Menifee 24/7 Introduces Voluntary Membership Program

Menifee 24/7 today launches a membership program that gives readers the opportunity to enjoy additional benefits while supporting our website in a new way.

By clicking on the "Support Us" tab in the upper right corner of the home page, you may register for one of two types of memberships for a small monthly fee. The revenue from this voluntary membership program will be used to help our staff meet the ongoing costs of a news organization that charges no subscription fee.

As most of you know, Menifee 24/7 does not have a print product with advertising revenue or a subscription base to support the online site, nor do we have corporate financial support. We are a family-owned small business, relying on online advertising to meet expenses. We believe we provide a quality product led by a journalist with 37 years experience in the newspaper business. That said, we face ongoing challenges in providing a free news service with limited resources -- and we want to do so much more.

As long as we own and maintain Menifee 24/7, there will not be a pay wall or any restrictions on our free content. However, by seeking voluntary monthly membership fees, we hope to generate valuable revenue to increase staff and expand our editorial services. This type of "support us" feature is becoming successful among online-only news sites, both non-profits and for-profit small businesses like ours.

A prime example of an online-only, for-profit news website that offers voluntary memberships is Berkeleyside, which joins with independent news organizations such as Menifee 24/7 in pioneering this effort in the newly created LION (Local Independent Online News) Publishers organization.

We hope you will consider supporting us in this manner as we continue to look for ways to better serve you. As a show of appreciation for your monthly membership fee, we offer the following benefits to you:

Silver membership

For $5 per month, you will receive:

-- A weekly newsletter emailed to you each Monday, providing highlights of recent content, additional content, a "behind the scenes" look at our coverage of local events, and comments from the editor.

-- Entry into monthly drawings for prizes from local businesses.

Gold membership

For $10 per month, you will receive the benefits of a silver member, plus:

-- Admission to the monthly Menifee 24/7 Members Forum, where you will hear a featured speaker from the community. You also will have the opportunity to personally ask questions about community issues and our coverage of community events.

Once again, we thank you for considering supporting Menifee 24/7 in this manner and we pledge to continue serving the community as Menifee's No. 1 news source.