Hoosier State Press Association - The Indiana Publisher
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/99924
��December 20, 2012 Page 3 Directors take lead in fundraising effort P erhaps his mild manner persuaded them. Or maybe his years in the pulpit made him a natural. Whatever the reason, we recently learned one man���s suggestion can make a huge impact on donations ��� particularly when action follows words. And so it went when Pat Lanman, general manager of Vevay Newspapers, challenged the HSPA and HSPA Foundation board members to donate to what he called the Directors Fund at the Joint Board Retreat this fall in Brown County. Then he made the first pledge. At time of publication, this newly created reserve totaled more than $3,301 ��� from current and a few past board members��� personal checkbooks. Now the Foundation can access funds for special projects that come up after approval of our limited annual budget. We receive requests every year ��� both large and small ��� from outside groups. Once we enabled a collegiate SPJ chapter to hold a workshop for inner city students trying to keep their high school newspaper afloat. They just needed funds to purchase lunch. Often the ask covers statewide events. For several years the Foundation Board talked about building what nonprofit managers call an individual donor base. The fundraising concept simply says an organization needs a large number of small donors who get to know and support it. As interest in the mission grows, so do donations. Foundation Front By Karen T. Braeckel Colleges and universities set the benchmark in this type fundraising as do certain community groups. Look around Indiana���s highways. Each university license plate represents a small donation to a particular school. That list in hand, students or fundraisers call to thank donors for their support and ask them to repeat the gift the following year. Before they realize it, alums or friends of the school find themselves giving at a specifically named level with a membership card to boot. Painless transition. I just returned from a noontime fundraiser for the Boy Scouts��� Crossroads of America Council that represents central Indiana. Some 2,200 men and women witnessed Gov. Mitch Daniels present special awards to a few outstanding scouts. After an impressive program, table sponsors distributed personalized pledge cards with suggested donations (reminding us all of the myth of the free lunch). Most of us cannot donate as Dean White did. At least I cannot give 2,200 lunches at the J.W. Marriott so every cent goes to the council for programming ��� including those for underserved and atrisk youth in our inner city. But my little bit combined with the others at the table adds up. In 2013 you may hear chatter about donating personally for various Foundation programs. You might want to help as we launch an exciting new project on the First Amendment with Indiana University���s Center for International Media Law and Policy Studies. Or you may consider a memorial contribution to honor a longtime journalist or friend. HSPA Foundation Board President John Rumbach and I will meet this week to do some strategic planning on fundraising. But our directors understood if they want others to give, they needed to lead by example. They did so in a most generous fashion. We appreciate the foresightedness of Foundation Vice President Lanman in leading the charge for individual contributions. On behalf of the HSPA Foundation Board of Directors, we thank you for your corporate voluntary donations given annually with your dues. These funds go directly toward the operating expenses of the year. Our work depends heavily on these contributions. (And if you would like to support the Foundation���s internships, scholarships, training programs, educational activities, contests, job fair, golf outing or other programming on an individual basis, the bookkeeper says we can handle that.) Enjoy the holidays. We look forward to a great 2013. Karen Braeckel is director of the HSPA Foundation. Her column will run in the first issue of each month. Editor to retire at end of year Robert Banser Jr., editor of The News and Sun (Dunkirk) since 1993, announced his retirement effective Dec. 28. Under his tenure, the Dunkirk Robert weekly has Banser Jr. won numerous journalism awards from the Hoosier State Press Association Foundation. ���Bob has made a significant contribution over the better part of two decades to the Dunkirk area community,��� said News and Sun publisher Jack Ronald. ���He���s earned the opportunity to put his feet up and relax.