In the year since our sustaining subscriber program began, more than 130 families have become sustaining subscribers. For the first time in many years, there is a good chance that 2018 will have little or no operating deficit. However, it isn’t time to relax. To be truly sustainable, we need at least 250 more sustaining subscribers, and we need our current sustainers to renew, now and in the future.
To make renewal and continuation as easy as possible, we have arranged with our bank, Rollstone Bank and Trust, to set up automatic monthly payments from sustaining subscribers. Give us your authorization, and a monthly payment will be transferred from your bank account to ours. You don’t have to bank with Rollstone to participate. Any U.S. bank that participates in the Automated Clearing House (ACH) can process a transfer authorization.
Choose the basic minimum of $10 per month, or any other monthly amount that totals at least $100 per year. Rollstone will run the withdrawals at the first of every month and transfer funds to the Harvard Press account. Your instructions will remain in effect until you notify us to change them (increase, decrease, or cancel).
An insert in this week’s townwide issue includes a form to enroll as a monthly automatic sustainer. Fill it out and mail it in, or if you prefer, click the green “Be a Sustainer” button on the homepage of harvardpress.com and enroll.
If you are already a subscriber (sustaining or otherwise), bank transfer instructions will take effect when your subscription is up for renewal, unless you tell us to start sooner. In any case, you will be notified before transfer instructions take effect. We expect to be able to begin taking transfers in December.
An article in this summer’s Columbia Journalism Review, “When local papers close, costs rise for local government,” makes an interesting point: By maintaining vigilance over government deliberations, bond ratings (and therefore borrowing costs) can be contained, and therefore taxes and the cost of government can be kept in check. By keeping the Press alive to keep watch over local administrators, boards, and committees, sustainer payments could save us all money in the long run.
We are extremely grateful for all who have already made sustainer payments, and we thank, in advance, all who sign up for automatic monthly payments. We are grateful for support of subscribers at every level. We have resisted increasing subscription rates because we want the Press to be available to all. The sustaining subscriber program invites those who can to increase their support, keeping the Press as accessible as possible.
The Press publishers are Lisa Aciukewicz,
Sue Robbins, and Worth Robbins