The outgoing chair of the Journalists’ Charity has highlighted the need to boost its membership.
Chris Boffey, who hands over the chair next month to Bill Hagerty, editor of the British Journalism Review, comments, in the October issue of the charity’s newsletter: “The Journalists’ Charity is well placed in difficult times to maintain its prime functions despite the consistent problem of being unable to attract large numbers of new members.
“There are about 100,000 media people in this country, and we have only 5000 members.
“However, our money-raising stream is becoming more and more professional. There are now no JC events that are not profitable.”
The JC is selling fund-raising Christmas cards, entitled ‘Credit Crunch Chritmas’ , featuring a specially-commissioned whimsical cartoon by the Daily Telegraph’s award-winning, Matt.
The cards are priced at £4.50 for ten (including post and packaging) and can be ordered direct by sending a cheque to the Journalists‘ Charity, Dickens House, 35 Wathen Road, Dorking, Surrey RH4 1JY.
Meanwhile, £3000 has been raised by media folk in North-east Scotland at a masked ball at the Marcliffe at Pitfodels, Aberdeen, organised by the Grampian PR Group.
The money raised will be donated to the National Union of Journalists’ charity, Extra, which helps members who have fallen on hard times, and the Reading Bus, a project designed to improve the literacy skills of children in North-east Scotland.
