Times have been tough for a lot of people in the past year and a half. Inflation has led to higher food and fuel costs. And many of our readers are retired and on fixed incomes. When their living costs go up, they’re forced to make cuts.
Those cuts hit The Portager directly, through canceled subscriptions. But they also hit us indirectly, when the ripple effects of a tightening economy lead businesses to reduce their advertising spend.
In response, other local newspapers in the area increased their subscription price, distributing the burden among all their customers evenly. Although a few readers have told me they wouldn’t mind it if I increased The Portager’s rates, I’m not going to do that because not everyone can afford it. Now isn’t the time to add more financial stress to people who are struggling but who nonetheless support our work.
Another option we have is to make cuts ourselves. This is the fastest way to balance the books, and we’ve already eliminated some expenses, notably print home delivery. With USPS increasing their periodical pricing, this was an obvious place to cut back, and we will save around $25,000 a year.
There may be other ways to reduce spending but about 70% of our expenses are for reporters, editors, columnists and documenters. I don’t want to reduce this spending. On the contrary, I want to increase it.
The Portager is a member of the Local and Independent Online News Publishers, which is the main industry group for companies like ours. Many of these organizations have diversified their revenue streams by holding regular fundraisers. After I published my column announcing that we would end print home delivery, several readers reached out asking if they could donate to us.
That’s when I decided a fundraiser was the right idea for us. It would be like raising subscription prices, but only for those who could afford it and opted in.
I created a payment page a few weeks ago, setting a goal of raising $30,000 by the end of the year. And even though we hadn’t formally launched the fundraiser, about a dozen people jumped at the chance to support us. As I write this announcement post, we are already almost 30% of the way toward the goal.
>> You can donate and track our progress here.
By raising $30,000 we will plug our 2026 deficit and have a fresh slate in 2027. If revenue increases back to normal next year, we will hold similar fundraisers in the future but for specific goals. For example, if you want us to regularly cover every county commissioners meeting, we could raise the money to hire a part-time reporter for a year. Or if you think we’re falling short when it comes to breaking news, crime and courts coverage, we could hire a reporter dedicated to this.
The Portager will turn seven this spring. That’s a long time in independent media years. We’ve outlived some of the startups that came up around the same time. But this year has shown me that The Portager will not keep growing on its own forever. The financial maturity of America’s century-old newspapers comes from decades of business creativity and investment in the community.
I would like to see The Portager or something like it survive and thrive as long as Portage County does. Which is to say — a long time. I’ll never stop making the investment and working to earn your support.