Image Journal

What Image Journal does

Image Journal is a nonprofit literary quarterly published by the Center for Religious Humanism, founded in 1989 and currently based in Covington, Washington. The journal curates fiction, poetry, essays, interviews, and visual art at the intersection of art and faith, and has produced more than 130 archived issues over its 36-year history. Its operations are run by a 13-person staff led by Editor in Chief Molly McCully Brown, with editorial content produced through a WordPress-based digital publishing platform that has no native mobile application or public API surface.

The journal's product surface extends well beyond the quarterly print issue. It operates the Glen Workshop, an annual in-person summer program priced at $1,450 for an all-access weekly pass, plus Virtual Intensives that broaden access online. Ancillary offerings include the Levertov Award, a podcast, the ImageUpdate newsletter, InStudio features, and Film & Faith Resources. Revenue is generated through a mix of individual subscriptions, donations, Glen Workshop fees, back-issue sales, and merchandise, with distribution and co-programming partnerships supporting the University of San Diego, Fulgur Inc, Bookshop.org, and the National Endowment for the Arts (which awarded the journal a grant to preserve and digitize its archive).

Strategically, Image Journal functions as a small, mature nonprofit cultural institution rather than a venture-backed or high-growth enterprise. Its competitive position rests on its established content library, its curated contributor network, and the community formed around the Glen Workshop and its digital extensions. There is no evidence of equity funding, M&A activity, or AI-driven product capabilities; recent strategic activity is limited to leadership refresh, archive preservation, and incremental product-line additions in digital and audio formats.

Name

Image Journal

Legal name

Center For Religious Humanism

Website

https://imagejournal.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Image Journal is a nonprofit literary quarterly, founded in 1989, publishing fiction, poetry, essays, and visual art at the intersection of art and faith. A 13-person staff runs the print journal, the Glen Workshop, virtual intensives, and ancillary programs serving a long-tail subscriber and donor base.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Literary Arts Publishing

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

Arts, Culture & Literary Magazines (MPAJAEAN)

akta.pro secondary industries

Spirituality & Personal Growth Publishing (Mindfulness, Contemplative, New Age) (MPAJAHAH), Creative Nonfiction & Memoir Workshops (EDAMAMAC)

Keywords

• Literary journal publishing
• Arts and faith content
• Creative writing workshops
• Fiction poetry essays
• Literary arts quarterly

Headquarters

HQ city

Covington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Subscriptions: Print and digital subscriptions to the quarterly literary journal featuring fiction, poetry, essays, interviews, and visual art.
2. Donations: Tax-deductible donations supporting the Center for Religious Humanism nonprofit (Tax ID: 311-04-1181).
3. Glen Workshop Fees: Week-long creative and spiritual workshop residential program held annually at University of San Diego. All-Access Weekly Pass priced at $1,450 with optional housing and meal plans.
4. Back Issues and Merchandise: Sale of back issues and recommended reading through partnerships.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Image Journal is a quarterly literary arts journal published by the nonprofit Center For Religious Humanism, featuring fiction, poetry, essays, interviews, visual art, and book reviews that explore the intersection of art and faith. The organization also operates The Glen Workshop, an annual week-long residential creative and spiritual retreat held at the University of San Diego, and offers virtual intensives, seminars, podcasts, and a free weekly newsletter (ImageUpdate).

Product overview

Image Journal is a quarterly literary arts journal published by the Center for Religious Humanism, featuring a print and digital publication with content across fiction, poetry, essays, interviews, visual art, and book reviews. The organization operates The Glen Workshop, an annual week-long creative retreat in San Diego, and offers Virtual Intensives & Seminars for remote learning. Additional offerings include the Levertov Award, a podcast, the ImageUpdate weekly newsletter, and InStudio multimedia content. The publication focuses on the intersection of art and faith, serving writers, visual artists, and art enthusiasts.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Image Journal (Quarterly Publication) A quarterly literary arts journal featuring fiction, poetry, essays, interviews, visual art, and book reviews with a focus on art and faith, available in print and digital subscription formats for individual readers and literary arts enthusiasts.
• The Glen Workshop An annual week-long residential creative and spiritual retreat held in San Diego, CA, offering immersive classes in writing and visual arts with world-class faculty. All-Access Weekly Pass priced at $1,450 with optional housing and meal plans.
• Virtual Intensives & Seminars Online educational programs and learning opportunities for writers and artists seeking creative and spiritual development.
• Levertov Award A literary award program recognizing excellence in writing that engages with questions of art and faith.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• University of San DiegocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe annual Glen Workshop is held on the University of San Diego campus in downtown San Diego, providing facilities and educational setting for the week-long creative workshop program.
• Fulgur IncminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorThird-party subscription service provider handling customer service for subscriptions. Contact: [email protected] | 866-481-0688.
• Bookshop.orgminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPartnership for Recommended Reading section, linking readers to book purchases that support Image through affiliate arrangement.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Granta: Granta is a leading literary magazine featuring fiction, poetry, essays, and reportage with a strong editorial identity. It is directly comparable as a quarterly literary publication operating on a subscription model with international cultural reach.
• Ploughshares: Ploughshares is a long-running literary journal published by Emerson College featuring fiction, poetry, essays, and literary nonfiction. It is directly comparable as a quarterly literary publication with a similar subscription-driven business model and curatorial emphasis on literary quality.
• Tin House: Tin House is a literary magazine and book publisher featuring fiction, poetry, and essays with associated workshops and events. It is directly comparable in combining a quarterly literary journal with an educational workshop program analogous to the Glen Workshop.
• The Paris Review: The Paris Review is a prestigious quarterly literary magazine featuring fiction, poetry, interviews, and essays. It is directly comparable in format, audience, and prestige-driven positioning within the literary journal ecosystem.
• The Believer: The Believer is a literary magazine featuring long-form interviews, essays, fiction, and poetry with a distinctive editorial voice. It is directly comparable as a literary quarterly with subscription and event-driven programming.
• The Sun: The Sun is an independent literary magazine featuring essays, fiction, poetry, and interviews with a subscription-driven model. It is directly comparable as an independent literary publication built on subscriber and donor support.
• The Kenyon Review: The Kenyon Review is a longstanding literary journal associated with Kenyon College, publishing fiction, poetry, essays, and reviews. It is directly comparable in its quarterly cadence, literary mission, and long-running institutional history.

Broad incumbents

• Christian Century: Christian Century is a long-running mainline Protestant magazine engaging theology, culture, and the arts. It is broadly comparable as an established faith-adjacent publication that engages literary and cultural content alongside religious discourse.
• Sojourners: Sojourners is a faith-based magazine engaging Christianity, social justice, and culture. It is broadly comparable as an established faith-rooted publication with a subscriber and donor revenue model and a cultural-arts orientation.

Others

• Image (St. Catherine's / Book of the Year): Other small literary and arts-and-faith publications (e.g., Windhover, Radix) operate in a similar niche but with even smaller scale. They serve as adjacent reference points rather than direct competitors given Image's larger brand footprint.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/image-journal

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Image Journal