If you’re reading today’s edition of MinnPost, here are some things we can guess about you:

• You’re probably one of MinnPost’s 100,000 regular readers.
• You probably like the unique approach our writers bring to topics that are important to you.
• You probably think our coverage enhances the discussion of issues critical to Minnesota’s future.
• You probably do not support MinnPost financially.

Huh? 

Of our 100,000+ regular readers, only 2,200 made membership donations last year. That’s a great start, but not enough to ensure our long-term sustainability.

We need to move MinnPost’s membership numbers dramatically upward in the next two years. 

Why? Because providing high-quality journalism for and about Minnesota is expensive, and getting more so. Because we strongly believe in providing our unique brand of nonprofit, nonpartisan news and analysis free to the whole community. And because, like legacy media, we find that advertising revenue alone does not come remotely close to paying all the bills.

Today, we’re introducing a new member benefits program to make it more attractive for you to be a MinnPost member, and to help start us on the path to dramatically increased membership. 

Our new program has four levels:

• Bronze – Up to $4.99 per month ($59 per year)
• Silver – $5-9.99 per month ($60-119 per year)
• Gold – $10-19.99 per month ($120-239 per year)
• Platinum – At least $20 per month ($240 per year) 

Each level includes all benefits of lower levels. Here is a sampling of benefits and the levels that receive them: 

• Silver, Gold, and Platinum members get free admission to MinnPost Social events with our journalists. That will save you $10 for every event you go to. 

• Gold and Platinum members get a 25% discount on show-only tickets to MinnRoast, and first choice of seats for all ticket levels. (MinnRoast 2015 is Friday, April 24, and our member-only ticket presale starts next Monday, March 16!)

• Gold and Platinum members get a chance to get free tickets from 14 cultural partners, offered on a first-come, first-served basis every month. 

• Gold and Platinum members get a 1-year subscription to The Atlantic.

• Platinum members are voting members of our new MinnPost FAN Club – Free Advertising for Nonprofits. Help your favorite nonprofit get two weeks of free advertising on MinnPost.

Donors at higher levels – $500 to $10,000+ per year – get all Bronze through Platinum benefits, and will continue to be recognized at their specific levels in our annual report. Lifetime donors of $25,000 will continue to be recognized on every page of our website.

Later this spring, once we have the technology in place, we will be introducing another exciting new benefit: member-only content. We will start by introducing a couple of kinds of new supplemental content exclusively for Silver, Gold and Platinum members – content that will connect members more to MinnPost’s staff and work.

Ready to sign up? Click here. Just $5 a month will make you a MinnPost Silver member.

Want to learn more about the benefits? See the complete lineup here.

We’re aiming to increase membership dramatically over the next couple of years, but we’re tackling it one week at a time. During this drive, March 10-18, we’re aiming for 200+ readers to become brand new members or move up to a higher membership level. If we achieve that goal, we’ll receive an additional $5,000 in challenge grant funds.

If you’re not a member, please become one now and urge other MinnPost readers you know to join the club. If you’re already a member, thank you – and consider moving up to the next level. MinnPost’s future depends on you.

Our sincere thanks to the Knight Foundation, for generously supporting our work to dramatically increase membership.