Tuesday, Nov. 30, is Giving Tuesday, the national movement to benefit nonprofits and other worthy causes during the holiday season. We’d like you to consider WKU Student Publications.
We welcome donations in any amount. You don’t need to be a high-roller to make a real impact on our students and their work.
We have three funds, all of which are tax-deductible, that we’d ask you to consider:
One of the most effective and successful things we’ve done in the past few years at WKU Student Publications is launch our fellowship program. Through these fellowships, we put promising students into newsrooms and an agency for 10-12 weeks during the summer for internships that are tailored to help each student grow specific skills. From its start with a single fellowship in 2012 through Summer 2021, 50 students have completed fellowships through this program, and we will have another 11 fellowships during Summer 2022.
Our fellowships are 100 percent funded by alumni and friends of the College Heights Herald, the Talisman, Cherry Creative and Student Publications Advertising, along with our partner organizations. The fellowships award the students cash stipends equivalent to $350 for each week they’re working, and are issued at the beginning of the fellowship so they can cover their expenses. Because this is an educational experience, the stipends we issue through the Student Publications Fellowship Fund in the WKU Foundation go fully to the students.
Support the Fellowship Fund here: alumni.wku.edu/publicationsfellowshipfund
Private support has never been more important to the ability of WKU Student Publications to maintain a world-class setting for our students to grow skills that will help them thrive in journalism, photojournalism, marketing and sales. Your support of the Student Publications Legacy Fund allows us to address immediate needs, including training opportunities, that we cannot afford through traditional means.
We call it the Legacy Fund because its aim is to maintain that terrific learning environment that we all remember so well. With money in the Legacy Fund, we send students to conferences, replace outdated equipment, purchase software, provide training retreats – and even buy the occasional pizzas during a long production night. These dollars help make Student Pubs the kind of place our students want to be, allowing us to create a positive energy for learning and, sometimes, just a fun experience that releases some of that deadline pressure.
Support the Legacy Fund here: alumni.wku.edu/publicationslegacyfund
The Student Publications Endowed Fund is a long-term effort to build an endowment that will provide funding for our students in perpetuity. Our goal is to have at least $3 million committed by 2024-25, the 100th anniversary of student journalism at WKU. This fund accepts both current gifts and planned estate gifts as well as stocks and real property.
Our intention is to retain all proceeds in the Endowed Fund until its principal – money actually in the bank – reaches $1 million. At that point, it will generate about $35,000 a year. At a principal of $2 million, the fund will generate about $70,000 a year; at $3 million, about $105,000 a year (estimates based on a spending policy of 3.5%).
We know it will take years to build this account, but that time and effort are worth it. Once funded, the Student Publications Endowed Fund will be transformational for our operation. It will be a reliable source of funding, based in the WKU Foundation and controlled by WKU Student Publications, at a time when institutional support and advertising revenues are increasingly challenged.
Support the Endowed Fund here: alumni.wku.edu/studentpublications
EVERY DOLLAR HELPS
Every dollar you put into the Fellowship Fund, the Legacy Fund and the Endowed Fund is controlled by us here at Student Pubs and will allow us to continue to be the home of student-run publications with national reputations and other student-led enterprises with a track record of success.
Thank you for considering WKU Student Publications on Giving Tuesday, Nov. 30!