Grateful for you

Here are two important numbers: 86 and 14. Realizing that numbers can make eyes glaze over, I’ll keep it short and simple.

Almost 86 percent of all our revenue comes directly from you—readers, listeners, and viewers. Slightly more than 14 percent comes from other sources—almost all of it advertising revenue.

We still sell ads, for two reasons: First, all the ­revenue counts. It pays a lot of basic bills. Second, advertising allows us to introduce organizations and products to you that may benefit you. They choose WORLD because they believe there’s a fit.

Advertising revenue of 14 percent is a relatively small amount in the news business. Because of your support, we don’t have to prioritize advertising, which could lead to temptations like the lamentable trend of phony “sponsored content” or unethical relationships with big advertisers.

Another significant thing about that 14 percent is what it does not contain: government money or corporate foundation grants. You can probably see the downside with those.

That brings us back to the big 86 percent figure, the revenue you provide. It involves two main sources: subscriptions and donations.

Both are important. Subscriptions, along with ads, help to cover day-to-day things like paper, printing, postage, marketing, accounting, and technology. Donations—all of them—go toward providing ever-increasing coverage of important events and issues. Donations—all of them—allow us to add new ­platforms and products and coverage areas.

Thanks to you, both of those numbers grew in our most recent fiscal year. We needed it, because costs have increased dramatically and we’re doing more.

Costs continue to rise. We hope you’ll renew your subscriptions, of course, and give gift subscriptions. That will help cover those increasing costs.

We also hope you’ll consider a donation to help us continue to improve and expand. The news media still suffers from a well-deserved crisis of confidence, and there’s much opportunity for Christian journalism to make a difference.

Your contributions before the end of the year will help us expand our Biblically objective reporting and analysis. You can donate by check using the envelope in the current print issue. To make a gift online, you can visit wng.org/donate.

We thank God for you, knowing that the very people we serve are the same people who make it possible for us to serve. With your generosity, we’ll be able to fulfill that mission of service more effectively, for more people.