The Anglican Planet - Frequently-Asked Questions
Why is The Anglican Planet worth supporting?
TAP is a marvelous bridge. It brings together:
1. Anglo-Catholics and Evangelicals and Charismatics. It gives a voice to all three communities and keeps them conversant with one another.
2. Biblically faithful Anglicans within both the Anglican Church of Canada and the Anglican Church of North America.
3. News and Ideas. It is truly what it claims to be: “Canada’s most-read journal of Anglican news and ideas.”
4. Anglicans both in Canada and throughout the Communion, hence our name The Anglican Planet . We don’t navel gaze.
5. Clergy and laity. It has news, essays and features that will inspire and encourage all members of the Church.
TAP is an independent publication. It is not a mouthpiece for any one denomination or group. It aims to be a reliable paper of record that can be depended on to carefully monitor and critique Canadian Anglicanism and the worldwide Anglican Communion primarily through Canadian eyes. It views the Book of Common Prayer as the liturgical and doctrinal standard for Anglicanism. But TAP also knows how to have fun and is anything but stodgy. And while we take our Lord Jesus Christ and his mandate seriously, we don’t take ourselves too seriously.
Who reads The Anglican Planet besides me?
Almost seven to ten thousand people including bishops and theological students. Every active bishop in the Anglican Church of Canada receives a free subscription to The Anglican Planet. Every Anglican Theological College receives a free subscription. TAP is mailed directly to almost 500 homes and in parish bundles to over 100 churches. About 3,300 papers are printed each issue but most are read by two or even three people.
For how many years has TAP been published?
Our first issue came out in May 2005 so this May we will have published for six years. With our Trinity issue we will be entering our seventh year.
How many issues have been published?
Our latest Easter issue was our 58th issue. From 2005 through 2010 we published ten times a year (monthly but usually not in July or August.) Unfortunately, publishing costs have risen. So in 2011 we moved to a six-times-a-year format of Lent, Easter, Trinity, Michaelmas, Advent and Christmas issues in order to be more financially sound.
How much does one issue of TAP cost?
Each issue today costs $6,000 to publish. Over half the cost is for printing and mailing ($3,500) while total journalism fees average just over $1,000 per issue. (Academics and clergy are not paid for their contributions and professional journalists are paid a minimal amount.) Administration costs ($830) and website fees ($200) account for the other expenses. Until this year David Harris had done TAP’s layout for free but now that David has moved to a parish in England we have had to hire a new layout person and webmaster ($720). We have always worked on a shoestring budget! So for 6 issues per year we now need $36,000.
Does switching to a 6-issues-a-year format save you money?
Yes! At the former 10-issues-a-year format, costs ran about $50,000. So we now save about $14,000 with our new 6-issues-a-year schedule. (We save over the whole year with the new schedule but individual issue costs will go up slightly.)
How much money does paid advertising bring in?
Based on last year’s ad revenue, but spread over only six issues, we estimate about $4,000 in ad revenue for this year. We also want to begin paid online advertising.
How much revenue comes in from subscriptions?
About $27,000. Over half ($14,250) is from individual subscribers and almost half from parish or bundle subscriptions ($12,944).
How much money did your 2010 fundraising campaign bring in?
Almost $10,000, for which we are very grateful. But given that in 2010 with ten issues per year the costs per year were over $50,000, we are running out of money. However, we have no debts.
Besides the new 6-issues-a-year format, what other new measures are you taking to save or generate more funds?
KEEPING IN TOUCH
We have recently restructured our postal and phone arrangements which will save us about $800 a year and will give our readers quicker service.
ANNUAL FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN
We plan on having a fundraising campaign every fall. We did raise about $10,000 with our December 2010 campaign. However, December is too late and our supporters have other financial commitments at that time.
READERS' QUESTIONNAIRE
We plan to have a regular online readers' questionnaire and an occasional mailed questionnaire covering what our readers enjoy and what they want more or less of in TAP. A questionnaire would also give us a better profile of our readership by age/gender/geography/education/denomination etc. and could be helpful to both writers and potential advertisers.
NEW VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT TEAM
Many thought TAP would never survive past the first three issues so entering our seventh year would be a tremendous success. A dedicated group of priests and journalists have run TAP but have done so without the financial and entrepreneurial expertise that is needed if it is to have a long-term future. This spring we are putting in place a new management team of volunteers experienced in business practices to help us manage and develop the business side of TAP as a not-for-profit charity. This team would not influence editorial policy — that would be left to the editorial board — but simply bring their skills to bear on strategic business planning such as bridge and long-term financing, and would examine ways to improve advertising revenue, circulation and distribution and how to generate renewals. If you invest in The Anglican Planet, it would be money well spent.
What is your bank balance?
We only have $7,000 left in the bank -- only enough to cover the costs of our Eastertide issue. We don’t want it to be our final one. We hope you don’t either.
If I make a donation to The Anglican Planet will I receive an Income Tax credit?
Yes, St. Peter Publications, which owns The Anglican Planet, is a registered charity duly registered with Canada Revenue Agency, and is able to issue receipts that are valid for Income Tax purposes.
Please prayerfully consider whether supporting God’s kingdom on earth would include supporting The Anglican Planet. Thank you.
DONATIONS WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED
We need to raise at least $20 thousand to ensure that we can publish four more issues this year.
If we could find five donors who could contribute $5,000 each; or ten donors who could contribute $2,500 each; or twenty donors who could contribute $1,000 each; or forty donors who could contribute $500 each; or 100 donors at $200 each; or 200 donors at $100 each (or some combination thereof) we could attain our goal.
If you are able to help us with any amount, we would appreciate it.
Please donate online or write your cheque to "The Anglican Planet." All donations over $10 will be tax-deductible.
MAILING ADDRESS FOR DONATIONS:
The Anglican Planet
11 All Souls’ Lane
Charlottetown, PE, C1A 1P9