November 2015: Thankful for JAWS

It’s the giving time of year.

Time to focus on what matters in our lives and be grateful for all we have – family, friends, home, health, careers. Time to give of ourselves to others.

I hope that Journalism and Women Symposium is on the list of what you’re thankful for. I know JAWS is on my list.

I’m thankful for the women journalists around the country who are my friends because of JAWS. Thankful that I can email or call them if I have a career question. Thankful that if I’m traveling, we can get together to share shoptalk. Thankful for CAMP, which is always an invigorating weekend where we add new friends to the old. Thankful for our email list where we can ask questions, draw on the expertise of others, share job posts, share the work we’re proud of.

JAWS has given me so much, that I’m happy to give back, from serving on the board to making a small monthly donation via Network for Good.

Our organization exists on:

• Membership dues, which we’ve kept to a reasonable $75 a year.
• CAMP registration fees, which are also a bargain.
• Donations from nonprofits, companies, universities and journalism organizations pursued by our development director.
• Donations from our members and friends through one-time or modest recurring monthly donations.

We keep our member donation solicitations to a minimum. In late spring, we seek your help to bring talented young women, our fellows, to CAMP.

And at this time of year, we ask you to include JAWS in your year-end giving.

Not all of us have the resources to give “big” although we have been steadily adding to the list of supporters joining our Leadership Circle with gifts of $1,000 or more. Most of our donors give modestly and the collective results of many small donations of $20 here and $50 there goes a long way to help us achieve our goals to help you. We appreciate contributions of all sizes so thank you to those who have already sent support for our programming, operations and training events. (You’ll be hearing more from me about some cool 2016 opportunities next month!)

This holiday season, I’ll be asking my family to give to JAWS instead of buying me gifts. And I will be giving a little extra this year to JAWS as well.

I hope you’ll join me, whether it’s giving on your own with a one-time or recurring monthly donation or asking friends, families and employers to help JAWS prosper in the New Year.

Just click here or send a friend or family member this link.

— Sandra Fish