Dear Reader,
You will have noticed that as the end of the tax year draws near the season of appeals has begun. I reluctantly risk annoying you further by joining the general clamor.
As I hope you are aware, American Diplomacy is a not-for-profit, entirely volunteer-run enterprise. None of the staff is paid, nor are the authors of the articles we publish. Producing these web pages, however, is not a cost free activity. Indeed, our expenses for the current year will exceed $10,000. The money goes to the firm that designs and manages the site, to the service providers that keep us on line, to the telephone company for the dedicated lines for our computers, to the computer wizards we hire to restore our machines to life when they crash, to the stores where we buy printer ink and other office supplies, to the post office for postage for our book review operations, and, this year, as prize awards to the three winners of our essay contest.
We have been able to survive now for almost seven years thanks to contributions we have received from readers like you, from the few small foundation grants we have been able to attract, and from contributions by all of the members of our own board of directors. Nonetheless, we seem chronically to teeter on the brink of insolvency.
We believe that we are offering a product worthy of your support. American Diplomacy is growing in readership — it is world-wide — and reputation. At the current rate we will be able to count almost 50,000 “hits” on our web site by the end of the year, and we are gratified that a number of prestigious schools and other scholarly centers now cite us as a resource for their students and faculty.
So, as the year draws to a close and as, perhaps, you start to look for worthy causes, think of American Diplomacy. Send your tax deductible donation to American Diplomacy Publishers, P.O. Box 3114, Chapel Hill, NC 27515. However small the amount, it will be greatly appreciated.
Whether you find it possible to help us or not, we hope you will keep visiting us at americandiplomacy.org.
R. Bartlett Moon
Foreign Service officer, Ret.
Publisher