Last month I visited the Beach Metro Community News for their distribution day.
The newspaper, which covers a community in east Toronto, is incorporated as a not-for-profit and has a paid office and editorial staff but volunteer distribution. The day I was there is the day in their news cycle with the most activity. The papers were going to arrive from the printer late, so I had more time to talk to staff before things got busy.
Sheila Blinoff, the business manager, told me more of the history of the paper. She has worked in the organization for all but the first year of its existence.
Like other publications we have researched like the Crier and Voice, this newspaper started as a protest. In this case it was to fight a proposed Scarborough expressway, which was successfully stopped.
Throughout my interview with Sheila, two common themes emerged.
One was that though it is a not-for-profit, you need to run it like a business. At least as much money needs to be coming in as going out.
The second was the importance of volunteer appreciation. She told me about gifts they give their carriers each year and how she calls them on anniversaries of the start of their involvement.
The other thing I found interesting is that the operation’s finances are robust enough to be able to donate money to other community groups. Sheila told me that last year, out of revenue of about $800,000, they donated about $16,000 to various groups in their neighbourhood. That represents two per cent of money coming in.
Beach Metro Community News is an example, on a small scale, of what is possible in not-for-profit news. It is thriving, it serves and has a close relationship with its readers, and is under no pressure to grow profits for any owners or shareholders.