Federal funding cheques may not come until September, and then only part

Be prepared to wait for federal funding; that's the reminder that Magazines Canada has sent to its members in its biweekly newsletter:

If you are eligible for the Aid to Publishers component of the Canada Periodical Fund, you should be aware that support to publishers will be delayed in 2011—and the delay could be quite substantial.

In the 2010 "transition year" (the first year of the CPF), publishers were notified of the amount they would receive and cheques started to be delivered starting in mid-June. In 2011, cheques are not likely to be mailed to publishers before August or September and the first payment publishers receive will be for only 75% - 80% of their final allocation. There are several reasons for this delay:

• This is the first year in which all magazines were required to fill out full applications. Each had to be assessed by the Department: extensive and time-consuming work.
• The budget for the CPF was only finalized in March of 2011, when the federal budget was tabled.
• The budget was further delayed by the federal election.

As a result, Department of Canadian Heritage officials have only recently been able to move the payment process forward. It is now expected that publishers will receive payment later in the summer—probably in August.

Also, as a result of these factors the Aid to Publishers payment will be broken into two parts. While the full budget of $75 million has been allocated to the program, $15 million of that funding was announced in the recent budget and further steps have to be taken to secure Parliamentary approval before it can be distributed. In the interest of expediting payment to publishers, officials will proceed with payment of the first 75% to 80% of the program this summer, and follow up with a second payment for the remainder, likely in January 2012.