Image by Ted Eytan licensed under Creative Commons.

GGWash has thrived for more than 10 years thanks to our volunteers and the enthusiasm of our readers. It also takes staff time and other resources to keep it going. Now, we are excited to launch a new membership program that will both build community among our readers and provide year-round financial support for our news and advocacy. It’s called The GGWash Neighborhood.

Join the GGWash Neighborhood

Why we are doing this

Though most of our content comes from our community rather than staff, keeping GGWash running takes a lot behind the scenes. Our editor, Julie Strupp, works full-time with contributors to get posts every day and make them great. Our organizer, David Whitehead, rallies our community around initiatives for housing, transit, bicycling, and more.

We spent considerable staff time on the 2018 primary and hope to keep that coverage up as well. We also pay for web hosting and tweaks to our site from our contract developer, Derek Hogue.

We’ve launched an ad program, but ads won’t come close to funding what it takes to keep GGWash going. In the past, we’ve done an annual “reader drive,” which raised $35,000 last year. That’s also just a fraction of what we need.

That’s why we are creating this membership program now. It will provide a sustained revenue stream that will keep the blog and our advocacy initiatives going.

Become a GGWash Neighbor

We’re growing the conversation

The Neighborhood isn’t just about asking you to pay, though we really hope that as readers who appreciate GGWash, you’ll want to join just to support us. But we’re going to do more as well.

From talking to readers, we heard that you like to be part of a conversation on the issues that matter to where we live, work, and play. Our comment section is full of great insights that go beyond the content of any one post.

As a GGWash Neighbor, you will be able to participate in more online and in-person conversations that will deepen your knowledge of urbanism and your appreciation for equitable growth in the Washington region.

Here are some ways we will be growing the conversation for our Neighbors:

An online discussion group: We’re creating an email list (and in the future may switch it to a more sophisticated digital forum), also called the GGWash Neighborhood. This will be an online space to discuss and debate all things urbanism with your fellow GGWash neighbors.

Events and passes: We are launching the GGWash Forum, a series of panel discussions on hot urbanist topics. These lively events are an opportunity to get insight from leading figures and network with fellow readers, and all Neighbors will be able to attend for free.

Join the Neighborhood quickly to make it to our first event: a discussion with DDOT Director Jeff Marootian and supporters of walking, bicycling, and scooting to talk about how to get DC to its goal of 25% walk/bike mode share. More events, including in and about Maryland and Virginia, are coming soon!

Blog sneak peeks: See GGWash content before anyone else! Neighbors who join at certain levels will be able to take an exclusive early look at certain blog posts (about one a week). The posts will be about finished but not 100% edited, so you might see them before some typos get fixed or even other changes made. You will even be able to add comments before the posts go live to the public!

Q&A conference calls: We will have periodic discussions by phone or online chat with GGWash staff, contributors, and collaborators to dive deeper into our news and advocacy. Our first Q&A, on November 2 at noon, will give you an inside look at the GGWash endorsements process.

Adopt-a-tag: Show the internet how much you love GGWash content. The “adopt-a-tag” badge with your name will appear on every post published for three months under a content tag that you choose, like HOUSING or PARKING or whatever you pick (depending on availability).

Member Advisory Committee: You can have a voice in GGWash activities through the Member Advisory Committee. This will include two in-person gatherings per year to discuss and give feedback. We will have our first event in late November/early December.

What kind of Neighbor will you be?

Here are the three levels of Neighbors and what you get:

Friend Advocate Leader
$60/year or $5/month $120/year or $10/month $300/year or $25/month

Online discussion group
Events and passes

Online discussion group
Events and passes

Blog sneak peeks
Q&A conference calls

Online discussion group
Events and passes

Blog sneak peeks
Q&A conference calls

Adopt-a-tag
Advisory Committee

Won't you be our Neighbor? Join today!

Have questions? Contact Jane Green, Development Director, at jgreen@ggwash.org. And thank you for your support!

Tagged: about ggwash

Jane Fiegen Green was the Development Director at Greater Greater Washington from 2018 to 2020. With a PhD in history and a background in association management for a scholarly society of historians, she worked to bring sustainable revenue streams to support GGWash’s news and advocacy. She lives in the Pentagon City neighborhood of Arlington with her husband and son.