11 June 11,2003 I'conducted myfinal
Board of Directors meeting as
President of Mountain Pride Media. At
the end of this four-hour meeting a small and
dedicated group of volunteers had outlined a
new direction for Mountain Pride Media and
Out In The Mountains. J

We ended the day with a significantly
smaller board of directors, losing two board
members and officers who had served four-
year terms. We had made some difficult and '
significant decisions to reduce expenses and
stabilize the organization’s finances. We had
elected three new officers, with one board
member filling two positions. We amended the
organization’s bylaws governing committee
chairs. And I personally had ended an amazing
chapter in my life. ‘ _ ’

You have been reading about
Mountain Pride Media’s current struggles. We
ended 2002 with a deficit of over $11,000 dol-
lars, reflecting a decline in advertising revenue.
Pasiboards of directors had previously created
an emergency fund (thanks to donor support.

. and increased national ad revenue during the
civil unions battles). Money from this fund was

used-to cover the deficit for 2002.

' * Despite our best efforts to increase
all our revenue sources including advertising,
subscriptions and donations, as of June 2003
we are showing a deficit of $2,588.51. Having
I depleted the emergency fund, there was no
place else to go but toward cutting expenses.
The new fonnat of "the paper you are
currently holding in your hands is one of the
cost-cutting measures enacted by the Board at
our June meeting. This new format, although
smaller in size (but big on content), will save
us money. As a last resort, we’ll look at cutting
the number of pages in each issue. You can still
help us figure out what features to keep (there
just isn’t room for everything) by filling out
our 2003 Readership Survey (available on our
website www.mountainpridemedia.org. Thanks

irection    

 

 

ever operations manager, several

 

      
 
   

':;-' .,  .‘

ad sales reps,

'‘ I * over a dozen board members, and hundreds of

go to everyone who has already taken the time
to fill out the survey! We also want to
acknowledge our printer, BD Press, for work-“
ing with us to reduce our printing costs.

Another significant expense is distri-
bution (thanks to postage increases). The Board
is currently looking at how to reduce the costs
associated with distributing the paper, which
we do free of charge throughout Vermont and
neighboring states. We might reduce the num-
ber of papers printed each month (currently
about 6,000), discontinue out-of-state distribu-
tion, and consolidate some of our distribution
points. We can use your help here too — as
couriers or distribution volunteers. By having
community members deliver papers to our dis-
tribution volunteers or directly to distribution
points we save money. The less we have to
mail the more we can save. -

The last place we ever want to cut is
the salaries of our stafi‘ members. Mountain
Pride Media has been committed to fairly com-
pensating each staff member. If Wasn’t very
long ago when all of the positions, even the ' ’ _
Editor’s, were volunteer positions. At that long
June meeting two of our three staff members
volunteered to take pay cuts, and each board
member present also agreed to help reduce
expenses by making some extra contribution,
from buying pizza for the monthly stuffing
each month to donating and transporting a
scale to more accurately weigh packages.

I have the utmost respect for the

2 board members and staff who participated in

one of the most challenging meetings l’ve ever
attended in my four years on the Board of
Directors. I want to thank each of them for
theircontributions, their energy, their sacri-
fices, and their passion for Mountain Pride
Media and our community. I am honored to
have had the opportunity to meet and work
with each of them as well as with an amazing
array of people over the past four years includ-
ing three editors, four art directors, our first

_volunteers and supporters.  ‘

It continues to amaze me that
Mountain Pride Media, the tax-exempt non-
profit organization that_publishes Out in the
Mountains, is only 7 years old - established ten
years after the first issueof Out In The
Mountains was published. l’ve watched a
young organization struggle, develop, triumph,
and grow. -

l’ve seen a community newspaper
record our history and provide an outlet for our
voices to be shared and heard. l’ve observed an
expanded website filled with resources grow to
include an almost complete online archive of»
the entire l7_v years of Out In The Mountains.
l’ve seen other communication tools, such as
VTPridenet, being used to organize and con-
nect a statewide community. I ’ve have seen
new and exciting collaborations between MBM
and other organizations develop and expand.

So it is all of this, the good times and

, the bad, that fuel my passion for Mountain

Pride Media and what it represents for our
community in thc_past, present and the future.’
People who know me well know that I tend to
have a pretty consistent optimistic outlook.
That hasn’t changed, despite the current eco-
nomic difiiculties. I’m confident that Mountain
Pride Media and Out In The Mountains will
surviveand that we are on the right path.

I ’ve seen extraordinary things happen
over the past four years not- the least of which
occurred on that June llth evening as eight
individuals sat in small room in Richmond,
Vermont, envisioning not the end of the road
but a bold new direction. So as Mountain Pride
Media and I both head in new directions, I
encourage you all to be passionate. get
involved, make a difference, and dare to dream.

"Somewhere over the rainbow skies are blue
and the dreams that you dare to dream really

do come true. "

Roland F. Palmer