June 28, 2018: This Paper Needs You!; Community Partners Sought.

June 28, 2018: This Paper Needs You!;
Community Partners Sought.

A Newswest Sponsorship Challenge.

When Facebook first started, it developed an audience base by providing services free of charge, only later going to the financial markets to “cash in” on billions of dollars of built up value. Newswest is now looking to take a page from Mark Zuckerberg’s playbook, but with a more modest revenue goal – sponsorship support totalling $750 per month.

Since 2003, Newswest has been distributed free of charge as a “paper-within-a-paper” by The Kitchissippi Times, under an agreement that Newswest not compete for advertising revenue.

To cover NW’s budget, KT has absorbed publishing and distribution costs, and has generously provided a stipend to offset other operating expenses.

With recent changes to the community newspaper environment initiated by PostMedia and Metroland however, The Kitchissippi Times has been obliged to redesign its publication and distribution systems and to reduce its publication schedule from biweekly to monthly.

Through these changes, KT has continued with its agreement to publish and distribute four pages monthly of community content under the Newswest banner – with an added stipulation that Newswest raise its own operating funds through community sponsorship.

Our all-volunteer Newswest Board has eagerly taken up this challenge. We are proud to welcome and thank our very first sponsors: the craft breweries of Kitchissippi – Beyond the Pale, Tooth & Nail, and Vimy, together with the Hintonburg Community Association, the Hintonburg Economic Development Committee, the Wellington Barbershop and Kelly and Kerry Royal Lepage Realty.

To continue to be successful we must “cash in” on the value you, our supporters and readers receive from Newswest’s continuing monthly publication.

Without your sponsorship, Newswest would not be sustainable despite the continued support of The Kitchissippi Times. If you enjoy reading about our Kitchissippi neighbourhoods, their present, past and future, please consider pledging an amount by contacting Newswest online at: editor@newswest.org .

Through our paper-within-a-paper, the people in our ‘community of neighbourhoods’ will continue to be informed, alerted, advised and inspired. We need your support.

Photo Caption: How to find some of our sponsors.