The Wisconsin
version of C-SPAN
has gone dark.
Because I know that
you were hoping for
$10 million
in state funding
but that had to have
those matching funds
as you just talked about
from donations.
But was that ever
a realistic goal
and how are you
working around that?
Are you able to get some
of that state
funding without having
to do the match?
Looking back now
obviously
hindsight is 20/20 vision
but we did not
anticipate the difficult
philanthropic environment
a year-and-a-half ago
when we first
began to
solicit
funds for the endowment.
That was
a failure, frankly.
The competition
for large-dollar gifts
was not in the cards
for WisconsinEye.
We made almost 50 requests
well-cultivated
well-developed
proposals
to individuals, businesses
and foundations
totaling $9.2 million
and all were declined.
So that was a
huge setback for us.
Now, looking forward
the hope is that
by state action
those dollars that
had the match requirement
can be released
in some portion
in whole
or in part
to help WisconsinEye
move forward.