Note: To see the full report including journalism highlights and donor list, click here [PDF].

Minnesota readers turned to MinnPost a lot more often in 2011. 

Visits to the site by Minnesotans rose 32%, from 2.8 million to 3.7 million. Compared with our first full year, 2008, visits by Minnesotans are up 145%. 

Those Minnesota visitors looked at 7.6 million pages, up 24% from 2010 and up 124% from 2008.

Including non-Minnesotans, we had more than 11 million page views in 2011, up 21% from 2010 and 103% from 2008.

And there are many other measures of the rapidly growing enthusiasm for MinnPost: More than 14,000 people follow our main Twitter feed, up 75% in one year, and 5,600 people have liked our main Facebook page, up 60%.

Why is MinnPost’s readership growing so rapidly? As one reader put it recently, “Other media tell you what happened. MinnPost tells you why.” Telling you the why, about Minnesota politics and policy -- and also about arts, business, education, the environment, health, sports and other subjects -- is central to our mission, and in 2011 we produced a lot of exciting journalism and added some terrific new players to our team.

Original reporting and analysis are expensive, and we’re happy to report that readers are also stepping up more with their dollars.

Revenue from individual and corporate donors and from MinnRoast rose a whopping 69%, to $815,252. Some of this increase came from 6% growth in annual membership revenue. Thanks to 690 first-time donors in 2011, our total donor base grew to 3,324. And 651 people, almost 20% of our total donor list, became sustaining members by the end of 2011.

The rest of the increase in individual donations was related to the first year of our four-year growth capital campaign to Take MinnPost to the Next Level. The campaign goal is $1 million, and we’ve received nearly $600,000 in commitments so far. Half the $600,000 pledged was paid in 2011.

We appreciate the continued generous support of Minnesota foundations. In 2011, $317,000 (20.8% of revenues) came from new grants from the Elmer L. and Eleanor J. Andersen, Bush, Carolyn, Central Corridor Funders Collaborative, McKnight, Pohlad Family and Saint Paul Foundations. Grants received in 2011 were for general operations and special projects. The 2011 grant total is lower -- in dollars and percentage of revenues -- than the $466,350 received in 2010. This fits with our long-range plan to reduce reliance on foundation dollars.

Revenue from advertising and sponsorship grew strongly for the third consecutive year. In 2011, ad/sponsorship revenue was $385,865, an increase of 25% from 2010.

With growing revenues, we invested $241,138 more in spending in 2011 -- on more reporting, developing a new website (which will debut in February) and a membership director. We ended 2011 with a surplus of $21,669. That’s two years in a row that MinnPost has been modestly in the black.

Heartfelt thanks to our hard-working editors, technology and business staff, contract and contributing journalists, advertisers and sponsors, Board of Directors, Advisory Council, Greater Minnesota Advisory Group, MinnRoast sponsors, volunteer comment moderators, MinnRoast and birthday party planners.

And an extra thanks to all our donors, from Copy Boys and Girls to Media Moguls. Donor names are listed in categories in the full report [PDF].

To readers who haven’t yet become donors, please consider this a personal invitation to join the MinnPost family. We cannot do this without you.

Every Thursday starting today, MinnPost will be publishing Weekend Best Bets, compiled by Minnesota Monthly arts editor Tim Gihring. The feature highlights a number of area events that he recommends you consider attending in the next few days.

Gihring has worked at the magazine since 2003. He has spent more time at intermissions than most people have spent in theaters, and has interviewed everyone from Tom Brokaw to Cheech Marin to Ann-Margret. He also moonlights as a fine-art photographer and loves that he landed in a recent volume of "Best Food Writing" without knowing a demi-glace from Demi Moore.

You can find more of his work on Minnesota Monthly's website.

We thank Minnesota Monthly for making this feature available to our readers.

Weekend Best Bets rounds out our new arts coverage plan, in the wake of Max Sparber’s departure for Hollywood. We recently announced the other two legs of our new coverage: a twice-weekly arts roundup of arts news and commentary by Pamela Espeland, which will be called Artscape; and a weekly feature by Andy Sturdevant, called The Stroll, that will focus each time on the visual art-related sights in a specific area of town.