��� Ronald said Banser would continue to be listed on the newspaper���s masthead as editor emeritus and will write an occasional column or feature story for the paper. ���We���d like him to continue to be a part of The News and Sun on an informal basis as long as he wants,��� Ronald said. Banser has had health problems this fall but returned to work recently and was on hand for his 20th annual Koffee Klatsch, a holiday gathering for the community at the newspaper���s offices in Dunkirk. Prior to joining The News and Sun, Banser served for three years as news editor of The Shelbyville News and for 16 years as a reporter and editor for Star Publications in the greater Chicago area. Banser, 66, was born and raised in Chicago and received his bachelor���s degree in political science from Northern Illinois University in 1969. He earned a master of arts degree in public administration from Northern Illinois University in 1972. ��� The News and Sun (Dunkirk) Apply for Pulliam intern in your newsroom If your newsroom could use some new talent and fresh ideas for 10 weeks this summer, apply for an intern through the HSPA Foundation. The Eugene S. Pulliam Internship Program offers work at daily and nondaily newspapers in Indiana to college students. Editors, apply by March 1 at www.HSPAfoundation.org/ pulliam-internships. Place�� ments will be announced in the spring. News in brief Republic makes staff changes The Republic (Columbus) has announced several staff role changes. Kirk Johannesen, who has been on the Republic staff for 13 years, moves into the new position of city editor, responsible for directing the news reporting team. John Clark, also a 13-year member of the Republic newsroom, will be city and county government reporter. Mark Webber, who is at the six-month mark of his stint at The Republic, will become public safety reporter. Johannesen started in The Republic newsroom as a sports reporter, moving here from The Herald (Jasper), where he also worked in sports. Three years later he was promoted to sports editor, making the move to management. It was a position he held for four years. In 2006, he requested a move into news and was named a senior reporter; later he was special projects editor. Clark joined The Republic as a news reporter in 1999 from the Shelbyville News. He has been special projects editor, online editor, and most recently, local news editor. At his request, he is again involved in reporting and writing. Webber was a broadcast journalist for more than 30 years, much of it in the Columbus market. He worked here from 1981-99, mostly in radio news. Newspaper has new publisher Shawn Storie has been named publisher at the Journal Review (Craw�� fordsville). He re�� laces p Sean Smith, who re���� Shawn Storie signed to pursue other interests. ���I���m happy to be here in Montgomery County and to continue to lead the Journal Review in the positive direction it has been going,��� Storie said. Storie most recently served as publisher of the Paris (Ill.) Beacon News, a sister newspaper to the Journal Review. He led that newspaper for the past three years. Prior to that, Storie worked as general manager of the Journal Review for three years. His other newspaperindustry experience includes working at The Indianapolis Star as advertising sales manager for one year and as the circulation sales manager for the Tribune-Star (Terre Haute) for five years. Storie earned a bachelor���s degree from Indiana State University. Veteran journalist retires The Madison Courier staff writer Peggy Vlerebome retired from the newspaper Nov. 21. Vlerebome had worked at The Courier for 12 years, covering a variety of topics from education to city government to environmental issues. She also had been the primary copy editor in the newsroom. Vlerebome, a graduate of Indiana University, worked at newspapers in Florida and Texas before moving to Indiana. She said she chose Madison as her home because she liked it so much after visiting the city years earlier. Vlerebome estimated she had written more than 30,000 stories in her career and covered at least 10,000 meetings. Learn reporting from masters A three-day intensive reporting workshop Jan. 11-13 at Indiana University will feature top writing professionals. The IU School of Journalism offers Master Class: Reporting for Story at Ernie Pyle Hall. IU journalism professors Tom French, Pulitzer Prize winning reporter and author, and Joe Coleman, former Associated Press Tokyo bureau chief who has reported from several countries, will lead journalists and students through all the steps in developing and reporting stories. The class is open to current graduate students, to alumni at a discounted rate and to anyone looking to improve reporting skills. Classes run from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. all three days. Register at http:// journalism.indiana.edu/ workshops/master-class. Sign up by Dec. 28 for the early-bird rate of $400. Registration ends Jan. 9. Send promotions, announcements, staff changes and other corporate news to mtuley@hspa.com.