Public Education and Empowerment Resource Service
2006 Annual Report

PEERS (Public Education and Empowerment Resource Service) was officially incorporated on January 4, 2006 as a nonprofit umbrella organization for all of the websites under the management of PEERS. We had our first board meeting Jan 29th with five members: Fred Burks, Jay Lee, Declan Banfield, Alex Floum, and Pamela Monday. It's a great group and our formative meeting was smooth and harmonious.

All of the application papers for nonprofit status for PEERS were filed late in March. We were told it generally takes at least several months to receive a response. Amazingly, thanks to the excellent Nolo nonprofit guide and excellent help from an experienced friend, we received our official 501(c)(3) nonprofit status after only six weeks on May 15th.

There are some wonderful advantages to having nonprofit status besides tax-deductible contributions. TechSoup.org provides highly discounted software to nonprofit organizations. PEERS purchased over $3,000 worth of excellent software for under $300 this year. The QuickBooks financial software we bought is particularly valuable as it allows us to keep track of exactly how much money we've spent and received at any time (see financial report below).

Through a website at VolunteerMatch.org, we can now place adds for volunteers of any type. Two volunteers who came to us through VolunteerMatch were particularly helpful this year in donating dozens of hours of database entry work. We also made contact with a grant writer recommended by one of our supporters. She is optimistic that she can get us a significant grant to help us with our operations and hopefully even pay a couple salaries. All of these were made possible because of our nonprofit status, so the many dozens of hours of work Executive Director Fred Burks put into that early in the year was well rewarded.

In February, we switched from sending emails manually to a new automated service called YMLP (Your Mailing List Provider). This saves lots of time, as it is no longer necessary to handle subscriptions at all. This email service also allows us to see how many people actually open the emails and how many click on the links there. Our average open rate has been over 40% (possibly higher), while about 10% click on one or more links in the emails that go out. Apparently this is very high compared to most email lists.

We received over $10,000 in donations this year. Much of that came through PayPal, our credit card donation service. We now have 10 individuals who automatically donate each month. All are donating $10/month, except one who gives $20/month.  Below is our financial summary for the year from our founding on Jan. 4th through December 31st.

January through December 2006

Income

Donations Income                 10,439.53
 
Total Income                           10,439.53

Expenses

Bank of the Bay                            30.00
Books                                           451.88
CD/DVD                                        129.55
Government Fees                      663.55
Grant Writer                                 500.00
Internet /Website Costs            639.66
Magazine subscriptions          185.00
Memberships                              110.00
Office Supplies                           239.06
PayPal Fees                                     1.50
Software                                       286.34
Tech Support                              113.98

Total Expenses                       3,350.52

Totals

Total Income                           10,439.53
Total Expenses                        3,350.52

End of Year Balance               7,089.01

WantToKnow.info: A Magnificent Resource. WantToKnow.info (WTK) has truly become a magnificent resource. It's now ranked in the top 60,000 out of over 100 million websites on the Internet. This amazing compilation of cover-up and inspirational information is now a veritable treasure chest of powerful, revealing information. And from a website design point of view, WTK is basically complete. In very large part this is due to our biggest gift of the year -- Executive Director Fred Burks' housemate Andrey.

Andrey is an Internet genius. He doesn't have a lot of time to help, but when he does, we zip through things which would have taken hours and even days without his help. That is clearly the main reason we made such huge progress this year. Even though he has never asked for any compensation, Fred has paid Andrey his going rate of $20/hr (he could be making much more, but is not concerned about money) from his own money, as his help is more than worth it. In the coming year, Fred hopes that PEERS will authorize payments to Andrey.

New Additions. Among the many new additions, Andrey helped Fred to put up "Contact Us" forms on all of the websites so that all messages from readers of the various websites go to one email address, yet the message tells from which website it came. On WTK, he also was invaluable in setting up beautiful new dropdown menus on the navigation bar at the top of all our 800 webpages. With nine categories of cover-up and one of inspiration, the dropdown menus give direct access to the best information on each topic. Even better, submenus later added now allow readers on any webpage to easily find over 200 most excellent pages listed in the dropdown menus. This is particularly valuable as about 50% of our visitors find us through search engines, which can take them to any page on the website.

The most amazing new addition in which Andrey was instrumental is our awesome database, which just went live this December. The database is comprised of nearly 1,000 one-paragraph excerpts of all the great news articles we've sent out to our email list and posted to the website.

The new database allows every article to be entered into one or more of several dozen (currently 36) fascinating categories. A URL has then been set up which creates a webpage automatically for all entries which match each category. In fact, three separate webpages were designed for each category: one where the items are listed by importance, one by date of the article, and one by date the article was posted to the database. The pages which list by order of importance are highly revealing. Andrey also helped to set up an RSS system whereby people can subscribe to automatically receive updates as new articles are posted on any category.