With Weekend Best Bets scheduled for Thursdays, Artscape will appear Tuesdays and Fridays, starting tomorrow, Feb. 20. The Stroll will begin next Wednesday, Feb. 25. We will continue to run occasional arts pieces by our team of free-lance arts writers as well.   

We hope you enjoy our arts coverage.

As Max Sparber notes in "Adieu from Max" today, this marks the end of MinnPost's Max About Town feature. We will miss Max's take on Twin Cities arts and culture, from quirky arts history and properly made cocktails to the latest doings at the Walker. But he is off to warmer climes and an obviously vibrant arts scene in L.A., so we have made new plans we'd like to share.

Beginning Jan. 19, Pamela Espeland will broaden her writing for MinnPost, launching a newsy, twice-weekly arts column that will focus on arts institutions, personalities, performances, money and arts politics. It will  encompass all manner of arts – theater, museums, music, film, festivals, dance, puppets, touring shows – you name it.

Pamela has been our jazz specialist since MinnPost's launch. But since then she has branched out, writing for us about dance, theater, music, arts personalities and more. We are excited about this new column, which will run on Tuesdays and Thursdays each week.

On Wednesdays we'll feature a new writer to MinnPost: Andy Sturdevant, who has crafted a column called "The Stroll." In it he'll describe interesting, newsworthy or otherwise notable visual art-related objects or events around the Twin Cities, with each piece focused on one geographic area — a part of town, a neighborhood, or even a few blocks within a neighborhood.

He'll draw readers' attention not only to traditional works of visual art contained within this geographic area, but also to craft, architecture, design, street art, public art, advertising, fashion, or furniture design — anything a person could walk by and have a look at. Each column will include a hand-drawn map.

Not long ago, Andy was the subject of a Max About Town piece. He is a painter and arts journalist who also works at Springboard Arts, writes beautifully — and really gets around the arts scene. He hosts the "Salon Saloon" at Bryant-Lake Bowl, an event Max described as "an eclectic, themed night in which Sturdevant brings a series of guests onto the BLB stage either to interview them or to have them present something. ... you can never be certain what will be on the bill at 'Salon Saloon,' except that it will be unexpected and fascinating."

We expect "The Stroll" to be likewise unexpected and fascinating. Look for it on Wednesdays, beginning Jan. 25.

And, of course, we will continue to publish the work of our current arts writers, including Jim Walsh, Michael Anthony, Britt Robson — even Max, on occasion, as he promises to pen the now-and-then post from our new "Hollywood Bureau."

MinnPost is looking for an advertising salesperson to help us continue to grow. Now in its fifth year, MinnPost is a nonprofit, nonpartisan enterprise whose mission is to provide high-quality journalism for news-intense people who care about Minnesota.

This is an entry-level sales position with a small salary base and draw against commission. Online advertising sales experience is a plus, but we will train the right person. This position is open until filled.

Please send résumés to jobs@minnpost.com. No phone calls, please.

With the new year MinnPost is making some changes to enhance our news and business coverage.

First, business: We are delighted to announce that Liz Fedor, an experienced journalist who has covered Minnesota business and politics for years, will be joining MinnPost. Beginning Thursday, Liz will report and write a weekly post that will examine the intersection between business and government, policy and politics.

It's a subject Liz knows well. While at the Star Tribune, she reported on the airline industry and manufacturing sector and oversaw the newspaper's coverage of agriculture, consumer issues and the housing market. Before that she was the Grand Forks Herald's editorial page editor and covered Minnesota politics for the Herald. She has also been a columnist and radio show co-host. Liz currently works for a Twin Cities foundation.

And we are making other changes in our business coverage. We are dropping the short news items of Business Agenda and MedCity News, but we will continue to do occasional in-depth business stories by such well-sourced and informed journalists as Dave Beal and Brad Allen.

In the area of general news, we are pleased to announce that Beth Hawkins will be expanding her duties at MinnPost as a full-time staff writer. MinnPost readers are familiar with Beth's work. She recently wrote for us a compelling account of the bullying of gay and lesbian children in the Anoka-Hennepin schools.

