Mountain Eagle Announces New Benefactor Sponsorship Program

by Matthew Avitabile and Rob Panico

THE CATSKILLS - The Mountain Eagle is introducing a new Benefactor Sponsorship program for local businesses and organizations that want a steady, visible presence in the communities we cover while helping sustain independent local journalism.

The program is designed for businesses, nonprofits, civic organizations, and community institutions in Delaware, Greene, and Schoharie counties. A Benefactor Sponsorship gives each participating organization a year-long package of print visibility, online recognition, directory placement, promotional support, and digital newspaper access for its authorized team members.

The sponsorship program is made possible by The Mountain Eagle's ongoing investment in its state of the art digital platform. Over the past year, the newspaper has been building tools that connect the weekly print edition with the website, county directories, member accounts, digital subscriptions, and social media. That infrastructure now allows the value of the platform to be shared more directly with readers, subscribers, and patrons.

The same platform also supports self-service subscriptions, online advertising workflows, county directory profiles, public announcements, classified ads, and member-submitted articles and photo albums. Readers can join as free members, subscribe online, submit local content for editorial review, and use the website as a practical entry point into the newspaper's community services. Businesses and organizations can manage their public profiles and begin advertising through guided online workflows.

"Local news depends on local relationships", said Rob Panico, co-publisher of The Mountain Eagle. "The Benefactor program gives businesses and organizations a practical way to be seen consistently, while also helping keep community reporting, public notices, events, and local information accessible."

Each Benefactor Sponsorship includes a recurring 3 column by 6" (5.5"x6") print presence in The Mountain Eagle, with two insertions per edition across 50 weekly editions. That creates 100 total annual insertions, giving participating organizations a reliable brand presence throughout the year.

Benefactors will also be listed on The Mountain Eagle's public Benefactors page and receive a Benefactor badge on their linked county directory profile. The county directory profile serves as the organization's public home on the site, with contact information, a profile image, business details, and links where available. All press releases, event notices, articles, photo albums, and other content associated with the owner of a county directory profile are shown on its county directory profile page. 

The program also includes a once-annual feature article prepared by staff which covers your organization. Additional program benefits include: search engine and social media promotion, priority support, and complimentary digital subscriptions for every authorized member connected to the organization. While a sponsorship remains active, Benefactors also receive 50 percent off qualifying one-time advertiser-backed ads.

The annual price is $4,000, paid once per year electronically. The annual package works out to $80 per edition across 50 weekly editions. By comparison, 100 insertions of a standard 3x6 print display ad would cost $14,000, before accounting for the additional online, directory, subscription, and promotional benefits included in the sponsorship.

The program is intended to be simple to manage. A business or organization connects its county directory profile to the sponsorship, and the cover image on that profile becomes the image used for the recurring 3x6 print ad. Authorized representatives may update the profile image through their member account.

The Mountain Eagle has been expanding its digital platform around county directories, community information, self-service advertising, subscriptions, and public-interest publishing. The Benefactor Sponsorship program is part of that larger effort to build durable local infrastructure around the newspaper's long-standing community role, while keeping print, online publishing, and social media connected as one practical service.

"A newspaper is not only a place where stories appear", Panico said. "At its best, it becomes a living memory for the community. Benefactors help make that possible."

Businesses and organizations interested in becoming Benefactors may begin by signing in or creating a free member account, adding or joining their organization, and creating or claiming their county directory profile. The member dashboard will guide eligible organizations through the next steps.