South Coast Almanac, Buzzards Bay Coalition make unlikely pairing

“They view our region the same way Buzzards Bay Coalition always did, and the way that I do,” Rasmussen mentioned. “The stories that they covered, the feel of the magazine, the photos they captured, the people they chose to highlight always felt very much in sync with my view of what the South Coast is.”

The mashup is an unlikely partnership at a troublesome time for print media — and one which prompted questions from some readers who nervous that the brand new homeowners would possibly rework the life-style publication right into a mouthpiece for the Coalition.

But the Coalition’s absorption of the journal was not for monetary causes, nor do its new homeowners plan to vary something about its protection. Instead, based on leaders at each outfits, the organizations noticed that they’d overlapping pursuits and may very well be stronger collectively.

Buzzards Bay is an environmentally delicate space, and the Coalition performs a significant position in serving to to maintain the water clear and preserving different components of the ecosystem. The Almanac is all about chronicling life within the area, which naturally contains the outside.

“Here were these two organizations with the same ethos, which was basically ‘you have to love where you live,’” mentioned Briggett, who stays writer of the Almanac.

Rasmussen had been a fan of the journal from the beginning and in the future over espresso with Briggett he was discussing how the Coalition’s internet presence “has always been weak.” He requested if she would come onboard to run communications, they usually agreed that the journal would come alongside as effectively. She serves as vice chairman of public engagement, whereas Lajoie, the Almanac’s editor, joined the Coalition as communications director.

The two organizations formally joined forces on the finish of 2024 and introduced the change in adjoining letters to readers within the Almanac’s vacation subject. Briggett donated the publication to the Coalition, which means no cash modified fingers.

Prior to becoming a member of the Coalition, which is headquartered in New Bedford, the Almanac operated as a for-profit group. Though it’s now half of a bigger nonprofit, there are not any plans to vary its enterprise mannequin: 95 % of its income comes from promoting, and the remaining comes from subscriptions.

The journal has a circulation of roughly 10,000, and fewer than 1,000 individuals pay for direct subscriptions — as a substitute of shopping for it at native shops in Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Onset, and different cities within the area. The Almanac’s workers all work part-time, however Briggett, Lajoie, and artwork director Hannah Haines even have full-time roles on the Coalition. Additionally, the journal hires freelance photographers and writers to assist fill out its pages. The journal isn’t worthwhile, however it’s “able to leverage the magazine staff to engage in the communications, graphic design, and public engagement needs of the Coalition,” Briggett mentioned.

Naturally, the comparatively new association raised questions for readers about what modifications could be made, if any, and whether or not there may very well be conflicts in overlaying the Almanac.

“I was worried,” mentioned Lindsay Miś, government director of the Massachusetts Design, Art, and Technology Institute and an Almanac subscriber. But to this point, she mentioned, hasn’t seen “any heavy hand” from the Coalition and, if something, the Almanac has been extra inventive in its design than earlier than.

“It doesn’t look like your local foodie magazine,” she mentioned, including that the standard of its textual content designs, font decisions, compositions, and pictures assist it stand out.

John Bullard, the previous mayor of New Bedford who has served on the Buzzards Bay Coalition board prior to now, first mentioned he was stunned to listen to concerning the merger, earlier than rapidly including that nothing Rasmussen does is a shock to him anymore.

“Mark doesn’t do things that he hasn’t thought through,” Bullard mentioned. “He’s answering all the questions before I or anyone else has the chance to ask them.”

“This was another way to reach people. I think it makes total sense for the Coalition,” he added. For the Almanac, he mentioned that its “relationship with the Coalition connects them more deeply and more broadly to the South Coast region.”

As for potential conflicts, Briggett, the writer, mentioned that they “are less than you would think.”

“It’s not like we’re doing investigative journalism,” she mentioned.

While the Coalition has naturally come up within the Almanac’s protection, there isn’t a devoted beat reporter overlaying the setting or the Coalition itself.

“If we work it in, then great, because the Coalition is part of the South Coast, and we can put environmental stories in, but we’re not going to make it look like we’re forcing the Coalition’s work onto our readers,” he mentioned.

Briggett and Lajoie’s twin roles, nonetheless, are an odd association that they acknowledge. They’re at all times working for the Coalition, which implies they need to put on a number of hats, particularly when the Almanac’s publication date is nearing.

While the journal now lives beneath the Coalition, Rasmussen mentioned he has no involvement with the editorial features and needs Briggett and Lajoie to proceed the work of the final 10 years of the Almanac.

He pointed to different nonprofit organizations such because the Sierra Club and the Nature Conservancy which have magazines, however that’s by no means been a objective for the Coalition. He argued that one of the simplest ways to speak the significance of the setting is to implement it into broader protection of the area, which can even attain a bigger viewers.

“There’s the quality of schools in your town. There’s crime in your town. There’s fiscal management by your municipality. If the environment is just one of the many things on the list, it’s always sort of going to be sidelined,” he mentioned. “It’s part of the fabric of who we are as a region.”

---

Aidan Ryan could be reached at aidan.ryan@globe.com. Follow him @aidanfitzryan.