[Lnc-business] ROI - LP News vs Reason Magazine

[Wes Benedict]

"Reason magazine--which is known as 'the largest and most influential 
libertarian publication in the world today'-needs to raise an additional 
$300,000 per issue to pay its bills. . . That's on top of the money we 
earn from subscriptions, advertising, and other commercial activities." 
(Matt Welch - Reason Magazine fundraising letter, 2013, copy attached.)

I've been asked the ROI on LP News. Rather than write about it several 
times, I thought I'd share a few thoughts with the board all at once, 
and then forward this email to the people who ask me about it again over 
the next few months.

LP News is a newsletter. It's #1 goal isn't to raise money directly, 
although it does raise some money directly. As a newsletter, it informs 
the readership about our activities. It sometimes inspires, sometimes 
educates and trains, and sometimes bores people I'm sure. I usually 
throw Reason Magazine in the trash without reading it, but I do think 
it's great for a libertarian publication and I hope they keep it up.

LP News acts as an advertisement to our subscribers to show what the 
national, state, and local candidates and affiliates are doing so that 
when those same subscribers receive fundraising letters, they are more 
likely to donate in response to fundraising requests.

Some people have very strongly urged us to increase production of LP 
News to a monthly publication. Others have very strongly urged us to 
discontinue it altogether. Others have urged electronic only. I 
personally prefer 4 to 6 issues per year. But if the LNC ever or LNC 
members ever mandate 12 or 0 and I'm still here, I'll comply.

LP News is posted online at our website LP.org. If you don't know where, 
that proves a point about the likelihood of people reading the online 
version. I want it in print too because I want to put in your mailbox 
right in front of you from time to time.

Wikipedia definition: "Return on investment (ROI) is the benefit to an 
investor resulting from an investment of some resource."

In trying to calculate a financial number of ROI for LP News, two 
Libertarians could argue extensively over what items should be included 
as investments, and what should be included as returns.

For those interested in trying to calculate ROI using whatever numbers 
might be available, you might find some numbers in the LNC meeting 
archives for that:
http://www.lp.org/leadership/lnc-meeting-archives

I'm not interested in trying the calculation myself, because I don't 
think any reports have enough data to make an accurate calculation, and 
I think even more detailed reports would probably only provide more 
precise misinformation. The LNC adopted a membership plan that required 
publishing major donors' photos in LP News, presumably to recognize 
them, thank them, encourage them to donate again, and encourage others 
to follow suit. What is that worth and how do we measure it? The 
upcoming LP News has a convention registration form in it, which saves 
us the postage of an extra convention mailing. Should the money coming 
in from that be counted as a return to LP News, or to the convention? I 
suppose in the long run, the sum financial ROI of all our non-profit's 
activities, which are highly co-dependent, are close to zero, as we 
spend most of what we raise, rather than build up a large pot of money, 
but one of our economists or accounting gurus might be able to state 
that more correctly.

Some people have said LP News is a print medium, which is becoming 
obsolete, and we should end it and go all electronic. Well, I'm for 
raising funds using multiple channels. The LP is mostly white males, but 
we should still reach out to women and minorities. Less than half our 
revenue currently comes from online sources, although it has been 
growing steadily as a percentage of the total.

The experts in the political industry continue using a combination of 
print and online fundraising techniques and newsletters. There's a 
reason for that. There's a reason the grocery store and department 
stores still put newsprint flyers in your mailbox, and Chinese 
restaurants put door hangers on your doorknob.

While I am in favor of continuing LP News at 4 to 6 print issues per 
year, at least for a while, I'm more interested in what people think of 
Liberty Pledge News. Liberty Pledge News is a monthly print publication 
that gets mailed to our monthly pledgers. If you're not familiar with 
Liberty Pledge News and would like to sample it for a few months, please 
sign up for a monthly pledge of $10 or more here, 
https://www.lp.org/contribute, or as part of a membership here: 
https://www.lp.org/membership.

Sample Liberty Pledge News with a monthly contribution today:

*https://www.lp.org/contribute
https://www.lp.org/membership*

and help me decide - keep it, or kill it!

If every LNC member and officers signs up for a $15 per month monthly 
pledge, M Carling has offered to donate ten times that amount, or $150 
per month.

Yours in Liberty Pledge News <https://www.lp.org/membership>,

-- 
Wes Benedict, Executive Director
Libertarian National Committee, Inc.
1444 Duke St., Alexandria, VA 22314
(202) 333-0008 ext. 232, wes.benedict at lp.org
facebook.com/libertarians @LPNational
Join the Libertarian Party at: http://lp.org/membership

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