Editor’s note: This commentary was written by Kelly Salwei, volunteer CFO and board member of Eden Prairie Local News (EPLN).
As the chief financial officer, I have a front-row seat to what it costs to produce Eden Prairie Local News (EPLN). In this brief article, I will shed some light on the nature of our expenses, our vision for EPLN, and why your support is crucial to the success of this nonprofit endeavor.
Following is a summary of our expenses since inception:
As you can see, payroll and contract labor comprise 80% of total expenses. The large increase in other expenses in 2023 consists of printing and mailing the Voter Guide sent to all Eden Prairie households.
None of the executives or board members are paid for their time spent on behalf of EPLN. Our short-term goal was and is to provide nonpartisan, hyperlocal news and, in doing so, grow our readership. After organizing in 2020, following the demise of the longtime local newspaper, Eden Prairie News, we hired our first employee in April 2021 as a 0.50 full-time equivalent (FTE). With the support of our donors and advertisers, we have grown to 2.25 FTEs, including a full-time editor, a half-time co-editor, and two part-time journalists.
Contract labor consists primarily of independent journalists who write articles and provide photographs for EPLN and are paid for the content they produce. We also have a considerable amount of content contributed to EPLN without any compensation. With the help of supporters, we hope to increase the amount paid to contractors. This will provide equitable compensation and encourage more freelance journalists to help us expand EPLN’s news coverage.
The remaining expenses consist of insurance, legal, supplies, and various administrative and compliance expenses.
Our monthly expenses have increased over time to just under $14,000.
Our revenue comes from three primary sources as illustrated below:
As you can see, contributions – that is, donations – are crucial to our survival, having grown to about 52% of our revenue. The grant revenue is also largely related to the contributions, as a significant amount of grants are matching grants. We continue to look for grants from foundations and other organizations that support nonprofit news. Advertising contributes between 20% and 34% of our total revenue.
To sustain this effort over the long term, EPLN will need to increase revenue so that employees and contributing journalists are paid market rates, and unpaid volunteers in critical positions – including president/publisher, finance/HR, chief technology officer, and revenue development staff – are compensated for their long hours.
Your continued support makes this possible. Please share EPLN with your friends and neighbors so we can increase our readership and support. If you are customers of our advertisers, please thank them for their support of EPLN.
We thank you for all you do to help us advance this essential service to Eden Prairie.
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