A message from FIJ Board President Ricardo Sandoval Palos:
On behalf of the Fund for Investigative Journalism, I’d like to wish you a joyous holiday season. And I’d like to personally thank all of you for your support of independent watchdog journalists.
Without you, FIJ would not be able to do its important mission of helping freelance journalists keep institutions of power accountable.
We are, of course, fortunate to have generous donors like the Logan Foundation – which is giving FIJ $100,000 for the current year – but we are also gratified by the many individual donors who have dug into their pockets to support our journalists.
In recent weeks, about two dozen new donors have contributed to FIJ, some specifically mentioning concern over the spate of fake news and misinformation. Every donation, whether $10 or $5,000, is significant because each shows an appreciation for the role journalists — especially independent investigative journalists — play in our democracy.
With that understanding comes the realization that it takes money to pay for quality journalism.
Over the years, the freelance journalists we have funded have garnered wide attention and honors – including two Pulitzer Prizes, two National Magazine Awards, the George Polk Award and many others.
More recently, the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting was honored with an Edward R. Morrow Award for exposing how Kentucky wasted $2 million a year paying elected jailers and deputies in counties that had no jails. More importantly, the package prompted state legislators, amid public outrage, to address findings brought to light by the center’s reporting.
Last year, advocates for immigrant youth credited an FIJ-funded series called “Lost Boys” with humanizing an issue that had long played out in the shadows of the juvenile justice system. California Gov. Jerry Brown would later sign legislation prohibiting local probation departments from sharing immigration information with federal authorities.
While we are proud of the accolades and awards, our longstanding mission is to foster journalism that provokes dialogue and debate.
We hope that you will continue being a part of our mission by visiting www.fij.org and making a donation.
Happy holidays.
