From the President Fall 2009

Like many of you, I get the daily e-mail from Jim Romenesko at the Poynter Institute.

One caught my attention recently. It was someone commenting about the Online News Association’s recent annual conference. The gist was this: It was so great to attend a journalism conference that didn’t make you feel like shooting yourself in the head.

I would have loved to give this fan of the ONA a look at one more journalism conference that inspires hope rather than despair.

I never fail to come away from a JAWS annual camp feeling optimistic and refreshed. Thanks to all the thousands of volunteer hours that went into making this 25th Anniversary Camp a memorable celebration. And I give a special nod of thanks to our Camp co-chairs, Merrill Perlman and Pam Moreland. It was a perfect mix of gravitas and sheer joy.

(I even loved the Wii competition, although my tennis avatar looked like it was having some kind of spasm every time I tried to hit the virtual ball.)

Many sessions focused on helping us all meet this rapidly evolving world with grace, humor and a posse of fabulous women who have your back. Some of my favorite moments included Melinda Henneberger’s speech about making it up as she goes along. Don’t we all do that when we jump into a new adventure?

Also, I was deeply moved by the tribute to Fran Lewine. I really am quite sad that I didn’t get to know her very well. I’m also really disappointed that I never went to the casino with her!

After Fran’s tribute, we raised more than $6,000 to match a $12,500 gift from an anonymous donor in her honor.

As many of you know, we have had several other losses this year, including Christy Bulkeley, Kerri Smith and Nan Robertson. Pat Sullivan sent the listserv a video clip of Nan being honored at the Washington Correspondents Dinner. She talked about writing “The Girls in the Balcony,” and pointed out that many of these plaintiffs — people like Eileen Shanahan, Joan Cook and Betsy Wade — jeopardized their own careers to some extent to pave the way for the rest of us.

Earlier this year, one of our board members, Celina Ottaway, said that the day she was laid off, she went home and wrote a check to JAWS. Her reason? “This is a place where we will figure out the future of journalism,” she said.

During his career coaching session, Edward Miller reminded us of an important fact: journalism is not dead. The business model that supported it might be, but journalism is not.

So what does that mean exactly? If I could tell you for certain I’d be living large on the lecture circuit right now. I just know that Celina is right: JAWS is a place where we will figure that out together.

I’m incredibly encouraged by our success matching the $50,000 grant from the Challenge Fund for Journalism. By the way, we matched it early and there were a number of other — much larger — organizations that were scrambling to meet their deadline.

Kudos to Dawn Garcia, our immediate past president, for encouraging us pursue the two challenge grants in the last four years. It’s just one of many ways Dawn has led JAWS to a new level with her amazing drive and optimism.

I think we have only scratched the surface of our fundraising potential with this effort. That is why one of the board’s goals must be a commitment to raising funds so JAWS can continue to be a valuable resource for members and all women in journalism.

I realize asking for money is probably on par with public speaking in the gallery of things people hate. But a key to raising funds is passion, and our members have no shortage of that. One of our largest gifts this year came not because the donor had heard of JAWS, but because she was a huge fan and supporter of Peg Simpson.

Do you have people in your life like that?

If you have suggestions for donors or grant-making organizations we should pursue, please let us know. Which leads me to another point. …

After a fabulous weekend like our 25th Anniversary, it might be easy to forget this organization has one staff person. And while Becky Day is amazing, she is half time. As we continue our fundraising efforts and we grow, that may well change. But for the moment, we rely on the very generous donation of your volunteer time to keep this organization going. So please, go to the “Committees” link at www.jaws.org and think about where you want to help women in journalism.

One of our speakers told me at Camp that she got what JAWS was about: Women helping women.

That pretty much sums it up. It’s so simple, yet so powerful.