Hi folks, a couple times a year we ask for your financial support to this nonprofit Camden Community News. The COVID-19 pandemic has finally winded down and many businesses have opened up, but it’s still hard to ask folks for financial support to the Camden News. We’ll survive as long as we can, but many of our local businesses are still having trouble without your support.
So we encourage you to do your part – with what resources you have – to not only support this newspaper but to support all our local businesses, nonprofit organizations, churches, food shelves. Give what you can. Right now, every little bit helps our community.
Thanks to all of you who have donated to the Camden News over these past 47 years— we appreciate your support. You know that newspapers around the country are failing due to decreased advertising revenue – right now it’s worse than ever.
It’s likely that someday the Camden News will be an online only newspaper. But the Camden Community has a disproportionate amount of seniors and low-income residents who still don’t have a computer or Internet access. As one long-time Camden resident says, “I enjoy the paper…I hope you never stop publishing. I and many of my friends do not have a computer, so where would we get our local news?”
The Camden Community News has been serving the community since 1976, and we want to continue printing and mailing the paper for free to residents until the need no longer exists. But if we don’t get donations from you and ad revenue from businesses we won’t be able to publish and mail a hard copy newspaper.
We have a very lean budget for a small nonprofit organization. It costs about $5000 a month to publish the Camden News — that includes printing, labeling, postage, business delivery, typesetting, layout, bookkeeping, editing, taxes, insurance and all the other basic costs of running a small nonprofit. Our ad revenues keep falling dramatically and our monthly expenses currently exceed our ad revenues by about $500 each month. We come to you twice a year to help supplement ad revenue losses, but we typically only get enough in donations for the total year to pay for one issue of the Camden News.
The Camden News is a nonprofit, volunteer-run, volunteer-written newspaper mailed free to 10,000 Camden homes and hand delivered to local businesses, libraries, organizations, parks and schools. Our mission has been the same since 1976: To build bridges, connect neighborhoods, encourage citizen participation, promote local events, people and businesses, and provide a forum for folks who care about the quality of life here in Camden.
Please send in a generous tax-deductible donation to Camden News PO Box 11492, Minneapolis, MN 55411. You can save the footwork and stamp by donating via PayPal at camdennews.net; just click on the donate button at the very top of the home page (you don’t need a PayPal account). You can also donate monthly thru PayPal – your contribution will be automatically deducted every month.
And please send us your comments and suggestions.
Thanks for your support,
The Camden Community News Board of Directors