“We haven’t received your donation to the Beacon this year.” That’s the first line of a letter that will arrive in about 900 Andover mailboxes in mid-November.
If you’ve already donated to Andover’s non-profit community newspaper this year, thank you! You won’t be receiving a letter, because you’re already doing your part to help the Beacon continue in its vital role of knitting the community of Andover together.
Now, for those of you who haven’t donated to the Beacon yet this year: You’ve been receiving the Beacon all year for free; but did you realize that because there are no economies of scale in publishing a newspaper for a town of only 1,200 households, each issue you receive costs about $1.50 just for printing and mailing — not counting salaries, insurance, computers, etc.?
Advertisers cover about half of that, but that still leaves a big chunk that has to come from the community that enjoys and benefits from the Beacon; yet sadly, only 11% of readers have donated to the Beacon so far this year.
If you receive a letter from the Beacon in mid-November, we sincerely hope you can support the Beacon in 2018. We promise to make your tax-deductible gift go a long way toward keeping Andover a place in which we’re all proud to live!