Here for good… with your help
A message from the editor
Hello Friends. Back when the Covid pandemic hit, we all had some big decisions to make. As lockdown shut us away from each other, how would we organise our daily routines? How would we maintain our important networks and relationships? At the Friend, we knew one thing for sure: the magazine might be the only way for some readers to stay connected with their faith community. We had to keep going, and we had to make sure that no one who needed a copy would go without.
There was a cost to us, of course. Our financial resources are slim. Operating as a charity, it’s largely subscriptions and advertising income that fuels the business. We’re not owned or managed by Britain Yearly Meeting – our grant from BYM, for which we’re very grateful, amounts to around two per cent of our income.
Pre-pandemic, we would make a small surplus for a year or two, followed by a year or two of small deficits. The good years and bad years balanced each other out. But when Covid was followed swiftly by a cost of living crisis, things changed. We knew post lockdown that some Friends weren’t having it easy, so we decided to maintain subscriptions pricing at their existing levels, even as our business costs began to escalate rapidly. Paper costs have risen by over thirty-five per cent, and delivery and energy costs haven’t been far behind. But in retrospect, we needed to pass on some of those costs, and we’ve found ourselves with a significant shortfall. We haven’t been helped by the fact that the total number of Friends is decreasing.
All this means that we do now have to increase our prices.
Friends, we really need your help to get us through this sticky patch. We’re going to do our bit here, cutting costs and, with some grief, losing staff. But the accounts for our last three financial years, ending on 30 June 2022, 2023 and 2024, all show an increasing level of deficit, to the point where they are no longer sustainable.
We do have an idea though. We are introducing a new subscription model, whereby Friends with higher incomes can opt to pay a slightly larger amount, in order to support subscribers on lower incomes. We’re also aiming to generate enough extra to get us back on track. The rates are as follows:
Supporter
£125 (£10.65 monthly direct debit)
Standard
£105 (£8.75)
Supported
£85 (£7.10)
There can be no hard and fast rules, but we hope those on final salary pensions or with household incomes of £30,000 or more will consider taking a ‘Supporter’ subscription. The ‘Supported’ rate is intended for those under thirty-five-years old, anyone receiving means-tested benefits, or those with a household income of less than £20,000.
Additionally, we are asking Local and Area Meetings to consider paying for subscriptions on behalf of members, attenders and newcomers to their Meeting. We have really good evidence of how the Friend supports and binds Quakers in their faith. After our busy summer covering Yearly Meeting and the World Plenary, lots of you got in touch to say how valuable you found our reporting. It’s because of us, you said, that Friends are staying connected. We believe that we’re essential to the wellbeing of our Religious Society, and will be needed as BYM restructures, finding our way to being the movement the world needs in the twenty-first century. Indeed, we will be part of that resurgence – we are integral to it, as we have been since 1843.
We know that many Friends mourn the loss of the Woodbrooke building. Some of you have expressed the fear that the Friend is a corollary, and that we have plans to cancel print production. We don’t. We didn’t construct our new website to that end. The Woodbrooke building needed millions to maintain, but the Friend just needs the engagement of an very-achievable number of Friends. If every Meeting had just two more subscribers, our finances would be transformed. Without them, we can’t be certain what the future holds.
We do know that some of you are willing to be more generous than our new ‘Supporter’ rate allows for. Donations have always been an indispensable part of how we have maintained the business. So we are also asking members of the Society if they can help us build on that. This kind of giving would mean we can get back to what we do best: serving, supporting and securing our Quaker community, telling its stories, and finding ways together to tackle the big issues the world presents us with. We’re not interested in insular self-preservation, we want to reach out and contribute to the national and international debate.
None of this could ever happen without you. Some of our best articles have come unsolicited, from readers who have something to say and nowhere else to say it. It’s our readers who tell us what they need – and then often provide what’s needed, too. It’s our hope that you can help us in an additional way right now. Quite simply, without you we wouldn’t – won’t – be here.
You can download a copy of this page, along with the direct debit form from: www.thefriend.org/directdebitf...
Alternatively, donate at: https://bit.ly/DonateToTheFrie...
Comments
I have no idea what the total print run was or is, but I am told that about 50 people subscribed to the digital .pdf version (no printing, paper or postage costs). I would have been happy to have paid the full cost for paper version to receive the .pdf: it was the design and the content I was after, in a format I could keep on my hard drive and return to, without needing extra shelf space, or a good wifi signal. I could remember by the artwork cover (which is how each .pdf edition appeared on my harddrive when saved) whether I had read it, and sometimes what was inside. It was the complete, designed, curated magazine, readable as a magazine. The only thing missing were the loose inserts.
I am by now 5 weeks behind in reading the Friend in its jumpy new format, which cannot be saved. It is now a duty-chore to read it. And I don’t feel I have ‘received’ what I am paying for, as I cannot save it.
I will happily pay the Supporter rate (although our household income is not as high as you suggest for that rate) IF you switch the switch and re-instate the .pdf version. (Surely not hard to do: that must be more or less how you send it to the printers.) You might well find that there are others who would willingly do the same.
I hope the Friend survives, but I am not likely to renew my subscription with the present perverse format.
Rather sadly, Frances Voelcker
By Frances V on 13th October 2024 - 22:56
I too would prefer the old pdf format and my easy access to previous editions. I have been navigating my way around todays download and only fell on this article about subscriptions by accident. I successfully managed to search out Friends and meetings, which is an important part my wanting to subscribe. If there is a logic to the format I am yet to spot it. Yours in hope, Marjorie Ball.
By Marjorie Ball on 17th October 2024 - 12:06
I will not be renewing the purchase of this hideous online version of the Friend but share our paper copy with my wife.
David Simpson.
By David Simpson on 28th November 2024 - 14:25
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