Situation serious…your help needed
Dear ChristianWeek subscriber:
Following a meeting of the board of directors on November 14, 1997, it was agreed that this letter go to all subscribers of ChristianWeek outlining a very severe financial crisis. If you continue to support the mission of this periodical, "telling the stories of God’s people in Canada," then we ask you to consider providing immediate financial support.
Over the decade that ChristianWeek has been publishing, the paper has earned the respect of the Canadian Christian community. Many readers find it indispensable. Staff have worked hard with little resources to produce high-quality journalism. Earlier this year that work was rewarded in a special way when ChristianWeek was honored with three awards in the national newspaper category from the Canadian Church Press: general excellence, best news coverage and best front page. There have been other awards for writing over the years as well.
Cash flow has always been tight. Without donations from loyal supporters, ChristianWeek would not have survived. When founding publisher and editor Harold Jantz stepped down 15 months ago, the paper was carrying a debt of approximately $100,000. Expenses had already been trimmed to the bone. The board had the task of finding someone with business management expertise whose first priority would be to increase revenues. Doug McLeod was hired to fill that role in July 1996.
Some aggressive steps were taken to develop new subscribers and a decision was taken to proceed with a second paper, Christian Lifestyle. The idea to expand the subscriber base using the services of a telemarketing firm initially looked very promising. Based on early response management decisions were taken to expand the cramped offices, upgrade our equipment and bring on new staff. These decisions proved to be premature.
The decision to proceed with Christian Lifestyle was based on assumptions regarding advertising revenues that were realistic but the decision by management to proceed before all the bases were covered proved to be detrimental to Christian Lifestyle, which folded after two issues, and subsequently had a very negative impact on the financial position of ChristianWeek itself.
We ended the past fiscal year (August 31, 1997) with an additional deficit of $110,000 and now find ourselves in a severe cash flow crisis. The board of directors has taken several difficult decisions during the past several weeks. Staff associated with the Christian Lifestyle venture were laid off, and Doug McLeod has resigned. Further action will be taken to reduce our expenses and return to a level of operation in line with our capacity. Neil Janzen, former president of Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA), has agreed to help manage the operation on an interim basis and advise the board’s management committee.
We are confident that we have the personnel in place to continue to produce a fine Christian newspaper, but we need your help. If each subscriber contributes one year’s subscription as a donation to ChristianWeek we will be able to pay off all our debts. That is only $35 per person. We would appreciate your help, large or small, though we know some will not be able to give anything, but we trust all will continue as subscribers.
The board has taken the first step and has already contributed over $4,000. We are not asking for much from anyone, but if we are unsuccessful we could lose the paper. As a board and staff we are doing all that we can. Will you help?
On behalf of the Board of Directors,
Dan Burton, Chair
Ken Penner, Treasurer
P.S. An option you might want to consider, given the possibility of a postal strike, is making a donation by Visa or MasterCard. Please feel free to call us at 1-800-263-6695. You can also make a direct deposit to the Fellowship for Print Witness bank account at any CIBC branch, transit #0007, account # 3704815.
