Posted By Becky Bisbee

The Society of American Business Editors and Writers celebrated the success of its 2008-09 fund drive at a New York City reception attended by top donors and leading business journalists. See photos of the event here.

At the event, held Sept. 10 at Thomson Reuters headquarters, SABEW President Greg McCune gave out wine bottles with the SABEW logo on them to major donors in appreciation of their support.

Among those at the reception were Paul Steiger, founder of the ProPublica investigative journalism site and former Wall Street Journal managing editor; Stephen Shepard, dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the City College of New York and former editor-in-chief at Business Week; Floyd Norris, financial columnist for The New York Times; and former SABEW presidents Mike Kandel and Barney Calame.

The campaign bested its goal of $50,000 by nearly a third, raising $66,254 in funds that qualify for a $50,000 matching grant. The drive also brought in another $12,410 in non-qualifying money, boosting the overall total for the drive to $78,664.

“We held the reception to let our key supporters know how much we appreciated their help at a time of great challenges and transition for our profession,” said McCune, who is the training editor at Reuters.

“This money will enable us to greatly enhance our services to members. We fared far better in this drive than in a similar one two years ago, despite a much tougher fundraising climate this time around.”

McCune also credited the society’s development committee, chaired by Bill Choyke, for its work on the campaign.

The society recognized 34 major donors, each giving $500 or more, at the reception.

Seven past presidents attended the event, which also marked the arrival of the society’s new executive director, Warren Watson.

This fall, Watson will lead the move of the society’s headquarters to Arizona State University in Phoenix from the University of Missouri. SABEW was based at Missouri for 25 years, and grew to an organization of more than 3,000 members over that stretch.

The society launched the fund drive last fall after receiving a $50,000 grant from the Challenge Fund for Journalism, an alliance of the Ford, John S. and James L. Knight, McCormick/Tribune and Ethics and Excellence Foundations. To keep the grant, SABEW had to raise another $50,000. The $100,000 from the grant and the match will pay for a complete overhaul and updating of the organization’s technology system.

The Challenge Fund for Journalism began giving annual matching grants to journalism organizations in 2004. The idea was to strengthen these groups and build their capacity to undertake more sophisticated fundraising efforts. The funders anticipated the tougher conditions facing professional journalists today and wanted to support these organizations so they can do more for their members in a time of stress.

SABEW received a challenge fund grant of $25,000 in 2006 and raised just over $30,000 in matching money.

This time, the society attracted 250 direct donors, more than three times the number it drew in the 2006-07 drive.

Also, SABEW’s board donated nearly $17,000 in the just-concluded drive, nearly three times the amount the board gave in 2006-07.

The board gathered the day after the reception at its traditional mid-year meeting to go over details of the move to Arizona and hear plans for the society’s 2010 annual conference next March in Phoenix. Board members also met with Watson and heard a presentation from Delta Systems, the society’s technology vendor, about the progress being made in revamping the organization’s Website at www.sabew.org.

The evolution to a new site design will begin with a transition design starting next week.