Anglican Journal Appeal 2016 raises nearly half a million

The Anglican Journal Appeal, the Journal’s annual donation campaign, grossed $496,414 in 2016.

The figures represent a 4% drop from the 2015 Anglican Journal Appeal, which marked the 140th anniversary of the Journal and raised $558,299, according to Beverley Murphy, senior manager of communications and information resources, and Journal business manager.

But it still represents a greater yield than the appeal brought in during the early years of the decade, when the appeal raised less than $495,000 from 2010-2012, said Murphy.

The appeal provides a substantial portion— roughly 25%—of the Journal’s annual budget, as well as supporting the work of diocesan papers, with whom the proceeds are shared.

Additional sources of income include funding from General Synod (30.4%), a grant from Heritage Canada (20.9%), advertising revenue (11.2%), distribution income (11.4%) and others (0.59%).

The money raised by the appeal is an important source of income, allowing the Journal to continue providing editorially independent coverage of the affairs of the Anglican Church of Canada through news, features, diocesan profiles and columns, said Journal editor Marites N. Sison. “We are grateful to our donors and readers because their generosity helps us to continue this vital ministry,” she said. “The Journal exists, in part, because donors and readers vote with their wallets.”

A total of 9,408 Anglicans donated to the 2016 appeal, giving an average of $53 to support the work of the paper. While many of these donors have supported the Journal in the past, more than 500 were giving for the first time.

This is slightly fewer than the 9,640 who participated in the 2015 appeal. It does, however, fall in line with the small but steady annual decrease in the number of donors since 2005, the appeal’s most successful year, when 18,442 donors gave a total of $638,119.

Of the money raised through the 2016 appeal, $168,191 was shared with 19 diocesan papers across the Canadian church.

The appeal began in 1994, and since its inception has raised a total of $9.8 million, of which over $3.6 million has been shared with diocesan papers.