Dear Interim reader:

The Interim is in its 30th year. For three decades we have been providing pro-life news and information to the pro-life community across Canada.

In 2009, we unexpectedly lost a government grant from the Publication Assistance Program and we asked you, our readers and supporters, to help us make up the shortfall. Through your generosity we were able to make it through an extremely difficult period.

In 2011, we once again received a publication grant, but in 2012 we find ourselves without it again.

Unfortunately, we have been hit doubly hard. Since the global financial crisis of 2008, charitable organizations have felt the pinch of donors skeptical that the economy is going to fully recover. While we are not a charity, much of our advertising comes from entities that are: churches and pro-life groups with registered charitable numbers. Without their usual support, these churches and pro-life groups have not been able to support us at the level they would like.

Furthermore, many of the businesses that advertise in The Interim have also been hurt by the difficult economic conditions of the past few years.

The combination of the loss of government grants and declining advertising revenue has resulted in a serious shortage of resources for The Interim and we find ourselves borrowing to meet payroll and cover the basic expenses of running a newspaper.

We run on a bare-bones budget. We have a small staff: an editor, a production manager, a circulation manager, and two advertising salesmen. The Interim’s employees sacrifice greatly to work at the paper and bring the pro-life message to about 20,000 subscribers and 75,000 readers; if they worked in the for-profit sector, they could make as much as 50 per cent more than they do now.

We are often asked why The Interim does not save printing and mailing costs by going completely online. The fact is that a paper version of The Interim is vitally necessary. Aside from the importance of having a tangible record of pro-life news and views, many of our readers are not online. According to a reader survey we conducted a few years ago, our readers are mature and most of them either do not have the internet or do not use it regularly to get news. Without The Interim the heart and soul of the pro-life movement would lose their regular source of information and informed opinion about abortion, euthanasia, bioethics, marriage and family, religious freedom, and other moral issues.

Also, hundreds of schools and teachers receive The Interim and along with the specially created curriculum we offer them, thousands of students are being educated about life issues because of The Interim.

The Interim supports the pro-life movement by providing news, features, commentary, and analysis that is life-affirming and common-sense and not available elsewhere in Canada in print. The pro-life movement and those vulnerable to the Culture of Death deserve nothing less than our best efforts.

Now we need your help.

We ask that you pray that The Interim continues to serve the pro-life community for as long it is needed. We also request your prayers that our fundraising efforts are successful and provide us with the necessary resources to accomplish our mission of educating and activating pro-life Canadians.

We also ask that you donate to The Interim because we need your financial help today. While we are currently urgently working to put the paper on a more solid financial footing in the future (possibly modestly raising subscription rates in the New Year, improving our advertising sales, and increasing sales of our yearly fundraiser, the Agenda 2013 day planner – see page 9 for details), there are bills that need to be paid now. Please consider donating to The Interim and please give generously.

We wish to show our appreciation for various levels of donations, by offering you a gift of your choice. (See the form here.)

If you own a company and want to support the work of The Interim by advertising, please contact John or Anna Marie in our advertising department at 416-204-1687. If you know someone who might want to advertise or receive a complimentary sample of The Interim, please let us know.

We thank you for your support through the years. We hope to have you as readers for many more. Your investment in The Interim will help ensure the paper is there for the pro-life community today and in the future, providing the news and information people need to help build a Culture of Life. Please give generously and please pray that our pro-life message will continue to reach those who need it.

Yours for life,

Paul Tuns

Editor