Dear Readers,

We’re excited to try something new: using community-funded journalism to support our feature stories. We have two story pitches right now on Spot.us. Spot.us is for journalists what DonorsChoose is for teachers, or Kickstarter is for filmmakers and others.

The two projects waiting for funding at the moment are "Going to college: realities and opportunities for Asian Americans" and "Back-to-Roots Post-Birth Rituals."

The great thing is that it's very easy to support one or both stories -- and we hope you read through the pitches to learn more about the story ideas.

The process is fast, and you don’t even have to use your own funds. By taking two surveys, you can “donate” about $5 to each story. If we can get 70 people to take the surveys, we will have fully funded both the college admissions and post-birth culture story.

Here’s how:

1. Go to one of the pitches:

"Going to college: realities and opportunities for Asian Americans" by Lin Yang

or

"Back-to-Roots Post-Birth Rituals" by Momo Chang

2. Click the large button that says "Free Credits" on the right. You'll have to register/login.

3. Take the quick questionnaire.

4. Your account now has $5 or so in credits and you'll automatically be directed to a page to confirm you want to apply the credits to our pitch. Click "Apply Credits."

5. Click on "Free Credits" again to take another survey, which will add another $5 or so to the story! 

6. Pass this info along to others by posting on Facebook.

Thank you in advance for your support. Without you, we wouldn't be able to get these and other stories out to the public. Many media outlets are cash-strapped and looking for alternative ways to fundraise for stories -- and these are stories that you won't see in mainstream or even alternative publications. Thanks to all who have already supported or donated!