Because of you, WKU Student Publications made it through our most financially challenging year.
You reached deep to help us pay for immediate needs such as training and equipment, to continue your support of our summer Student Publications Fellowships program, and to add money to our endowment for long-term financial stability.
As we start our second century, our focus is on securing the future of student-led journalism at WKU.
So we are asking you to consider giving back to a program that, in many ways, defined your college experience, assisted the launch whatever career path you chose and taught you invaluable life lessons that helped shape you into the person you are today.
Journalism matters. And by supporting student journalism, you are helping grow the next generations of fact-finders and truth-tellers, the watchdogs for the public good.
For years, we could rely on traditional advertising dollars to support the College Heights Herald, and the university’s budget to support the Talisman and the professional staff. As university budgets have gotten tighter — driven by less investment from the state and, in recent years, declines in enrollment — we at Student Publications have shown both innovation and nimbleness when it comes to revenue. We launched Cherry Creative in 2018 and, aside from two years that were severely hit by the pandemic, have seen growth in revenue ever since.
Today we host events, produce sponsored content for both print and digital distribution, produce specialty guides, sell outdoor advertising on our kiosks and try new things all the time to generate revenue to support our core mission – growing excellent journalists and innovative leaders.
But we cannot do it alone.
Private support is essential for our success. So we’re shifting our focus to ensuring our long-term stability through the Student Publications Endowed Fund.
The Endowed Fund is housed in the College Heights Foundation, which as an independent 501(c)3 organization means those funds are protected from being swept by WKU.
Through donations of cash, property and securities, and through commitments in estate plans and trusts, we intend to build this Endowed Fund to $3 million – a sum that, once achieved, will generate $120,000 a year to help support the College Heights Herald, the Talisman and all of WKU Student Publications.
This sum will be transformative. It will help insulate our student journalists from the negative effects of budget cuts and the challenges of funding a college media group through traditional means.
We hope to reach this goal in cash and commitments in the next four years.
Please consider being part of this long-term solution and help ensure the future of student journalism on the Hill through WKU Student Publications.