Beth has also reported for other publications and news organizations — including More, Mother Jones and Bloomberg news — and has been writing our Learning Curve feature that focuses on the world of education. She will continue to write Learning Curve, but will be expanding to other topic areas, doing articles that provide insight and analysis of day-to-day developments in the news.

Roger Buoen is MinnPost co-managing editor.

MinnPost has just reached another milestone.

Last week, we surpassed the 75,000 mark in comments submitted by MinnPost readers since our beginning in November 2007.

Over that time, we’ve been credited with developing and maintaining one of the most civil environments in the nation for online commenters at a news site.

It hasn’t always been easy.

In fact, we’re unveiling one policy change now that we hope will make the comment site even better in terms of promoting civility (details below).

In large part, our success in the contentious field of online commenting has depended on a two-step process.

First, we put together a clear, concise policy that outlines our rules and requires commenters to use their real names.

Second, we use a dedicated group of volunteer moderators and MinnPost editors who review comments throughout the day (and much of the night) before they’re posted.

For more than a year, I’ve been coordinating those efforts, among my other duties, and I want to thank our comment moderators for all the work they do to maintain the quality of our forum.

A year-end report
At year’s end, I wanted to report to you on how we’re doing and review again some of the basics that will continue to make our comment section a place for a spirited but respectful exchange of ideas, political views and social philosophies.

To that end, we want the comment section to engage, not outrage, those who visit it regularly.

That, of course, does not always happen.

Of those 75,000-plus submitted comments, just more than 4,200 have been rejected. Roughly, that’s about 5 percent of them.

Among the frequent reasons for rejection is the use of incomplete or false names. Also common are spam comments touting commercial products or those unrelated to the subject at hand.

The biggest reason, though, for rejecting comments is the violation of our policy promoting civility, which basically boils down to: no personal attacks, no foul language, no libelous statements and no wording that “incites” hate or sexual harassment.

Too often, commenters appear more interested in “winning an argument” than in contributing to a meaningful, respectful conversation.

And things appear to be getting worse on that score, just as rhetoric everywhere has heated up over the nation’s divisive political and economic situations.

We’ve seen it reflected in submitted comments containing more personal attacks, more name-calling, more snark and more outright insults.

All signs point to an even more contentious 2012 nationally and locally — with controversial issues and events ahead: a presidential election year, continued congressional battles, a new session of the Legislature, political in-fighting at all levels, and competing campaigns for and against a proposed Minnesota constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.

All, of course, are worthy subjects for MinnPost news coverage — and the subsequent discussions they may invoke.

And we encourage more readers to take part in the discussion — respectfully.

A policy change
In recent weeks, we’ve been rejecting more comments in cases where folks are not being respectful, and we’re prepared to reject even more if necessary. Several months ago, we banned the use of several derogatory terms some used to refer to the Tea Party.

Now, we’re going to try one other policy change to see if it helps a bit:

From here on, we are banning the use of “nicknames” and “invented” names in comments.

In our experience, they are almost always used to dismiss, denigrate or taunt others. So, we’re saying farewell to the likes of “Bri,” “Swiftee,” “Ronnie Raygun,” “ALGORE” and others that regularly show up.

I’ll end with a quick review of our basic guidelines outlined in our Terms of Use policy:

• MinnPost welcomes user comments on our stories and posts. MinnPost's mission is to engage the public in news analysis of issues in their community and to encourage interaction with our editors, writers and other posters.

• We intend for this area to be used by our readers as a place for civil, thought-provoking and high-quality public discussion.

• In order to achieve this, MinnPost requires that all commenters register and post comments with their actual names.

• MinnPost reserves the right to remove postings that include the use of foul language, personal attacks or the use of language that may be libelous or interpreted as inciting hate or sexual harassment; however we are under no obligation to do so.

• User comments may be included or excluded at our discretion.

Enforcing this policy, we hope, will produce a lively, but civil, informative discussion that’s welcoming to a wide variety of views.

We all can benefit from such a forum.

With just 24 days left in 2011, MinnPost has some good news to share on the financial front.

