Wayland Post readers have contributed $11,115 toward our $35,000 fundraising goal. We are deeply grateful, and we still need your help.
Asking people for money is not the part of running a newspaper that comes naturally to us. We’d much rather be reporting a story, sitting through a town meeting, taking photographs at a community event, or getting the next issue ready for delivery.
But the Wayland Post exists because people in this community have decided that local news is worth supporting. So every now and then, we need to tell you plainly where we stand.
Today, we have some encouraging news. You’ve helped us raise $11,115 toward our $35,000 goal. That puts us at 31.8% of the way there, nearly one-third of our goal. But we still need to raise $23,885.
To everyone who has already contributed, whether online, through a recurring donation, or by sending us a check: thank you. We mean that.
The gifts have come in different sizes. Some people give a modest amount each month. Others make a one-time contribution. Every one of those gifts moves us closer to having the financial stability a small nonprofit newspaper needs.
The Wayland Post is delivered free to homes and businesses throughout Wayland. But producing it is not free Our ordinary operating expenses are about $11,725 per month. That’s why we chose a $35,000 fundraising goal — it represents roughly three months of operating expenses. We’re not trying to build a large bank account; we’re trying to create enough breathing room that an unexpected expense or a slow advertising month does not immediately force decisions about how much journalism we can produce.
That stability matters. A local newspaper should be able to decide what deserves coverage because it matters to the community — not because there happens to be enough cash in the account that week.
We also want the Post to be supported by a broad part of the community. Our longer-term goal is to build a base of 1,000 supporting donors.
We don’t expect every one of those people to make a large contribution. In fact, the opposite is the point. If many people give what they comfortably can, the newspaper does not have to rely on a handful of large donors, one advertiser or one institution to survive. That helps protect the independence of the Post and makes its future more secure.
In June, we suggested that $20 a month, or $240 a year, would make a meaningful contribution toward the reporting capacity Wayland needs. That remains true.But $240 is not a minimum (or a maximum). A gift of $10, $25, $50 or $100 helps. A small recurring monthly contribution helps enormously because it gives us something every small organization needs: the ability to plan.
We understand that not everyone who reads the Post can contribute financially. Send us a news tip. Tell us when something in your neighborhood deserves attention. Send us a photograph. Write a letter. Share one of our stories with a neighbor. Those things strengthen the Post, too. But if you’re in a position to give, we are asking you to help us close this gap.
We’ve already made meaningful progress: $11,115 raised and $23,885 to go. That feels close enough to be encouraging, but far enough away that we can’t get there without more of you joining us.
If you’ve already donated, thank you for helping carry the Post this far. If you’ve been meaning to contribute but have not gotten around to it, we hope you will consider doing it now. And if this is the first time you’ve thought about supporting the newspaper financially, we hope you’ll consider becoming one of the people who make independent local journalism possible in Wayland.
You can donate at waylandpost.org/donate, use the QR code on page 2 of this issue, or mail a check payable to Wayland Post, P.O. Box 146, Wayland, MA 01778.
