(The Center Square) – WisconsinEye, which streams the state Legislature, committees and both news conferences and political events across the state, says that it will have to shut down event coverage Dec. 15 and takes its archives offline if it is not able to raise $300,000 to carry it through the first quarter of next year along with commitments to fund the $887,000 it says it will cost to carry on operations for all of 2026.
WisEye President and CEO Jon Henkes, however, told The Center Square that there is a different option as well. In its last budget, Wisconsin lawmakers approved $10 million in matching donation funds to go toward an endowment that would fund WisconsinEye into the future.
He’s asking legislative leaders to use those funds to keep the company afloat now.
“What fixes this really quickly is the Legislature just releasing funds from that $10 million,” Henkes said.
WisconsinEye made a call for $1 million in fundraising in October, with Henkes saying the current year’s budget was $1.1 million to fund a team of six employees running the video streaming platform.
For now, Henkes says that the company has put raising money through donations for the endowment on hold with an end-of-June deadline looming for donations toward the matching funds.
“The first priority, the only priority right now, is to raise the funds needed for operations,” Henkes said.
He said the current fundraising environment is difficult, going up against some companies such as National Public Radio that have lost federal funding and having donors weigh donations to the streaming platform against donating to political candidates in Wisconsin or national races.
“Now that the word is out that we are in a dire financial situation on operations, hopefully that will motivate some donors to step forward and say ‘we want to help bridge that gap,’” Henkes said. “Part two of this is really a better solution to secure statutory language that would allow that match to go away in terms of the word match.
“In other words, the money’s already been designated for Wisconsin Eye. Legislature and governor, would you please allow the funds to be distributed into our operating budget?”
