The success of this endowment campaign depends not only on AAJA's ability to raise the needed funds to reach the goal, but more importantly, on how effectively the organization can demonstrate to all its stakeholders the need to continue supporting its mission for the long term. For in the end, the success of this campaign will be a public seal of approval for AAJA and the work it has done in a quarter of a century.
In January of 2004, the AAJA governing board approved the organization's Strategic Business Plan which charts AAJA's direction in the next five years and beyond. The plan is the culmination of the entire organization's work to develop a set of strategic goals for AAJA.
The core of this strategic plan is to position AAJA as a dynamic leader in pushing for needed changes that would ensure greater Asian American and Pacific Islander representation in newstooms and in news coverage. We hope to do this by:
- Developing the leadership capacity of our national and chapter board members as well as staff.
- Empowering and training Asian American and Pacific Islander journalists to be effective agents of positive change in the industry.
- Forging greater collaboration with Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.
- Strenghtening AAJA's financial capacity to carry out its mission of newsroom diversity.
This endowment will ensure the successful implementation of AAJA's new Strategic Business Plan and will support the organization's goal of even greater stability as an organization that impacts its members, the news media and the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.
This endowment campaign is not a culmination of AAJA's 25 years of existence but the beginning of its next 25 years.