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NOT SUCH GOODNEWS!!!
Trustee David Palmer explains the reason behind the price increase for Goodnews
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Earlier this year I wrote about the difficulties of making ends meet at Goodnews, and asked if you could help. Through the generosity of many people we received donations of over £10,000 and this has greatly assisted the financial viability of the magazine. As both a volunteer and as a Trustee I am grateful for your trust in us and your support of the work of Goodnews both financially and with your prayers. However, it is still a fact that the income from Goodnews at £1.50 per copy does not cover the costs of editing, printing and distributing it. Although we do receive help from several volunteers who work for nothing, our full time staff do have to be paid a living wage. To do otherwise would be failing to acknowledge the Scripture in Matthew 10:10 "The labourer is worthy of his hire." Although we keep our overheads down there is little we can do to reduce printing and postage costs. Whilst donations help reduce the deficit, they do not remove it. The last increase in the Goodnews subscription price was in 2001. Since then the costs have gone up by about 50%. The magazine has increased in size from 24 pages to 36 and has a much more attractive glossy colour cover. At a recent meeting we looked at the various options available to us: producing a smaller magazine would hardly reduce our costs at all; taking in paid advertising would require additional staff to manage. The only realistic solution is to increase the subscription price. GOODNEWS COVER PRICE TO INCREASE TO £ 1.95 We have therefore decided to increase the UK cover price from £1.50 to £1.95. Annual subscriptions will rise from £11.00 to £13.95. Note that the annual subscription includes the cost of postage which has also been increasing dramatically. In order to show our commitment to the spread of the Goodnews in Ireland, the price will remain unchanged at €2.85 and the annual subscription will stay at £15 or €25. For subscriptions for outside the UK and Ireland, where postal charges are a major factor in our costs, the prices will rise from the current £15 or €25 to £18.50 or €30 for Europe and from £16.50 to £22.00 for areas outside of Europe. These increases will take effect from the November/December edition. Whilst we know that for some this will seem a large increase, it is still not enough to cover costs fully and we therefore continue to rely on donations to survive. Our twin key missions are to provide both high quality teaching material and a forum to advertise events and conferences of widespread general interest. We sincerely hope that our readers will continue to support us as the only Catholic Charismatic Magazine in the British Isles. You will be aware that we are planning a special edition for March/April 2007 to commemorate the 40 year Anniversary of Catholic Charismatic Renewal. This will be considerably larger and will be produced to have a longer lasting value as an "evangelistic" tool to tell others about the Renewal. Whilst we currently expect the cover price of that issue to be £3.95, those on annual subscriptions will receive it at the normal price, thus saving much of the increase!
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