TARP App Update: MoJo Interns Still Waiting for a Bailout

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Last week Mother Jones conducted an experiment in which we discovered that it takes a whopping 27 minutes to apply for money under the federal bailout program’s astonishingly short application.

Many Mother Jones readers were under the impression that MoJo interns actually submitted our app for TARP funding on Friday afternoon. We did not. We just timed how long it took to fill out the application.

But then we got to thinking, well, why not apply for a bailout? While it’s hard to argue that Mother Jones, a nonprofit outfit which employs about 50 people, is too big to fail, the magazine industry in general could certainly use some help. And size hasn’t deterred other small institutions from taking advantage of recent federal largess. Plus, if a bank fails, that makes it hard for bank employees to give a small percentage of their income to a nonprofit mag like Mother Jones, right? It takes a village.

Though we were a bit late jumping on the bailout bandwagon, apparently we weren’t alone: Treasury’s extended the TARP deadline to January 15th for any dawdling financial institutions.

The guidelines for TARP funding explain that:

The maximum amount of capital eligible for purchase by the Treasury under the CPP is the lesser of (i) an amount equal to 3 percent of the Total Risk-Weighted Assets of the applicant or (ii) $25 billion.

While we redacted the amount of total Risk-Weighted Assets from the application posted here, let us assure you that the Foundation for National Progress falls into the (i) category.

The completed information, which we’ve provided below, has been submitted to two of the institutions that distribute funds: the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision. We’ll keep you posted.

TARP-pdf.png

—Alexis Fitts and Daniel Luzer

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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