I recently received my second issue of Good Magazine, billed as a magazine "for people who give a damn". I came across it during one of my Saturday jaunts to Chapters, where I lounge about drinking Tim Hortons coffee and reading magazines that I'm too cheap to actually pay for. (Current faves: Harvard Business Review, the Economist, Walrus, Macleans, New York Magazine, the New Yorker, Heeb, and Tikkun. probably in reverse order.)
Anyway, I call attention to Good Magazine for its interesting business structure. The magazine makes money from ads, of course. The latest issues have had some protest-inspiring ads from Marc Jacobs, a shout out to the documentary about the Newark, NJ campaign for mayor, and ads for an innovative graphic design house.
But the interesting part is that all the subscription money goes to one of twelve admirable non-profit groups. I guess the magazine gets the money back as a tax break, while you can feel good about having made a contribution.
The issues focus on a range of themes, like community activism, media, politics, travel, religion and the like. Issue one revealed that Hilary Clinton had fund-raised $33,180,949 by June 2006 - $3,533,740 from lawyers and lobbyists.
The next month featured a creative series of portraits on people doing inspiring things. The next, a spread on photojournalists and their work, and also a write up about a travel site called Couch Surfer that organises people with free places to stay around the world. I think the Couch Surfer founder is lurking somewhere in Montreal's Plateau.
This month's interactive reader project - Good invites readers to alter the front page of your local newspaper to add your own depth and commentary to the day’s news. An exhibition of the work will take place on Friday at the Felissimo Townhouse in NY.
Maybe if enough of us subscribe, they'll bring some events up here.
