I know that, like me, you believe deeply believe in The Bruin, its mission and the opportunities that being a part of this institution can unlock.
Still, these are challenging times for journalism and the media — professional newsrooms have shrunk and local media outlets have disappeared as the industry adjusts to disruption. In recent years, as other college newspapers have cut publication schedules and gone online-only, The Bruin has endured its own financial struggles. It’s had to politic for student fee referendums and scrap for other resources to continue printing daily, replace basic equipment and keep the lights on in Kerckhoff. Meanwhile, the travel budget for stories and conventions is a sliver of what it used to be, and editor stipends still aren’t enough to live on.
In this era of unprecedented attacks on the free press, we think it is more important than ever to support student journalism and its practitioners, especially at the Daily Bruin. In that spirit, we have launched several initiatives aimed at ensuring The Bruin thrives for another century:
A short-term fundraising campaign starting today that aims to raise $10,000 for student scholarships and $10,000 to pay for basic equipment that students say they desperately need.
A longer-term effort aimed at raising the $100,000 necessary to open an endowment that can generate funds for The Bruin for years to come.
We’ve done all the work necessary to set up the funds with UCLA. But now we need your help.
Please consider donating to The Daily Bruin Alumni Network Scholarship — then, tell your other DB friends about it on social media with the hashtag #DB100. We’ll be hosting an event on campus May 18, Alumni Day. If we can meet our $20,000 fundraising goal, we’ll present four promising Bruin staff members with our annual scholarships at our reunion in October, and present The Bruin with a check for $10,000 for equipment.
Please join us and give today.
Matt Stevens ’11,
On behalf of the Board of The Daily Bruin Alumni Network
How Your Donations Help...
The Daily Bruin means a lot to its alumni – and they generously give back. Since fiscal year 2015, UCLA records show that about 200 alums have given more than $70,000 to support The Bruin. Here are just a few of the dozens of items this money has already purchased:
A Canon video camera, tripods, lenses and batteries and a Sony wireless mic
A radio microphone and recorder
A Nikon photography camera, lighting kit and bag, several memory cards and flash drives
External hard drives, keyboard, computer mice and Chromebooks
TV adapters, stands and HDMI cords
One (very spiffy) metal print “Daily Bruin” sign for the newsroom
“The new camera gear will help The Bruin take its photography to a whole new level. I found it incredibly useful to capture the gymnastics team winning the 2019 Pac-12 title in Utah.”
– Amy Dixon, 2018-19 Daily Bruin Photo Editor
What the Daily Bruin Means to Me
Alice Short, 1974-77 Deputy Column One editor, The Los Angeles Times
“I got to have one of the coolest jobs — editor of the Daily Bruin — in college journalism. I suspect that’s where I learned about collaboration, collegiality, leadership and the pursuit of stories that mattered. As a senior at UCLA, I abandoned long-held plans to go to law school and have happily spent the last 40 years working with kick-ass journalists on kick-ass stories.”
Eric Warren, 1981-86 President, Everest Sciences
“I learned much about how journalism is practiced, and how a newsroom works. Although I eventually ended up working in a marketing career and now as president of a company supplying the energy industry, my time at The Bruin taught me about the value of research, the importance of collaboration and why the written word has been, is, and always will be essential to our society.”
Maya Sugarman, Photo, 2007-11 Video Editor, The Washington Post
“At The Daily Bruin, we had to work together as learners and mentors. It taught me to be collaborative and scrappy—skills I've used on the job every day since graduating. It gave me the opportunity to report abroad, travel the country and build lifelong friendships."
We are pleased to announce the Daily Bruin Alumni Network’s participation in the the official kick-off of the UCLA Centennial.
Join us from noon to 1 p.m. for “Trump, 2020 and the Political Divide,” featuring Matea Gold ’96, editor of political and investigative reporting at The Washington Post, and UCLA professor of public policy Mark Peterson. They will explore the major political divides that have opened up in the third year of the Trump administration and how the 2020 presidential campaigns are taking shape.
Then, from 4 to 6 p.m., meet student staffers and DBAN board members at the Daily Bruin Alumni Open House in the DB Newsroom at Kerckhoff.
How to Attend
Online registration for Alumni Day has closed, but onsite registration will be available on Saturday, May 18 in Wilson Plaza, for $50. Parking for the day is $12. Click here for more information.
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