The summaries section is now complete with two-page and ten-page summaries of each major cover-up. A full book was added for the first time, as the book is out of print and used copies cost hundreds of dollars. This book describes how highly decorated U.S. General Butler uncovered a coup attempt against FDR by big money forces. Executive Director Fred Burks performed the vast majority of all of these improvements, though help from volunteers and Andrey was invaluable.

Growing Interest. We set up a new statistical analysis of visits to the websites using the excellent Google Analytics service. WantToKnow.info had two major one-day records. The first was 18,000 visits in one day thanks to a prominent posting on the very popular website www.rense.com. The second was 27,000 visits on the fifth anniversary of 9/11. Our average was 2,700 visits per day for a total of about one million visits for the year. The amount of pages mentioning WantToKnow.info is now 50,000 according to Google and 90,000 on Yahoo!

The number of subscribers to the three email lists we manage has steadily increased. The Global Community for All list now has over 200 subscribers, while the inspiration and education list is just shy of 1,000, and the WTK list has surpassed 3,000 subscribers! These lists have subscribers coming from over 70 different countries. Many people have emailed expressing gratitude for our work. Below is an example of one particularly fun, yet grateful message received by WTK on July 29th:

"You people scare the living beejeezers out of me, but I believe fear is a motivator.  I think I have been looking for this website all my life.  I found it while searching for a car that could get 100 mpg.  It might take me the rest of my life to read all your stuff but I really wasn't doing anything when I found it, so now I have something to do.  Everything I have done in my entire life led up to the instant I clicked on your website.  Coincidence?  Perhaps not! Thanks for the eye opener! Robbie Owens TEXAS (aka: God's Country)"

The Web of Love, Moment of Love, and Global Community for All. Here are excerpts from three supportive emails sent to other PEERS websites:

"I ran across your web site today when trying to find information on developing a positive attitude and I am so glad I found it. You give direction to the lost. The key is love and acceptance, pure and simple. Thanks again." -- Heidi

"I am in love with your site. It gives a lovely balance to the fear generated by my obsession with internet sites that are revealing the underbelly of the big boys clubs that run the world. I adore your sacred love visualization. It sooths me and reminds me that we are not alone." -- Robin

"I am not someone who spends a lot of time ‘surfing the net' or reading websites, but your site was forwarded to me today. I must tell you the Divine timing of it crossing my path is perfect. Thank you for all that you are doing to promote Love on this planet." -- Kristine

The Moment of Love (MOL) website this year had a total of about 14,000 visits or 40 visits/day, while Global Community for All (GCA) totaled 19,000 visits or 50 visits/day. The Web of Love (WOL) had a total of about 100,000 visits or 270 visits/day. Though the stats of these three websites pale in comparison to those of WTK, it's clear that an ever growing number of people are visiting all of these inspiring websites.

Executive Director Fred Burks made significant improvements to the three love and empowerment websites. For both MOL and WOL, he added excellent, inspiring webpages providing inspiring resources, inspiring videos, inspiring poems, and a piece on quality of life. If you type "inspiring videos" or "inspirational videos" into Google now, we are ranked either #1 or #2 out of over a million entries! One of the great benefits of the new database is that any websites can link to it. As over 50 of the articles there are wonderfully inspiring, Fred also set up an "Inspiring News" link on MOL, GCA, and WOL, which is a total delight. The articles are wonderfully inspiring.

Through the websites, Fred was invited to speak this May to a crowd of several hundred at the Davis Whole Earth Festival, where the audience was quite receptive. He also spoke at other, smaller venues and appeared on numerous radio shows and even one cable TV show in Louisiana. He always speaks about the cover-ups from the point of view of personal and global transformation and brings it back to the bigger picture. He paints everything that is happening as a part of our growth and evolution both individually and collectively.  

Good News on Both Cover-ups and Transformation. On the fifth anniversary of 9/11, the 9/11 movement for the first time received an amazing amount of media coverage. Many of the articles made fun of or debunked the movement, but they also raised serious questions. The Washington Post even came out with an amazingly supportive article, which was also picked up by MSNBC. Where a year ago, the 9/11 cover-up was almost completely ignored in the mainstream media, it has now entered the public consciousness.

Several other indicators of major shift have appeared on the global scene. The highly empowering program for teens Challenge Day was featured on Oprah in November, and the founder of microlending, Mohamed Yunus and his Grameen Bank, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this year! Transformation abounds!!! It's been quite an exciting year!

Future Plans. Though there are always improvements we could make to all of the websites, unless we get a major grant, there are only a few additions of significance which we plan to make to WantToKnow.info in the coming year. Among those, Executive Director Fred Burks would like to write a ten-page summary of the big picture for all who are interested. Fred plans to focus more time and attention this coming year on the love and empowerment websites, and especially on developing the new Transformation Team (TT) website, which will invite all members of the planetary transformation team to come together and inspire each other and all around us to join in the powerful transformation! Let us all be an invitation to positive transformation in our world!

PEERS 2006 Annual Report
Compiled and Written By
Fred Burks
PEERS Executive Director