Reader-, listener-, viewer-funded journalism

It won’t surprise you to hear that it is becoming increasingly difficult for news organizations to survive on the traditional revenue streams of advertising and subscriptions. Very few news organizations work that way these days.

If you’ve been following my Notes here for long, you know WORLD has never worked that way. We’ve always relied on our readers—and now, more and more, on our listeners and viewers—to support what we do. And you always have.

Still, we try to make our requests not feel like we’re hitting you over the head with them. We limit our major appeals to twice per year, at the end of the calendar year, and here at the end of our June 30 fiscal year.

These aren’t the only times we ask. We’re just concluding a small campaign seeking new donors (a shout-out here to those of you who became first-time WORLD Movers in May: thanks!) and plan to do another one like it in November. And we always make targeted appeals in April for our donor-funded World Journalism Institute and in August for WORLD Watch, our daily video news program for students.

We ask because we can’t do what we do without your help.

We wouldn’t have it any other way. Given our commitment to journalistic independence, the best business model is this: Those we serve directly support the work. No huge foundation, or deep-pocketed activists, but rather tens of thousands of you. Advertising is part of the model, but deliberately not in any position to influence coverage or, worse, to collaborate on content—which, shockingly, is becoming the norm.

Very simply, we serve readers like you by providing the best Biblically objective journalism we can. Then, you support that journalism.

We are grateful for our calling to serve you this way. And we’re grateful for your calling to support our calling. As I mentioned in the previous issue, we already have big plans for the coming fiscal year. There’s a lot we’d like to do—a lot we need to do—for which we haven’t made plans. Not yet.

Would you make a donation to support WORLD’s work before June 30—to give us what we need to pursue our calling to serve you with sound reporting from a Biblical perspective? Visit wng.org/donate to contribute today.