by Melanie Jongsma, Publisher
LANSING, Ill. (January 24, 2022) – This past summer, newspaper consultant Phillip Smith told me he was impressed with our subscriber numbers. For The Lansing Journal to have nearly 4,000 subscribers in a town of 12,000 households is exceptional, he said.
Smith has consulted with many other newspapers who have much smaller lists though they serve much larger towns. “It’s clear you are providing a service that is valued by the community,” he told me.
Health concerns
But another number was more concerning to Smith, who studies these things. He looked at our number of monthly supporters and said it was “not healthy.” For a newspaper to be healthy, he explained, at least 10 percent of its subscribers should also be monthly supporters. At the time, we were at 3.8 percent.
Things are improving. Gradually. Last December, many of you responded to our matching gift opportunity and signed up as new monthly supporters. So we are now up to 4.5 percent.
That’s good. But it’s still not healthy. And this community deserves a viable, healthy newspaper.
Health improvements
So we want to keep making progress toward that 10 percent milestone. If we can add 55 monthly supporters in January, that will put us at 6.1 percent — more than halfway to healthy.
Would you be one of the 55 monthly supporters we need today?
What you get when you give
When you sign up as a monthly supporter of The Lansing Journal, you are investing in a community newspaper that is invested in this community. The news you receive in your inbox every day is written by real people who are part of this community. When you see their bylines on the articles you read, you can know that there is human effort and human connection that goes into each story.
And it’s real news those real people are reporting. The Lansing Journal is not an opinion piece, an advice column, a Facebook share, or a marketing newsletter. It is balanced, factual, local information, researched carefully and written word by word.
This newspaper needs you
If every subscriber receiving our Daily News email gave just $7.00/month, that would cover our expenses.
Are you able to give that amount?
Especially if you’ve been reading The Lansing Journal every day but haven’t yet made a contribution — we need you now.
Here’s your chance to sign up:
Let’s get healthy together
Our community needs this newspaper. Our community deserves this newspaper. We want to keep serving our community, but we need your help.
Today, will you be one of the 55 people we need to get halfway to healthy?
Will you sign up as a monthly supporter of your community newspaper?
P.S. It just so happens that January is my birthday month, and I’m turning 55 this year. So that number is doubly significant for me! Thanks for helping me celebrate this milestone by achieving a halfway-to-healthy milestone for The Lansing Journal. We both want to serve our community for many more years!
