Do you love working with numbers? The Charlotte News is looking for a business manager.

If you have a gift for working with numbers, you could really make a difference in our Charlotte community by being our business manager. Here’s the opportunity:

Community newspapers like The Charlotte News are rated by the quality, extent and relevance of their editorial coverage. That’s as it should be.

However, the numbers behind the stories — the business of community newspapers — is what makes or breaks the enterprise.

The Charlotte News is funded by revenue from donations, grants, advertising and subscriptions. Significant production costs include salaries, printing, postage, software and website development.

For the past few years at The Charlotte News, I was the board member who kept an eye on revenues, expenses and the newspaper’s bank balance. I enjoyed the experience and loved digging into the kinds of questions that popped up:

• Are advertising revenues meeting targets set by the board?
• How do we boost charitable giving?
• Does the newspaper break even on paid subscriptions for out-of-towners?
• Are there opportunities to reduce printing costs?
• How have other community newspapers addressed these questions?
• What other business models might The Charlotte News explore?

The newspaper’s board of directors is looking for someone who is intrigued by these sorts of questions, wants to contribute to the health of the enterprise and would like to help ensure its financial sustainability.

Thanks to the support of hundreds of Charlotters and dozens of local businesses, the newspaper you’re reading is financially healthy at present. We want to keep it way.

If you share this feeling, have a few hours a month available and a background in financial management and planning, please contact either myself or board chair, Bill Regan. We’d love to talk with you to provide more information and to see if our interests align.