The Beacon’s staff, volunteers, and board of directors would all like to extend a big “Thank You!” to the 215 local and seasonal residents of Andover who made their tax-deductible donations to the Beacon this year. We absolutely cannot continue delivering the Beacon free to every Andover address 11 times a year without those important donations from the community!

Sadly, the good news pretty much ends there. The number of donations the Beacon received in 2018 is far below the average number we’ve received each year over the last five years … down over 20%, in fact. And that’s despite the fact that we did two fundraising mailers to every Andover address this year.

This dwindling financial support from the community, coupled with the fact that advertising sales continue to decline (for the Beacon, and for newspapers around the world), makes it really hard for the Beacon to continue. The board and staff have, over the past couple of years, pared expenses to the absolute bone; now we’re working on ways to enhance our existing revenue streams and develop new ones.


Page Sponsorships


For example, I hope you’ve noticed that many pages in this month’s Beacon have a discreet “page sponsorship banner” at the bottom. Over a dozen community-minded businesses and organizations that understand how important the Beacon is to Andover have stepped up to help underwrite the printing and mailing cost of one page for a year. If you ever have the opportunity to thank one of our page sponsors for their generosity, please do — they’re making a difference in our community!


The Beacon’s board, staff, and volunteers are working on other ways to build a firm financial foundation under the Beacon, one that will endure into the future. While we’re working on that, if you value what the Beacon does for our community and are wondering what you can do to help secure its future, the simple answer is: Donate as generously as you can, and make it a point to encourage your friends and neighbors to do the same!


Think about this: If only half the households in Andover would donate to the Beacon every year, that powerful show of support would make our fiscal challenges a thing of the past. Anything you can do to help make that happen would be deeply appreciated!