by Ralph Sanders and Sharon Lovering
As readers of “The Braille Forum” are aware, we have scaled back production of the magazine to eight issues for calendar year 2004. The budget committee felt it had to make cuts in the production budget for “The Braille Forum” so that it could function within the overall budget constraints of the organization.
So that you may better understand what all is involved in getting you — all 24,806 of you — your electronic, disk, tape, braille, or large print copy of “The Braille Forum,” we want to provide you with some detailed information about the “Forum,” its costs, and how they relate to the overall budget of the ACB. We believe this information is important to you because the “Forum” remains the most valuable source of information about issues of importance to the lives of blind and visually impaired individuals, as well as to the members of ACB. We think you will agree that your “Braille Forum” is, by far, the best value for the money available to any blind or visually impaired person.
Most ACB members seem to agree that “The Braille Forum” is the single most important program or service we provide. That idea in no way takes away from the value or importance of our work on advocacy, our work with Congress and federal agencies, our support to state and special-interest affiliates, or our public education. In fact, it is simply the recognition that “The Braille Forum” is the one thing that enables us to pull all other activities together in a way that lets our members, friends and public officials know who we are and what we are doing in all the other categories.
It should not be surprising, therefore, to realize that “The Braille Forum” is the single largest cost center for the ACB budget. The cost of the magazine is made up of many parts: the cost of producing the magazine, most of which is paid to outside suppliers for printing, brailling, recording and duplicating; internal expenses, including staff salaries; and support expenses, office equipment and space. When taken together, these costs are approximately 25 percent of the total ACB budget.
A tremendous amount of staff time goes into the process of working with members on getting articles submitted, editing those articles and scheduling them for inclusion in a future issue — the essential work of creating “The Braille Forum.” The actual work of preparing “The Braille Forum” for production and distribution and seeing that it happens in an orderly fashion requires an equally tremendous amount of staff time. Sharon Lovering spends a minimum of 10 days per issue performing production and distribution-related tasks. The first challenge is to design the issue based on content; the second, to choose photos, if any. It not only has to be designed for the print edition, but once that is done, some alterations are necessary before it can be sent to the production house for brailling.
While the tape, print and braille versions are produced and distributed by outside suppliers, the disk version is produced and mailed from the national office. And, as anyone accustomed to working with a large publication is aware, there is always additional time required to do last-minute editing caused by production questions from the various outside suppliers. There are a couple of additional days of work each issue contributed by other staff members.
Even having reduced the publication to only eight issues for the year, ACB will spend in excess of $10 per subscription, including production and distribution expenses as well as the costs for staff salaries and support costs. Obviously the costs associated with production and distribution of an electronic subscription are considerably less, while the cost of a braille subscription is much higher. A braille subscription, for production expense only, costs us roughly $16 for the eight issues, compared with roughly $4 for the same subscription in print. The tape version, on the other hand, runs about $5.
Any way you look at it, “The Braille Forum” costs far more than the dues paid by any member. And it is the best value you can find. In order to help increase the number and size of issues, we need your support and contributions. If you cannot afford to give more than your membership dues, don’t worry. “The Braille Forum,” like all other programs and services of the American Council of the Blind, is yours without any question. If you can, we hope this information will encourage you to send contributions to ACB for “The Braille Forum.” Gifts from affiliates have provided a valuable source of funds to ensure the continued viability of the publication.
“The Braille Forum” is our voice for members and the blindness community at large. It is a vital voice which must remain strong. Won’t you please help us keep it that way?