A midyear update

A quick update on our fiscal year, which ended June 30:

It’s called “fiscal year” for a reason: It’s the 12-­month financial period we report to the public, through the IRS. It’ll be a while before we nail down those specific results, complete our annual audit, and file our required documents with the government. But for now, I can tell you we’ll end the year with a small surplus.

That news has been a cause for praise and rejoicing among our staff. After the destruction of our offices last September—less than three months into our fiscal year—we didn’t expect to recover financially by year’s end.

We’ve noted in this space several times the ways God provided for us, through our audience members, our staff, and friendly ministries. All I would add here is that ending the year with any sort of surplus is miraculous.

WHILE WE FOCUS ON OUR FINANCIALS at the end of one ­fiscal year and the beginning of another, we use the opportunity to think strategically about everything we do. The big questions: How effective were we at accomplishing our mission last year? And how can we be more effective in the coming year? Clear-eyed answers to the first question are key to getting the ­second one right.

A few things we’re happy about:

• We did more on-the-ground reporting than ever before, across all our platforms. That is a longtime strategic objective, and it requires deliberate effort, so we’re thankful for that outcome.
• Our student-focused video programming saw significant audience growth across the board.
• We took some big first steps toward addressing a strategic concern by hiring Les Sillars as our editor-in-chief and naming Lynn Vincent as our chief training officer, the first to take that role.

There are many other things we are thankful for, but here are a few things we know we need to focus on:

• The long-term, ongoing professional development of our editorial staff. As we have increased our reporting the past few years, the need for sustained, serious training has become more and more apparent.
• Continued expansion of our student products. These grew the most in the past year, but they hold huge mission potential as we draw in younger families to all of WORLD’s content.
• Finding physical space for our operations. WORLD was hybrid before hybrid was cool, but we urgently need dedicated space for staff, training, and production.

We’ll keep you updated.

IN THE FUTURE, for those of you who still use the U.S. Postal Service to mail payments and correspondence, WORLD has two P.O. Boxes: P.O. Box 2330 and P.O. Box 20002. The Postal Service has been forwarding mail addressed to our former office address, 12 All Souls Crescent; however, we’ve learned that some mail hasn’t been reliably forwarded. The surest way to reach us is to use one of our two P.O. Boxes.

JUST AS WE WERE GOING TO PRESS with this issue, we received word that our beloved friend Bob Case had passed away. As the founding director of the World Journalism Institute, Bob was equal parts visionary and man of action. He brought theological depth, intellectual rigor, and contagious joy to the work of training young journalists. His energetic leadership shaped WJI into what it is today, and his influence still echoes through WORLD’s mission. In the last two years, Bob turned his talents to storytelling on our podcast, finding in the Great American Songbook not just musical excellence but glimpses of eternal truth. His final broadcast ended with reference to an Isaac Watts hymn: “There Is a Land of Pure Delight.” Bob said the hymn reminded us that Jesus waits for us in a land where spring lasts forever. Now, by grace, Bob is in that Land—not just singing about it, but hearing the music of it firsthand. Please pray for his family, his church, and our staff as God reminds you.