Late summer is The Starving Time for nonprofits, so I’m ditching the column today, to beg for money.
As most of my subscribers (and freeloader readers) know, in March I accepted a full-time position with the Southwest Public Policy Institute. I did so for two reasons. First, it was a wonderful opportunity with a gutsy, visionary, tech-savvy think tank based in my region of America.
Second, No Dowd About It is a colossal failure.
Well, that’s not entirely fair. The product is decent, and the subscribers are insanely loyal. (Seriously. Since the launch in September 2022, I think one person has canceled his/her subscription.) But the undeniable reality is that there are far too few Americans interested in paying — less than a quarter a day, mind you — to be regularly enlightened by a libertarian public-policy researcher/writer. My subscribers are a rare breed. Smart, sophisticated, and witty. Unfortunately, at least for my financial health, gather you all in a toolshed, and there’d be ample room left for a riding lawnmower, a dozen sacks of fertilizer, and a giant barrel of birdseed.
I have little doubt that NDAI generates the lowest amount of revenue of any Substack publication. Not a joke, folks. I’d be shocked if my hourly “wage” ever exceeded 75¢. That’s why I shifted NDAI from a “business” (ha, ha) to a vanity project. I’m a full-time employee again, and that regular paycheck is simply divine. But I couldn’t bring myself to walk away from writing columns, distributing links, and documenting Bureaucrats Behaving Badly. I cut back somewhat, but kept NDAI alive.
Which brings us to the begging. Many of my subscribers don’t live in the American Southwest — last time I checked, one of you is a resident of Sweden — but most do. So I’m asking you to kick a few clams toward my full-time employer. We’re young, but in our brief existence we’ve caused oodles of trouble for the bad guys. Some of my favorites:
• “A Bright, Shining Disappointment” blinded the eco-apocalypticists with its blistering data.
• “No Loan for You!” exposed the vacuity of leftists’ war on “payday loans.”
• “They Lobby — You Pay” cataloged the many ways bureaucrats spend tax dollars to advance their interests.
That’s just a small sampling. Copper mining in Arizona, school choice in Utah, storage of spent nuclear fuel in Texas and New Mexico, the war on hydrocarbons in California, sales-tax “holidays” in Oklahoma, New Mexico, Texas, and Nevada — our “startup” policy shop is fighting for economic opportunity, education freedom, government accountability, and reliable/affordable energy in the eight states of the American Southwest. We publish papers, write op-eds, appear on podcasts, and even have our own television show. And the future looks quite promising.
But like any nonprofit that doesn’t tap the coffers of old money and/or grab government subsidies, SPPI survives on contributions from people who work for a living. People like you!
If you live in California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, or New Mexico, please make a donation. Even ten bucks helps. If you’re a man or woman of considerable means and would like to discuss a sizable contribution, host a fundraiser, or aid us in some other way, contact our president, Patrick Brenner, at 505.377.6273 or pbrenner@southwestpolicy.com.
While NDAI and SPPI are two completely separate entities, and should never be conflated, when you donate to SPPI, you are keeping D. Dowd Muska’s employer “in business.” And as long as Uncle Dee-Dee has a roof over his head, gasoline in the Tacoma, and Royal Crown Cola in the fridge, he can keep publishing NDAI — no longer as a means to support himself, but as a labor of love. (And I love to battle collectivism.)
Thanks, as always, for your loyalty, friendship, and generosity.
Best,
DDM
I donated last week.