ARE MANAGING EDITORS WINNERS?

By Hank Klibanoff
APME Challenge Grant Chairman

So close ... yet so far away.

A miss is as good as a mile ...

Close, but no cigar ...

Okay, APME fans, we're down to the wire, inching closer and closer to reaching our $152,000 fundraising goal for the Challenge Grant – and we don't want to end up uttering one of those loser phrases when it's over.

We've had some great success stories as APME board members and supporters have rustled up contributions, hustled for matching funds, and added lot of contributors.

But we're still not there. The APME News, soon to land on your doorstep, says we'd reached $128,000 by early April. This just in: We've now pushed past the $135,000 mark!

So close, yet ...

As you read this, we're about three weeks from the May 31 deadline, when we'll either:

   • Celebrate the joy of victory – which means we will receive $73,000 from the Knight Foundation, the Ford Foundation and Ethics and Excellence in Journalism, or ...

   • Suffer the ignominy of defeat – which is too awful to contemplate, so ...

Let's instead count the ways you can join the many others who have contributed to this great opportunity to strengthen APME.

   • 1. Grab your checkbook, write a check out to APME Foundation. In the memo field, write: Challenge Grant. Then send it, pronto, to Mark Mittelstadt, Executive Director, Associated Press Managing Editors, at APME, 19 Commerce Court West, Cranbury, N.J., 08512-2416.

   • 2. Donate online by clicking here. If you're not yet on our mailing list or a Supporting Member, you'll need to register. But once you do it's an easy, secure way to give.

   • 3. Call Mark at the APME office – his phone is 212-621-1838 – make a pledge, give him your credit card number and he'll do the rest.

   • 4. APME does not require dues to become a member. But we do ask each member (or their paper) to become a Supporting Member for $100 or an Editors Circle Member for $250. If you're neither and you give now, that full amount goes to the Challenge Grant; if you're upgrading from Supporting Member to Editors Circle, $150 of the $250 goes to the Challenge Grant. You can enroll here.

   • 5. Ask your employer if they'll match your contribution. Then ask again. Some employers do not routinely match employee contributions, but will on request when they hear their managing editors gave and believe in APME. Corporate gifts to the Challenge Grant are allowed only when they match an individual's contribution; and the match can be greater than 1:1.

If we make our goal, we will use the money for important core development of the organization: while APME has large participation, too many managing editors are not part of the organization, largely because we don't have a complete database record or standard protocol for sorting out which managing editors are part of APME and which are not.

We will upgrade our database and become more effective in reaching out to members, associates, friends and donors. We believe we can grow the organization by a methodical approach built on strong data. We will develop a much better system of managing our communication, membership and donor programs.

And we will continue to support NewsTrain, which has reached more than 3,000 journalists in all 50 states.

All of this, of course, is geared toward APME's goal of being every managing editor's best and most useful resource. APME will stand by its managing editors in these challenging times, but it now needs the managing editors to stand up for it in achieving the goal of the Challenge Grant.

Again, there are two quick ways to help:

Click here to donate to the Challenge Fund online.

Click here to become a Supporting Member.

Operators are standing by ...

Hank Klibanoff is managing editor, news, at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He recently won the Pulitzer Prize for history as co-author of "The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation." He is an APME board member.

APME JOURNALISM EXCELLENCE AWARDS

The deadline for entering the competition for APME's journalism excellence awards is Friday, July 6. APME will again give awards for Public Service, First Amendment, Online Convergence and International Perspective. And we'll again be joined by the Freedom Forum in presenting the Robert G. McGruder Diversity Leadership Awards.

Watch for contest materials being mailed to your newsrooms. Details, including how to enter and where to send entries, will be posted shortly on the APME Web site.

REGISTER BEFORE JUNE 1 FOR THE APME CONFERENCE AND SAVE

Join print, online and photo editors from around the country for the annual conference of the Associated Press Managing Editors and AP Photo Managers. Engaging discussions on reaching new audiences, retaining journalists of color, Great Ideas you can take back to your newsroom and a visit to the Freedom Forum's brand new Newseum will highlight APME's first conference ever to be held in the nation's capital. You can't afford to miss this meeting. Sign up now and save $50 on your conference registration.

To register for the conference go to:

Or to learn more go to:

To take advantage of APME's discounted rate of $235 a night at the JW Marriott, go to:

http://marriott.com/property/propertypage/wasjw?groupCode=apmapma&app=resvlink

To receive e-mail notification of new APME Updates, write to APME@ap.org

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