pages suggested a contribution of $20. People were told their support was “truly crucial”:

If each one of you, our wonderful subscribers, can somehow find the room to contribute only $20, we will be immediately lifted to a far stronger position to better serve you and the true patriots in our country.   It is not enjoyable to request support but the financial costs of waging the war for truth and reality is enormous and leaves us no choice…. So, please help us sustain and grow by clicking this link… your support is truly crucial, or we would never ask.

Spring support drive 2011 (click to enlarge)

As an added incentive, donations of $100 or more would receive “a full-color, personally-inscribed and autographed 8×10 photo of Jeff.” There were links at the bottom for payments by mail or Paypal.

The 2011 “Rense.com Spring Support Drive” began in mid-May of that year, with a large ad in a prominent place on the website,[7] where it remained for about a month. Rense also put a text ad for the campaign at the bottom of the Rense Radio Listen Live page, where it remains (as of 17 April 2012).[8][9] People are urged: “Please Help US Continue To Help YOU”. The text on the Support Drive page reads in part:

Like so many other essential services, our costs are rocketing and we are hoping you will be able to support us so we can continue to help you to the very best of our ability.[10]

There are payment links at the bottom, and the incentive of an autographed photo of Rense for those donating $100 or more is still available.

Conclusion

One is left with the distinct impression that without donations, the future of the Rense.com website and the Jeff Rense Program would be in serious jeopardy.

But is this in fact the truth? Is Jeff Rense struggling to keep his website and radio show afloat, and are donations “truly crucial” to this endeavor? Or is he merely utilizing another avenue for profit?


Next: Website ad revenue


Sources:

[1] Rense.com Kitty. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
[2] Rense First Amendment Support Drive banner. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
[3] Rense.com fund-raising text 2009 (text only, near bottom of page). Retrieved 17 April 2012.
[4] Fund raiser audio spot. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
[5] Rense.com fund-raising page 1. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
[6] Rense.com fund-raising page 2. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
[7] Rense.com (May 2011). Retrieved 17 April 2012.
[8] Rense Radio Listen Live (July 2011). Retrieved 17 April 2012.
[9] Rense Radio Listen Live (April 2012). Retrieved 17 April 2012.
[10] Rense Support Drive. Retrieved 17 April 2012.

  4 Responses to “Donation appeals”

  1. Rense is kaput. His site now drips with Desperation. Good. He’s a Creep.

  2. At first I thought “this is just his personal life”… but actually, even though he does a great job at news analysis, he is also a serial predator of innocent women by use of marriage as a means to bring them in, and churn them out after taking cash, property and defeating them mentally. He is ill. Talented and ill. It is called NPD and it isn’t easily curable, especially so if not admitted. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder Society used to confront these disorders better because the family and community unit was stronger. But these days, illness among many otherwise gifted people is rampant. It is all part of the times we live in.

  3. Contrary to what some insist, Jeff Rense’s character does matter because he claims to be on the side of the good guys fighting the forces of evil disinformation. His treatment of women is atrocious. At least, with wives #9 (Megan) and #3’s personal testimonies, women are now forewarned about this Jekyl-Hyde predator and abuser. Long ago, I stopped visiting his site because, as others have noted, it is dark and bleak. I can get my news elsewhere.

  4. He’s at it again…

    After a two year hiatus following your exposé, Jeff Rense thinks everyone has forgotten that their donations go to his railroad and his classic car collection, not “escalating costs.”

    22nd Anniversary Fundraiser:
    http://rense.com/rnsfnd/index.html

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