Today I need to ask for your help. At Prism we are needing to raise some funding.

We do not need to obtain a King’s ransom and we do not need a salary or a nice house on the Ayrshire coast! We do though need your help. Often at the request of viewers, we have been filming shows in front of live audiences at conferences and as one off events.

We know many of you enjoy our output. The growth in our viewer numbers testifies to that.Prism currently has more viewers than The National has subscribers. It is the most watched Scottish Political podcast out there. All that is down to you guys, so our heartfelt thanks for that. We really do appreciate your loyalty, support and comments.

In order to do these live events, we constantly need to rely on friends and colleagues to borrow their equipment. Again we are very grateful for their assistance in that. This though means our techies are constantly working with unfamiliar kit. When issues occur as they often do, it means our techies are having to try and solve problems they are unable to diagnose or react to.

The solution, of course, is to own our own equipment. This will enable us to understand settings, etc. to ensure you get the best experience and we are able to react to any problems.

In the first instance any money raised will go to purchase our own new equipment which will enable us to become more professional with our live broadcasts. It also means we should be able to broadcast live events without time delay.

Any extra money raised will go towards our hosting and software costs which have in the past year doubled. In the main the software cost increased as the company has a one hour cut off for £X when you broadcast over an hour the software licence cost doubles. We had the choice of strictly adhering to one hour Prisms or pay the premium and overrun as and when circumstances dictate. We decided on the latter.

All this, of course, assumes you are willing and able to assist us on this matter.

If you feel able to help, here is how you can do it.

Firstly go to the Through A Scottish Prism YouTube home page. There you see a banner right across the top of the page. On the right hand side of the banner there is a donate button. This will take you to our donation page. Then you merely choose how much and how many times you want to donate. You can give a one off payment or set up a regular monthly payment.

Finally choose your payment method, and you’re done. You do not need a PayPal account!

You, our loyal viewers have been exceptional in your support of TASP in its journey to where it is now. With your continued support we hope to take it further. We have plans to make your viewing experience even better.

Thank you so much, your backing means a great deal to me personally and to the entire TASP team.

So until we see you again, you and yours, please take care!