Agenda's Bittersweet News
Big changes are happening this month at AGENDA and we need your help. In the very month of our lowest cash flow (August), AGENDA is hiring af full-time advertising sales representative. We are making this move right now because the September issue (for which advertising is sold in August) typically has the most potential for increased sales.
We are also making this move in order to increase our advertising sales over the longterm to the point where the paper will not forever be on the verge of financial collapse. It is in some ways AGENDA'S last best hope.
On the down side of the story, co-publisher co-editor Laurie Wechter has decided to step away from her salaried position to make room for a professional salesperson on the payroll. Our immediate goal is to sell more advertising and keep AGENDA alive and kicking by paying the bills. Our mid-range goal is to bring in enough revenue to put Laurie back onto the AGENDA payroll.
And this is where we need your help. As readers, we need you to continue to financially support the paper, especially now, during this transition period when publishing costs are actually going up while our advertising sales have been down.
When we look at the big picture, even if advertising sales increased dramatically - and we expect them to - AGENDA will never be the "happy-news-only" kind of publication that advertisers are naturally attracted to. Our coverage of important issues like the Persian Gulf War, Central America, housing and homelessness, the environment, racism and the anti-racist struggle, labor, and human rights will continue to be controversial.
In April AGENDA began a $10,000 fundraising drive to pull itself out of debt. Readers and community groups have responded very generously - with about $6,000 so far! This latest move, hiring a full-time advertising salesperson, is part of the same effort to strengthen AGENDA. We are deeply committed to making AGENDA more viable and are willing to try new things to do so. Laurie Wechter's departure, however, is a bitter pill to swallow. With your support, she won't be gone long, we hopel