Thanksgiving Day is the start of a month-long shopping marathon for some, but for many of us it marks another beginning: the season of giving, a time when we count our blessings in life, reach out to others in the community, and remember the important work of so many nonprofits and charities in San Antonio.
Here at the Rivard Report, we will celebrate our sixth anniversary of publication in the new year. We are the new kid on the block as San Antonio prepares to celebrate its Tricentennial, yet we take great pride in our commitment to delivering high-quality, locally focused journalism to your digital doorstep each morning. While we rightly celebrate this city’s founding in 1718 and a 300-year tapestry of history, let us take a moment to talk about the present and future of community journalism in San Antonio.
Some of you already pledged your support on Giving Tuesday, but this year we have two unique opportunities not seen in past years. For the first time, a collection of national foundations that include the Democracy Fund, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation have joined forces to establish the News Match campaign for member organizations of the Institute for Nonprofit News. The Rivard Report is among the nonprofit online media across the country that this campaign is supporting with a challenge grant of $28,000. Every dollar that any individual or business pledges, up to $1,000, will be matched by the News Match campaign until we reach the $28,000 goal.
In fact, we intend to surpass that goal quickly. The San Antonio-based Newman Foundation has put forward a generous $100,000 challenge grant to match donations of any size by new individual and business members, as well as increased giving by current members. We face a Dec. 31 deadline, but we are confident we can earn the entire $100,000 with the help of our readers.
Readership continues to grow robustly with each passing year. We know more and more of you have become regular readers, even if you have not yet taken the next step of becoming supporting members. Click here now to join and pledge your support. You can make a single donation or, as we hope, become a sustaining member. What better time than now, thus helping us double and triple our money through these two substantial challenge grants?
We promise to be good stewards of your gifts. The Rivard Report is the only nonprofit news media in San Antonio that discloses the source and size of all its donations. We believe that singular transparency builds greater credibility with our readers. We are not perfect, but we do our best to disclose all instances where news coverage includes significant donors.
You deserve to know who supports us, and we are proud to post that support as a vote of confidence in our work and our significance in the community. We are equally proud of our small, but highly dedicated board of directors.
Richard “Dick” Schlosberg III, the former publisher of the Los Angeles Times and one of the founders of the U.S. Air Force Academy Endowment at his alma mater, serves as our chairman. I can’t overstate the value of having Dick serve as our chairman, someone who has served on the boards of eBay, the Packard Foundation, and the Kaiser Foundation.
John “Chico” Newman, an investor who also oversees the Newman Foundation, serves as vice chairman. He is a long-time supporter of Texas Public Radio and KLRN-TV in San Antonio, the Texas Tribune in Austin, and at the national level, the Center for Public Integrity and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in Washington, D.C.
ScaleWorks founder and former Rackspace President Lew Moorman serves as our treasurer; Katy Flato, the founding executive director of the annual San Antonio Book Festival and former managing editor of Texas Monthly; Dan Goodgame, a longtime journalist and editor at Time and Fortune Small Business magazines and now vice president of corporate communications at Rackspace; and Laura Saldivar Luna, the executive director for Teach for America in San Antonio, round out an amazingly talented, experienced, and committed board of directors.
All of our directors give generously of their time, leadership, and finances. We hope you will follow their lead and decide that now is the time to step forward and support the Rivard Report‘s continuing growth and our community journalism.
Thank you for your readership and for your consideration in this season of giving.
