Tommy Washbush
Isthmus' 50th Anniversary logo.
People often tell us it looks like Isthmus is doing well. How great is that? I mean, what news outlet in America is actually doing “well” in 2026? Many across the country, including those in our own community and region, are struggling if they haven’t already closed. In the last year alone, more than 130 papers shut down across the country, according to “The State of Local News: The 2025 Report,” by Northwestern University’s journalism school. Many more are a shell of their former selves.
So there is reason to celebrate our achievements, even though there are underlying challenges that may not be that obvious. And there is much to be grateful for since Isthmus dug out from the COVID shutdown, transitioned to a nonprofit organization in 2021, and returned to print.
Importantly, our revenue has grown every year. Trust me, that is not a given these days. Our financial support comes largely from our local sponsors, who advertise in our paper, newsletters and on our website, isthmus.com, and also from our readers and donors who give in a variety of ways — through monthly and annual memberships; one-time contributions, stock donations, and more.
We recently wrapped up our year-end matching campaign which was our best effort to date. Thanks, in particular, to board member Mary Lang Sollinger, who got the ball rolling on that campaign earlier than usual. We beat our fundraising goal by over 25%, bringing in more than $100,000.
We have been extremely frugal and responsible stewards of the financial support we have received. Look no further than this issue, which is unusually small. We could have added pages to make room for more stories, but, to quote former President George H.W. Bush (or Dana Carvey, for that matter), that would not have been prudent. Our expenses would have outstripped our sponsorship revenue on the issue, which always drops after the holidays.
In general, we have been very careful not to get over our skis as we have built out our nonprofit organization over the past five years. But sometimes it is necessary to spend money to support your employees and to grow the organization, and we are taking two significant steps in that regard.
Starting this month our small staff will have access to employer-supported health insurance benefits for the first time since 2020. We have signed an agreement with SustainableHR PEO, a local company that provides management of benefits, payroll and HR functions for small businesses and nonprofits like Isthmus. I am thrilled we are at a place to provide support for our staffers, especially at a time when the health insurance marketplace is increasingly uncertain and scary.
We are also implementing a customer relationship management system or CRM. It’s part of a fundraising platform built by BlueLena, which manages our reader donation program, for independent news publishers like Isthmus. It will make our development operation more efficient by allowing us to consolidate all of our donor information in one place, and help us build our base of reader support.
And there is one more significant development to share: We now have an endowment fund in place. This was the brainchild of board member Jason Stephens, who thought it was important that we create a mechanism to fund Isthmus in perpetuity. Jason also provided the know-how and mechanics for setting up the fund. Jason has additionally seeded the endowment with a donation from his company, Thompson Investment Management Inc., and a separate one from his family. Thanks also to Attorney Melissa Scholz for providing legal assistance for this project.
All of these new ventures should put us in good stead for 2026, a big year for us: Isthmus is turning 50! We will be honoring the milestone in various ways over the year, with a special issue in April to coincide with the five-decade anniversary of Isthmus’ very first issue on April 8, 1976, and a community event with details still to be determined.
One item that is ready is the special 50th anniversary logo created by art director Tommy Washbush. You might have already noticed it on the front cover. Tommy tried several variations, playing with graphic elements from Isthmus’ past, including the original 1976 logo, the “Venn diagram” symbol from the same era, the warped 1985 logo and the double arrow. Ultimately we went with what we all felt was the most clever idea, which uses a rolled-up newspaper to form the zero in 50. As usual, Tommy hit it out of the park.
Soon we will be soliciting from readers their favorite Isthmus moments. Who met the love of their life through the personals? We know you’re out there!
