UWO campus newspaper receives $50K
The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh student newspaper received a boost to its fundraising campaign that will eliminate its $75,000 debt.
The Advance-Titan's staff announced in an article Monday that an anonymous donor offered a $50,000 challenge grant to the A-T in which the donor would match all other donations up to a certain amount. That means the A-T could potentially receive up to $100,000.
The campus newspaper is $75,000 in debt. Staff launched a fundraising campaign in October to save the paper after it was given a deadline from the university to pay $5,000 by Feb. 1. The campaign had already raised more than $25,000 before the announcement.
A-T Adviser Vince Filak said he was overwhelmed to learn of the grant. He and the students are extremely grateful for the donor's generosity as well as everyone who has contributed to the campaign.
"I don't think I could ever fully express the amount of gratitude that I feel over this," he said, adding he was blown away. "I'm so amazingly grateful to this donor, whoever he or she is, that they took the time to say the A-T matters."
Besides eliminating the paper's debt, the grant through the dollar-for-dollar matching could also stabilize the paper for years to come. Filak said the group's focus is to pay off the debt, then remain financially sound and use the extra money to improve the publication, like purchasing documents students might need for a story, printing more pages or in color pages for big university events, and sending students to a convention.
"The money will remain in a specific A-T account," he said. "Every dollar that we get is going to help the A-T and that means that we can do things that will enhance the educational opportunities for students."
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