We’ve heard from quite a few foundations recently:

• The Carolyn Foundation just awarded us a $20,000 grant to support the new Two Cities blog, joining The Saint Paul Foundation which gave $25,000 a year for two years.
• The McKnight Foundation decided to continue supporting MinnPost with a new two-year grant of $65,000 per year.
• The Blandin Foundation, which gave us a three-year grant in 2008, awarded a new two-year grant of $50,000 followed by $30,000.
• And the Pohlad Family Foundation, which offered us up to $10,000 to match new and increased donations received through November, reviewed our membership records and sent the full $10,000.

On the individual donor front, we’ve started sending out end-of-year requests, mainly to people who’ve already supported MinnPost in one way or another. The first of several mailings went out last week and we’ve already received 42 donations ranging from $10 to $250.

Our year-end campaign goal is just under $50,000, which is the amount we need to raise to balance our budget for 2011. We have a Board match of $10,000 to help us get there.

It’s a very ambitious goal, and we need your help to reach it.

MinnPost is a serious, independent, professionally reported and edited journalism voice that serves the needs of news-intense people who care about Minnesota. With support from individuals, foundations, sponsors and advertisers, we will continue to be a strong part of the media landscape serving our state now and into the future.

Thank you from our hearts, and happy holidays to all.

Thanks to generous friends, MinnPost has some holiday gift ideas to offer. All proceeds support high-quality journalism for people who care about Minnesota.

• There are a few spots available at "An Extra-Virgin Evening" -- a special event for friends of MinnPost on Thursday, March 8, 5:30-7:30 pm, at Vinaigrette. You'll taste and learn about oils from extra virgin to herb infused, and vinegars from white wine to aged balsamic. And enjoy light appetizers, wine, and delicious oil and vinegar based desserts. And go home with a bottle of oil, vinegar or blend of the two. Vinaigrette is at 50th & Xerxes in South Minneapolis. Event is $30 per person payable to MinnPost.
• We have two tickets to three different concerts by Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus. Dates are in December, March and June. You can bid for tickets to one, two or all three concerts.
• We have a set of Alpine ski lessons -- women teaching women at Ski-Away. One full tuition includes six all-day ski lessons on consecutive Thursdays starting Jan. 5.

Contact lkramer [at] minnpost [dot] com for more information.

Yesterday was a beautiful day for Minnesota philanthropy.

The third annual Give to the Max Day sponsored by GiveMN.org spurred 47,537 Minnesotans to donate $13,559,530 to 3,978 nonprofits in a 24-hour period.

Dana Nelson, Executive Director of GiveMN.org, said the total donated represented a $3.5 million increase over last year’s Give to the Max Day. There were 4,943 more donors and 342 more nonprofits involved this year.

MinnPost received 407 donations totaling $49,377, more than double the amount received in 2010. We finished at #17 on GiveMN’s Main Leaderboard for total donations received. With our Board match of $20,000, almost $70,000 was raised to support high-quality journalism for people who care about Minnesota.

Our heartfelt thanks to everyone who supports MinnPost -- yesterday and all year long. We couldn't do this without you.

We sent an email yesterday to 3,000 MinnPost donors asking for help distributing our 4th anniversary commemorative print edition, The Best of MinnPost.com.

BOMP-4, as we call it, is a 48-page tabloid with some of our best stories and photos from the last 12 months.

The responses are coming from all over Minnesota. Our favorite subject line so far: Ely wants MinnPost.

We’ve also heard from Duluth and Rochester, and from fans all over the metro. They’re helping distribute to offices and condos in both downtowns, plus locations in north Minneapolis and Bryn Mawr, St. Louis Park, Excelsior, Stillwater, even Hudson and River Falls. And to colleges and schools including Metro State, the U and South High School.

Of the 7,500 copies we printed, we have about 2,500 left to distribute. If you can help by picking up 5, 10, 25, or 50 copies in the next few days, please email members [at] minnpost [dot] com. We’ll send you directions to our SE Minneapolis office.

You can decide where to distribute — we’d love to have copies available in workplace lobbies and cafeterias, schools and colleges, libraries, coffee shops, gyms, doctors’ offices and other places where reading material is welcome.

For more details about BOMP go here.

Thanks for your help!