September 29, 2015

What’s Up With the Democratic Republic of the Congo?

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Cecile Richards, the head of Planned Parenthood, is testifying before Congress today, and you can probably guess how that’s going. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) went first and asked about grants made to overseas organizations:

“Do any of these funds go to the Democratic Republic of the Congo?” Chaffetz said early in the back-and-forth.

“Congressman, let me tell you —” Richards said before Chaffetz interrupted her.

“No, no, no. We don’t have time for a big narrative,” Chaffetz said.

“I’m not going to give you a narrative —” Richards said.

“Yes or no,” Chaffetz replied, before Richards gave a more lengthy response.

The “lengthy response” took 16 seconds: Richards said that Planned Parenthood gives money to lots of family planning organizations in Africa, and she’d be happy to provide Chaffetz with a list.

But does anyone know what this was all about? Is there some kind of conservative horror story about the Democratic Republic of the Congo making the rounds? You know, the kind of thing no normal person has ever heard of, but that circulates endlessly in newsletters and email chains? I couldn’t find anything, but maybe I just don’t know where to look.

Anyway, why does Jason Chaffetz care about Planned Parenthood’s grants to the Democratic Republic of the Congo? Does anyone know?

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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