FY2023 Annual Report

First and foremost, Western Friend continues our tradition – begun in 1929 as Friends Bulletin – of publishing a periodic magazine of high quality, original content written by Friends in the West. In recent years, we have also demonstrated the helpfulness of “amplifying” original content by republishing it in other formats. Our email newsletter, Extra Extra Western Friend, is a simple weekly compilation of news items shared online previously by others. Our monthly podcast, Western Friend Podcast, takes a second look at original articles in our magazine, usually through author interviews. Drawing upon the talents of Friends throughout the West – Intermountain Yearly Meeting, North Pacific Yearly Meeting, and Pacific Yearly Meeting – Western Friend will continue to adapt to changing technologies as we continue to fulfill our mission “to build practical and spiritual connections among Friends in the West – in print, online and face-to-face.”

Our Board of Directors has begun to search for a new editor / executive director for Western Friend, whose term will start on January 1, 2025. We have expanded the editor’s salary package to put it in line with industry averages in the West. If you have ideas about candidates for this position – or other suggestions for this search and the future of Western Friend – please contact “LJ” Lanny Jay at: [email protected].

Western Friend’s income remained strong throughout FY2023; our expenses remained on track; and our reserve funds in Friends Fiduciary recovered from market-induced losses experienced during the previous year. We ended FY2023 with a regular-income net profit of $16,772, which expanded our reserve funds beyond board-designated requirements. This puts Western Friend into a solid financial position for covering any unanticipated expenses that might result from our upcoming transition to a new editor / executive director.

Western Friend (westernfriend.org/magazine) continues to publish a magazine six times a year, which reflects topics that deeply concern Friends in the West today. The vast majority of subscriptions to Western Friend are set up through “group subscriptions,” organized within individual monthly meetings. To help organize a “group subscription” in your own meeting, contact: [email protected].

Western Friend continues to fulfill orders for the books that we publish, most notably the three books of Faith and Practice written by Intermountain, North Pacific, and Pacific Yearly Meetings. We provide bulk discounts to Quaker meetings. Go to our website to learn more (westernfriend.org/bookstore).

Western Friend’s website serves as the hub for all our activities, offering thousands of pages of free content, alongside subscriber-only access to the most recent issues of our magazine.

• Extra Extra Western Friend: Browse our archive of news items published since March 2020. (westernfriend.org/news).
• Western Friend Podcast: Download nearly three dozen audio productions of Quaker events and interviews (https://westernfriend.org/western-friend-podcast).
• Online Worship: Explore a long list of opportunities to join online Quaker worship, all week long (westernfriend.org/quaker-worship-and-fellowship-online).
• Community Directory: Turn to our listing of key information for “every” monthly meeting and worship group affiliated with IMYM, NPYM, and PacYM. We do our best to keep it current, but please let us know if anything needs correcting: (https://westernfriend.org/community).
• Memorial Minutes: Explore hundreds of memorial minutes, searchable by name, date of death, and Quaker meeting (westernfriend.org/community/memorials). All monthly meetings in IMYM, NPYM, and PacYM are invited to submit memorial minutes directly to Western Friend ([email protected]) for online publication.

The Board of Directors of Western Friend consists of three members appointed by each of three yearly meetings, resulting in a board of nine members. In FY2023, those members were:

• Nancy Wilkinson, Strawberry Creek Friends Meeting, PacYM (Clerk)
• Jay Thatcher, Corvallis Friends Meeting, NPYM (Recording Clerk)
• Tom Head, Chico Friends Meeting, PacYM (Treasurer)
• Bob Barnard, Las Cruces Friends Meeting, IMYM
• Gabriel Erstgaard, Salem Friends Meeting, NPYM
• Mary Hansen, Bellingham Friends Meeting, NPYM
• Lanny Jay (L.J.), Apple Seed Friends Meeting, PacYM
• Larry Newton, Flagstaff Friends Meeting, IMYM
• Molly Wingate, Colorado Springs Friends Meeting, IMYM