Help ensure that IRE will be helping journalists for years to come by supporting our new grassroots fundraising effort: The $25 Club. IRE members and friends give $25, and pledge to give $25 a year for the next three years ($100 total). That qualifies for a $50 match.

The foundation adds 50 cents to every dollar given or pledged to IRE's Endowment Fund. The drive was scheduled to end Dec. 31. We made a major push to raise as much as we could by that deadline. Through the dedication of a number of major donors— plus the involvement of more than 350 members who raised $85,000 through our $25 Club alone— we took in a little more than $700,000.

Please think about how easy it would be make this donation and pledge. $25 a year is less than 50 cents a week - far less than a cup of coffee or equal to buying a daily paper off the newstand. And your donations are tax deductible.

We know most journalists don't have a lot of extra money. But this would still be an important contribution. For one thing, it lets us tell foundations and big donors that a high percentage of members give. For another, there is power in our numbers.

IRE is a strong, vigorous organization . We want to ensure that it has an equally vibrant future.

If IRE has helped you in your career, please give back now. If you love investigative reporting and its value to our society, please give now. If you want to help IRE help journalists, please give now.

(If you have already given, please encourage your fellow members, colleagues, friends and family to give.)

Sending your pledge is easy. You can click HERE to make the $25 Club pledge online (credit card payments via secure server). Or use the pledge form at the end of this message. You can copy and paste the pledge section and email it to Jennifer Erickson, jennifer@ire.org, with your electronic signature at the bottom. You also can print it, then mail or fax to IRE. For more information, email us or contact Jennifer Erickson, jennifer@ire.org, 573-884-2222.

We personally have made our own pledges to the fund. But we also want to make a pledge to you. We promise that the IRE board of directors will make the best use of the investment income from these donations to further the cause and practice of investigative reporting and provide the best services possible to you.

Sincerely,

Duff Wilson, reporter, The New York Times, dwilson@nytimes.com
Co-Chair, IRE Development Committee and IRE Board member

Cheryl Phillips, deputy investigations editor, The Seattle Times, cphillips@seattletimes.com
Co-Chair, IRE Development Committee and IRE Board member

Lea Thompson, ThomThom Media, thompson@thomthommedia.com
Member, IRE Development Committee and IRE Board Member

Pledge by e-mail by copying and pasting this form, or print and send to IRE:
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The $25 Club

By signing here electronically or personally, I confirm I want to donate $25 this year and pledge to donate $25 in each of the next three years to Investigative Reporters and Editors. (My $100 over four years will be matched 50% by the Knight Foundation.)

Full Name:

Affiliation:

Mailing Address:


Email this to jennifer@ire.org or fax to IRE 573-882-5431 or mail it to IRE, 138 Neff Annex, Columbia, MO. 65211

Attention: Jennifer Erickson, IRE Development Officer