02.04.2015

Keeping pace

Your love is not enough, says Robbie Rix

I have to report that once again we have failed to reach our monthly fighting fund target - although not by a disastrous margin. We were just under £100 short of the £1,750 we need in March, as we ended the month on £1,651.

The problem is that the deficit is mounting up - although we are regularly raising a lot more than this time last year, it is not enough to match the increased printing costs and this is putting a strain on our finances. Just about everybody thinks that the introduction of full-colour front and back pages last autumn hugely improved the appearance of the Weekly Worker, but the trouble is, not enough readers are putting their money where their mouth is just yet.

Over the last week, three nicely sized cheques came in - thank you, JK (£50), GF (£25) and TR (£20). Then there were PayPal donations from FG (£25), LT and DS (£10 each). But, as usual, the biggest part of last week’s donations came in the shape of standing orders - £155 in total from DS (£35), PM (£30), RL (£10), CC (£5) and, last but not least, JT (a magnificent £75). But, although our monthly standing orders have gone up by £110 since we launched our campaign to increase them, that is not enough to keep pace with the extra costs.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that we are in deep trouble - the Weekly Worker had built up a financial surplus before we decided to go colour, but now things are getting a little too tight for comfort. Yet, while many of readers talk about our paper’s “unique role” or “inspiring coverage” (to quote RL and JK respectively), not enough of them are following their lead.

If just a small number of our readers (there were 4,486 of them online last week) decided upon a new or increased standing order - enough to produce £140 a month more on top of the £110 extra we already have - that would leave us back in balance month by month.

We start April with £139 after just one day - yes, that all comes from the existing standing orders that come our way at the beginning of each month. Do you fancy adding to their number?

Robbie Rix