The APME Foundation supports educational projects and programs that advance or improve journalism. The foundation relies on the generous support of individuals, companies and foundations. In recent years the foundation has successfully received and disbursed more than $2 million in gifts and grants.

Ongoing activities of the foundation include:

■ The APME Gazette. The conference newspaper and Web site are staffed by as many as 25 student editors, reporters and photographers from local universities.

■ Robert G. McGruder Diversity Leadership Awards. Two annual awards given in conjunction with the Freedom Forum and American Society of Newspaper Editors.

■ Charles Rowe Award for Distinguished State Reporting. Annual award given to outstanding coverage by a member or members of AP's state bureaus.

■ Scholarships. Editors of color are offered the opportunity to apply for a scholarship to attend the APME annual conference.

■ Conference Programming. Support for unique, how-to-do-it better programs at the APME annual conference.

■ NewsTrain. This traveling program trained its 4,000th editor in 2008.

■ AP National Reporting Projects. Free database on contemporary topics for hundreds of reporters at member news organizations.

■ Credibility. The National Credibility Roundtables project which helped hundreds of organizations in all 50 states discuss challenging topics with local audiences now is focusing on online news credibility issues.

The foundation's current campaign is seeking to raise at least $75,000 for APME's 75th Anniversary Fund. If the target is received from individual donors or small foundations by Aug. 6, 2009, APME will receive a matching grant of $50,000 from a partnership of four major foundations (Ford, Knight, Ethics and Excellence in Journalism and McCormick) through the Challenge Fund for Journalism-V.

It is easy to support these and other journalism programs. Make a tax-deductible donation by check or credit card in one of three ways:

Mail a check payable to the APME Foundation to:

APME Foundation
19 Commerce Court West
Cranbury, NJ 08512

Or

Download and complete the attached form and fax or mail it as indicated, or Use services such as Network For Good or GivingExpress from American Express (enter Associated Press Managing Editors in the window for "Charity" or "Nonprofit" window)

You will receive an acknowledgement of your gift for your files.

Thank you for supporting journalism through the APME Foundation.