Marshall Helmberger

Last November, I wrote here and— for the first time— asked for reader support to maintain the basic operations of the Timberjay. We weren’t sure what to expect, but the response to that request was overwhelming and deeply gratifying. We raised more than twice what we had reasonably expected, and that generosity has made a significant difference.
As I had noted at the time, the traditional economic model, based primarily on print advertising and subscription fees, that sustained small-town newspapers for generations, is breaking down. That change came faster to bigger city newspapers, but it is inevitably whittling away revenue from small-town newspapers as well.
We acknowledged this year,that at least some annual fundraising from our generous readers, as well as grants, will likely need to play a modest role in our continued success. As part of that effort, we submitted a grant proposal this year to Report for America, a national nonprofit that is devoted to supporting local newsrooms by recruiting and mentoring young reporters by paying a portion of their annual salary during a two-year stint that can turn into a third year as well.
Many of those young reporters hired through RFA go on to be long-term members of the newsrooms they join through that process, and that is certainly our hope and expectation here.
We are extremely grateful for RFA’s support and note that our application was accepted out of hundreds submitted to RFA during their most recent grant round. Our relationship with RFA promises to be an extremely productive and positive one.
As with most grants, the RFA process comes with requirements, and among them is that the selected newsrooms undertake a sustained fundraising initiative.
RFA works with news organizations all over the country and they are well aware that the news business is rapidly transitioning to either a nonprofit model (that relies almost exclusively on donations) or a mixed model, where for-profit newsrooms also rely to some extent on donations from readers and grants from philanthropic organizations. That is the model that we believe will provide a sustainable future for the Timberjay.
Even so, the Timberjay will continue to rely heavily on its traditional sources of revenue — advertising and subscriptions. Thanks to the loyalty of our readers, our subscription revenue has been steadily increasing in recent years, both for our print product as well as our digital version. Your subscriptions, along with the advertising from area businesses, will continue to be critical to the Timberjay’s success. Donations and grants will simply help make up the gap between the costs of maintaining and even growing our newsroom and the revenues we generate through traditional sources.
For now, all of us here at the Timberjay want to offer our deepest thanks for all the support that so many of you have given over the past couple months. Your commitment to sustaining a high-quality news organization for our region is incredibly important.
We will have more information in the coming weeks and months about how you can continue to play a role in the Timberjay’s ongoing sustainability. Thanks again for your incredible support!