A Year-End Plea To Help The Less Fortunate

The Broadcasters Foundation of America has a new logo and a redesigned website. And the group wants to explain why:

Before you think all this is merely window dressing, please remember it’s for the essential national charity you know well. Our unique mission of helping our own fellow broadcasters when life turns sad and difficult remains the same. 

The foundation, which assists broadcasters — past and present — all across the country, remains our profession’s only real ‘safety net’ and ‘foul weather friend.’ 

Call it selfish if you will: we help only those who labor in our industry and are hurting and almost forgotten — those who have been laid low by unforeseen circumstances, natural disasters and personal medical emergencies.

Behind the Scenes

Your yearly support enables the foundation’s humanitarian assistance for those who appear before the microphone and in front of the camera, as well as their often unsung and under-appreciated back-office colleagues who keep the product of their genius available to our listeners and viewers. We’re here for them as well.

Thanks to you we’ve also been there for broadcasters whose lives and families have been devastated by hurricanes, tornados, wildfires, floods and all manner of natural disasters. Example:  Hurricane Katrina and the Louisiana floods when, thanks to you, we were able to quickly dispense close to $100,000 in emergency grants to help families get back on their feet.

Be assured that every pleading and petition for assistance is carefully (we should say, relentlessly) vetted and verified by our pro bono board of directors, many of whom you know. And they will gladly confirm for you just how many of our colleagues are in real distress as a result of life’s vicissitudes and unforeseen medical emergencies, often without sufficient insurance or government assistance of any kind.  We’ll mercifully spare you the tragic and heart-rending details of the affected individuals and families who rely on our work and on your generosity.

A Way to Give Back

We know you do a lot for so many in your own hometown and community. But as you have been a great leader in our industry and are well known in the profession you have distinguished for so long, we pray our unique charitable work and mission will resonate in your generous heart.

A Unique Mission

What is it about the Broadcasters Foundation that makes it so special and unique? Well, for one thing we do have that clear and definite bias. To that we plead guilty. We help only our own.  ‘Taking Care of Our Own’ is our mantra, and our theme. It’s what we do.  It’s why we exist.

Many of our recipients were cut down in the prime of their lives by illness or sudden catastrophic episodes for which their families were ill-prepared. Some were almost destitute. And we’ve assisted widows struggling to hold shattered families together following the untimely death of a spouse.  It’s all so sad.

Personal Disasters

While we’ve previously mentioned those “natural” disasters like hurricanes, there are also ‘personal’ disasters visited on families.  And that’s the most urgent and poignant part of our work for the foundation that you sustain. 

One And Only

So again this year, as is our custom, we make only this one Annual Plea on their behalf. In recent years, contributions to our all-important Guardian Fund have ranged from just a few much-appreciated dollars to well over $50,000 from several individuals. And while we realize not everyone is capable of such magnificent generosity, we acknowledge our hope that this year you will consider a substantial gift.

In Honor Of …

Many individuals in the past have designated their contributions as memorial tributes in the name of past associates, family members and life-long friends: Tony Malara, Ward Quaal, Ron Ruth, Rick Buckley and Stu Olds are some who have been honored.

Unbidden Personal Chapters

And so we beg your urgent support as our colleagues confront those awful personal chapters that life sometimes bestows, unbidden, when we least expect it.

Expressing Our Gratitude

All major gifts to the Guardian Fund are gratefully acknowledged in our annual report widely distributed to several thousand broadcasters, community and corporate leaders and media professionals all across the nation.

Individual and corporate contributions are fully deductible and may be made to the Guardian Fund of the Broadcasters Foundation of America, your profession’s officially certified and registered 501(c)3 national public charity.

Our Final Plea

This year, please send whatever you can to our national office in New York City c/o President Jim Thompson: The Broadcasters Foundation of America, Guardian Fund, 125 W. 55^th Street, New York, NY 10019; 212-373-8250

Thank You

With great gratitude: Dan Mason, chairman ([email protected], 703-404-1125); Jim Thompson, president ([email protected], 203-327-2800); Dick Foreman, vice chairman ([email protected], 203-327-2800)