A letter from our Chairman

November 1, 2023

Dear Friends,

Time goes by so quickly.

It’s been more than five years now since I founded the Institute for Public Service Reporting along with Louis Graham, former editor of The Commercial Appeal, and David Rudd, recent past president at the University of Memphis.

I’m proud to say ‘The Institute’ is going stronger than ever today.

Otis Sanford

Earlier this summer, we published a powerful series of stories on the troubling growth in the number of Tennessee children killed by the proliferation of firearms. It was just the latest in a long line of impactful investigations by our journalists exploring racial injustice, government transparency, education, faith, police accountability and other concerns vital to Memphis. These are deeply sourced examinations that few others have the time, resources or will to do.

But as a nonprofit newsroom, we need your help.

Starting today and running through Dec. 31, The Institute is undertaking its third annual NewsMatch fund drive in which individual donations are matched dollar for dollar by national funders such as the Knight Foundation, Democracy Fund, and the Facebook Journalism Project along with a range of local matching fund partners.

How does it work?

Let’s say you give $500. Thanks to the generosity of our national and local matching fund partners, your gift then will be doubled to $1,000. A gift of $1,000 becomes $2,000. Any gift up to $1,000 made between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31 is doubled!

Your gift is tax deductible.

It doesn’t necessarily need to be a single, one-time gift.

First-time donors to The Institute have the option to sign up for monthly giving. Let’s say you give $100 a month. Your $1,200 annual total will be matched up to $1,000.

Giving to The Institute is as easy as pressing the donate button above or clicking here.

Will you help us?

Remember, our journalists’ work requires time and resources to produce. Though we are an arm of the University of Memphis – housed in the Meeman Journalism Building on campus – we are externally funded, relying on the generosity of people like you.

As a journalist in Memphis for roughly 40 years, I am deeply committed to serving this community through meaningful public service reporting, and it’s why I fully support the work of The Institute.

Please join me in this effort during this time of giving.

Sincerely,

Otis Sanford

Professor Emeritus in Journalism, the University of Memphis

Co-founder and Chairman, the Institute for Public Service Reporting

Some of our latest stories

Since 2013, more than 600 children have died due to firearms in Tennessee

Federal Judge Orders TVA to Divulge Salaries of 4 Regional Vice Presidents

The Institute is led by director Marc Perrusquia, who worked nearly 30 years as an investigative reporter at The Commercial Appeal. He’s the author of the 2018 book “A Spy In Canaan,’’ which exposed civil rights photographer Ernest Withers’ secret life as an FBI informant and inspired the 10-part podcast “Ernie’s Secret” and the documentary film “The Picture Taker,’’ to be released on PBS in January.

The Institute’s associate director, David Waters, worked more than 30 years at The Commercial Appeal and another four at The Washington Post. He is revered as Memphis’s best news writer and is beloved for his work exploring faith, child poverty and education

Laura Kebede-Twumasi is a Report for America corps member. She recently hosted and wrote WKNO public television’s special “History, Justice and the Journalists” on unresolved civil rights crimes in the Memphis area. She previously covered education inequities for Chalkbeat Tennessee and local government and religion for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.