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Hi there.

Ever since I started Stock Gumshoe as a little “nights and weekends” project back in the Spring of 2008, we’ve made an effort to “give back” in some substantial way — we’ve given to a dozen or so different charities over the years, and every year we’ve grown and set a new record for how much we (well, really you) have been able to give.

How do we do this? Well, for several years in a row now we’ve had a charitable membership drive — we always need new members to join the Irregulars (you’ve probably noticed that Stock Gumshoe hosts advertising so that we can provide a lot of content for free members, too, but paid members cover more than half of our annual budget), so we try to make it a “win win” and build up our membership rolls at the same time that we’re doing something for the greater good. And we like this to be BIG — we’re not talking about donating 3% of the profits to charity, we shoot for 50% of revenues to charity from this membership drive.

So if you sign up to join us as an Irregular, I will make a donation equal to half of your payment.

What are the Irregulars, and what’s a “premium member?” They’re the same thing, the Stock Gumshoe Irregulars (the name is borrowed from Sherlock Holmes) are our paid members, they keep the site going and get a few extra benefits as a result — including a weekly commentary I write just for them called the Friday File, the details of my personal Real Money Portfolio and the buys and sells I make, the ability to start your own discussion threads, and a quick little summary of every new teaser article.

I’d like to tell you that it’s my prescient analysis of the stocks I buy and sell that drives new readers to our door, but a lot of our members tell me that Quick Take box is the main reason they subscribe — it’s a great time saver for those who can’t stand to read my long and blathery articles (you get the name of the newsletter, the stock they’re teasing, and a couple quick sentences summarizing the story or my opinion).

How do we get the donation pot to be larger? We’re going to add a couple days to make it a longer time period, bumping our campaign up to a lucky 13 days, and I’m going to donate an amount equal to not just half of all new member contributions, but half of all upgrades as well.

I hope we’ll hit a new record again.

Here are the nuts and bolts:

All of our Irregulars receive the same content and access, the different levels just cover different time periods — you can sign up for $7/month or $59/year on an ongoing basis, and get locked in at that price for as long as you remain a member, or you can commit to Platinum “lifetime” membership for $299 up front (nonrefundable) and never pay anything again.

How to do it:

If you don’t have a Stock Gumshoe username, click here for the easy signup page.

Or if you do have a username (you can log in as a free member to comment and such, and it shows your name up at the upper left of the page when you're logged in), then click here if you would like to upgrade (that way you can keep the same username and password — if you don’t remember your username, just contact us).

And this is important: If you’re upgrading to “Platinum” but already have an ongoing monthly or annual membership, please contact us and we’ll make sure to cancel that other ongoing membership for you so you don’t get charged for renewals in the future.

And here’s my promise, to be clear:

I will make a charitable contribution equal to half of Stock Gumshoe’s new member subscription payments and upgraded memberships between now and the end of the day on December 23. So for every new or upgraded annual member in the Irregulars ($59), I’ll donate $29.50; for every Platinum membership ($299), I’ll donate $149.50. Same for any new first-time members who sign up for the monthly version. I won't deduct the credit card processing or bank fees, or any of our other expenses — half of the top line number between now and December 23 goes to charity.

No, you can’t claim this as a charitable deduction, they don’t “pass through” that way (though if you itemize your investing costs, like advisory fees or a Barron’s subscription, people tell me membership in Stock Gumshoe might also be deductible — this isn’t as flexible as it used to be, and I don’t know what the current rules are, so please check with your tax person).

Which cause? I’ll be asking the key folks who keep Stock Gumshoe running to choose causes that are important to them, and that will be a portion of the donation… and I have a couple causes that are near and dear to my heart in our local area, particularly those fighting homelessness and hunger, so those will receive gifts… but I do also want to give you the opportunity to help us choose.

So here’s what we’re going to do… sign up to join us as a new member, and then go to the website version of this letter and post a comment proposing a charitable cause that you think deserves some extra funding. We will look at the proposed charities in the comments, make sure that they aren’t obviously controversial or political or otherwise inappropriate, and support those that get the most “thumbs up” from other members. I’ll make the final decision, with your input.

I’m sure that the charitable organizations we end up supporting won’t all be your top choices, so I hope you’ll also support the causes that are important to you — if it’s a choice between joining the Stock Gumshoe Irregulars and making a donation to your favorite charity, please do the latter, we love the support of our members and depend on the Irregulars, but no one at Gumshoe HQ is missing any meals.

So that’s the story — will you help us to strengthen Stock Gumshoe for the year ahead, letting us put more into improving the site and sharing compelling commentary and ideas with you? If so, you can rest assured with the knowledge that you’re also helping someone else… maybe a homeless veteran, a sick family in an impoverished land, a victim of natural disaster, a hungry neighbor, we’ll see which causes rise to the top.

I hope you’ll join us this year, if you haven’t already — and I hope you are experiencing a life full of blessings. I know I am, and working on your behalf for these past 11 years has been near the top of the list — thank you.

And of course, whether or not you choose to cough up some dough and join us or upgrade — I hope you’ll keep reading. We do love all of our readers, even those who give us only their (valuable) attention. Thanks for making Stock Gumshoe a part of your investing life.

Thanks so much,

Travis Johnson
Founder and President
Stock Gumshoe

P.S. Thanks again for considering joining us as a paid Irregular during this charitable membership drive — we’ll tally up all membership payments between now and December 23 to figure out what the donations will be, and will make the final call on reader-supported donation ideas so I can get those gifts out the door by the end of the year — if you’re able, please join today and make your charitable suggestions (or thumbs up to other suggestions in the comments). Any questions? Just click here to contact us.