The Andover Beacon’s vital fall fundraising campaign gets underway on Monday, October 5. That’s when our volunteer canvassers will start picking names of Andover residents who haven’t donated to the Beacon yet this year.

If this is the first you’re hearing of our annual fall canvassing and why it’s vital to keeping the Beacon going, here’s a quick “guided tour” of what’s at stake and how you can help.

What’s all the fuss about? Community Publishing of Andover, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, publishes The Andover Beacon and AndoverBeacon.com, both of which are available free to all Andover residents. We also provide important production help with the Town Report, the Fourth of July program, and other community publishing projects.

To provide these valuable services to our small community, we need the support of a substantial portion of Andover households. For all the thinking behind this, visit AndoverBeacon.com/All-of-Us.

How does this affect me? If you’ve already donated to The Andover Beacon this year (or if you get a donation to us before a canvasser calls you), the fall fundraising campaign doesn’t affect you at all!

Otherwise, a volunteer canvasser will have to contact you to ask if you can make a donation for 2015 to help keep the Beacon going.

What’s the goal for this campaign? Donations were down last year, with barely 300 of Andover’s 1,100 households donating by year’s end. To keep the Beacon at work for our community, we need to reverse that trend!

So far this year, fewer than 200 households have sent in their 2015 donations. Canvassing needs to get that number up to 350 (still fewer than one out of three Andover households!) to keep the Beacon going strong.

I’ve got more questions. We’ve tried to answer every question at AndoverBeacon.com/Donor-FAQ. But if that page doesn’t help, please contact me at Charlie@nullAndoverBeacon.com or 735-6099.