NORTH NEWTON, Kan. — Donors’ support and lower costs due to the first full year of biweekly publication kept Mennonite World Review Inc. budget balanced as income declined in 2013.

At the nonprofit corporation’s annual meeting March 7 at Kauffman Museum, editor and publisher Paul Schrag said operational revenues exceeded expenses by about $3,000.

Income from subscriptions and advertising was $414,713, a decrease of $39,412 from 2012.

Contributions from subscrib­ers and cost-cutting offset the revenue decline.

Printing and postage costs in 2013 were almost $76,000 less than in 2011, the last full year of publishing 46 issues.

Readers’ tax-deductible contributions are becoming a signifiant source of support for MWR’s ministry.
The third annual fundraising letter raised $41,338, up from $33,300 in 2012 and $26,486 in 2011. As promised, half of the donated funds were deposited in the company’s endowment fund, and half were used for current operations.

In January, after the deposit of contributions, the endowment’s value exceeded $300,000 for the first time. The endowment will be a source of income in the future under rules set by the board. The endowment was established in 2000, and the company has not yet needed to withdraw any funds.

Average paid circulation for the year preceding Oct. 1 was 8,196, down 373.

The mennoworld.org website had an average of 13,712 unique visitors a month, an 11 percent increase. A website redesign will launch this month.

Corporation members re-elected three members of the board of directors:

• Malinda Berry of Richmond, Ind., instructor in theological studies and director of the master of arts program at Bethany Theological Seminary. She will join the faculty at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Ind., this fall.
• Peggy Goertzen of Hillsboro, director of the Center for Mennonite Brethren Studies at Tabor College.
• John Longhurst of Winnipeg, Man., director of resources and public engagement at Canadian Foodgrains Bank.

After the corporation’s business session, Longhurst presented “MWR : From Gutenberg to Google: Stories from the front lines of the digital revolution.”