2016 Summary (March-December)

State of the Paper:

  • Current staff:

2 Paid employees

Layout team – 1 employee ten hours/wk? (Ed Conn)

Program development, office manager, editor, public outreach,

Advertising coordinator – 30 hours/week

(John Keegan)

2 Volunteer Staff

Front desk staff/office management/secretary – 3 days each week

(Sue Sneider)

Web Development (Torrence Cambridge)

  • Currently 66 Vendors with contact at least 1 time each month. 163 Persons completed the application process, received materials and attended at least one meeting. This represents a significant loss of investment on our part. Vests are around $5 each, and the overwhelming majority of vests are not returned. So, for the 100 or so Vendors who engaged, but did not participate, as much as $500 of vests were given away. Each new vendor is given 10 papers. If a paper costs us ~ $0.20 to print, then an additional $200.00 of budget was invested and lost. I recommend that we fold these numbers into the expected operating budget for 2017.
  • Average Meeting Attendance: 29 (peaked in September at 53), and there are 4 meetings each month, so around 116 seats taken each month, and around 1400 seats over the course of a year. 14000 papers given as incentive over the course of a year. Prepare for 1/3 of our total print run for the year to be distributed as vendor incentives.
  • On average over the 10 measured months, the 29 Reporting Vendors worked a cumulative 653.8 hours each month at an average rate of pay around $7.69/hour. This means that Vendors in our program bring home nearly $175/month. (Current top salesman averages $280/week)
  • Vendors report approximately $46300 in team income over 10 months. Based on Vendor expenses (TSN Profit less donations), the team reinvested around $0.20 of every dollar made; 1/5 of gross income went right back into their own enterprises. If we compare reported profit with Vendor expenses, we find that, on average, each vendor is making $1.77 profit on each “$1.00” paper. Toledo is generous!!

Notable accomplishments: (many of which will be included as continuing goals for next year)

  • 14 Vendors found full-time employment

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  • 12 Vendors found secure housing
  • 15 Vendors sold more than 100 papers in a week at least once during the 10 measured months
  • TSN was invited to participate in the Lourdes University Poetry Slam, and one of our Vendors placed 2nd
  • Social Media contacts rose to 8,000 for at least one post
  • Paper size has increased from 10 pages to 16 pages
  • Collaborations with University of Toledo are underway to develop an internship program across disciplines including Social Work, Journalism, Public Health, Law Studies, Business and Marketing.
  • Developing an easy access entry level advertising system: “Street Signs”. A 20 word shout-out sold for $10.00 each. If sold by a vendor, I propose a 25% commission.
  • Mainstream public interviews with Radio (Fred LeFevrer) and TV (Glass City Grind)
  • Increase in paper distribution from less than 2000/month to as many as 5000/month)
  • Recipient of Savage Grant of $10,000
  • Archiving project with Public Library

Goals for 2017: (SMART goals to be developed by the end of Q1)

  • Increase average Reporting Vendor Team to 50. This will require greater interaction with the Mission System, Reentry Programs, and aggressive recruiting and retention
  • Increase average monthly distribution to 5000. This will likely require aggressive marketing of the Vendors to additional venues (professional and amateur sports, conventions, citywide celebrations, celebratory event in adjacent cities, etc.).
  • Increase publication rate to twice each month – this would be dependent on both budget as degree of article production by Writing Team. Perhaps 1 extra issue each quarter focused on creative writing?
  • Increase proportion of articles by vendors through development a robust program in writing skills, or perhaps collaborative efforts with local adult education systems
  • Secure $1000 (gross) each month in sold advertising space. This would require developing a strong advertising sales team, or securing sufficient office coverage to allow me greater interaction out of the office.
  • Refresh and update our public-facing webpages – Mr. Cambridge is working in this.
  • Increase network size and community presence with local housing, mental/physical-health, employment, education, and local governance/law enforcement agencies
  • Develop a monthly guest speaker program for education and integration of TSN Team
  • Reduce investment lost in Vests
  • Prepare summary and comparative reports to be presented on an monthly and quarterly basis
  • More intimate engagement with Board in an effort to expand my role with the paper.
  • Goals by quarter:

o  1: Fundraiser planning for event in 2nd quarter

o  2: Ad sales, writing grants, engage INSP for support and resources

o  3: Recruitment, collaboration w/community, Fundraiser planning for 4th quarter

o  4: Strategic Plan for 2018

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