Kiwanis Magazine
Somebody asked this question in the Kiwanis International group on Facebook recently:
Is the Kiwanis magazine still published? I can’t seem to find a recent one online and I have not received a copy in the mail.
Answer by Angelo Ciardella:
No longer publishing physical copies. The Blog section on the new KI website is where new articles can be found.
then why are we still getting charged I wonder?
To which Ben Hendricks (admin of the group) gave this insightful explanation:
I can add a bit of information regarding your question about the $8 publications fee.
The publications fund is set by the delegates. This is not an amount that the staff or the board can adjust. I’ve been here since 2018 and it has not been discussed on the convention floor in my years here.
Over the past decade, advertising revenue plummeted in the magazine industry. This is one of the reasons that many magazines completely disappeared and moved online. In 2019, our magazine brought in less than $3k in advertising revenue. This is a fraction of the advertising revenue brought in during the 90s when magazines were a viable advertising option for large companies.
The publications fund built a bit of a nest egg on advertising revenue and we were able to keep the cost low for a while by using these reserves. After COVID, the incredible increase in paper costs, postage and printing proved that we could no longer print 8 issues of a magazine. To be blunt, we charged $1 an issue, and this cost almost $5 per issue (per person).
Because of this, we have gone to one smaller magazine per year, and we’ve evolved to find ways to tell Kiwanis’ stories in the places where our members are spending time online (mostly Facebook, Instagram, and kiwanis.org).
It’s important to note that the publications fund does not only refer to printed versions of Kiwanis Magazine, but also refers to all content creation – video, website, email, newsletters, social media, podcasts, graphic design and stories posted on Kiwanis.org. Each of these areas are currently paid for via the publications fund. Currently, a printed issue of Kiwanis Magazine is sent to all subscribers each fall to kick off the new Kiwanis year and prepare our clubs and members for the year ahead.
I have created a link to the Kiwanis Magazine. See top menu under NEWS.