“Ask not, what RIAS can do for you – ask what you can do for RIAS”
Dear Friends and Fellows of the RIAS Berlin Commission: To borrow the words of John F. Kennedy at his inauguration, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country,” I would like to appeal to all of you in the RIAS alumni network to “ask not what RIAS can do for you – ask what you can do for RIAS.”
In our 25th year, the RIAS Berlin Commission has done everything possible to keep the exchange programs between Germany and the United States up and running while trimming administration costs and keeping an unchanged budget in balance. It has not been easy but thanks in part to those of you who made generous donations to RIAS in 2016 we are in solid fiscal shape. As many of you know, perennial low interest rates have taken a heavy toll on our foundation’s investment income in recent years but we are still doing everything we can to put together the best-possible exchange programs in Germany and the United States with limited means.
If you had a good and possibly life-changing experience on an RIAS exchange program, we hope that you might be able to give something back to RIAS and make even a modest tax deductible donation to RIAS Berlin Commission. Last year we received a total of more than 1,000 euros off the bat in year one in tax deductible donations in Germany and $1,000 in the United States from alumni making contributions ranging from $50 or $100 to 300 euros. In this second year of fundraising to expand the exchange programs, my personal hope is that there will be donations from alumni totaling at least 10,000 euros – that amount alone would be enough to add two more spots on the exchange programs in 2018. Because I’ve seen how important the RIAS program can be and what a positive impact it can have on young broadcast journalists, I am planning to donate 1,000 euros this year myself towards that goal of 10,000 euros so hopefully there will be at least 9,000 euros more donated by the end of the 2017 and hope as many of you as possible will join me.
In 2017 we were able to reduce admin costs and used those savings right away to add an extra day to the Washington DC program, starting on Monday instead of Tuesday. Thanks to further savings and donations, we were able to raise the number of participants on many of the trips this past year from just 10 or so in 2016 to 12 to 14 in 2017. A total of 30 Germans spent one to three weeks on fellowships in the United States in 2017 while 26 Americans spent two to three weeks in Germany. With enough donations from you, we will aim to take at least 14 on most of the exchange trips in 2018. A new added feature this year was the introduction of an optional “station week” in Germany for some of the American fellows.
As many of you know, we have also been trying to encourage the creation of Alumni Chapters in both Germany and the United States. The Cologne chapter was created in early November an
d a Berlin chapter is going to be created on January 11. The goal of these alumni chapters is to tap into the enormous potential of our great alumni network of more than 1,500 alumni from the last 25 years and ideally foster private and individual exchanges between both German and American fellows. Please do register yourself on our revamped www.darkseagreen-dog-940501.hostingersite.com website in the community section https://riasberlin.org/community/ The cost-cutting measures
are helping considerably. But we also need to diversify our funding base to cushion RIAS from the impact of such low interest income. We would greatly appreciate your tax-deductible charitable donation. It will help RIAS Berlin Commission continue to reinforce transatlantic understanding.
Here is the RIAS Berlin Commission account for tax-deductible donations in Germany:
RIAS Berlin Commission,
IBAN: DE72 1005 0000 1160 0155 50,
Kennwort: “Spende”
Or you can donate via paypal on www.darkseagreen-dog-940501.hostingersite.com
Here is the link for tax-deductible donations in the United States: https://www.rtdna.org/content/rias_german_american_exchange_program
Thanks for your support and please stay actively involved with the RIAS Berlin Commission.
Sincerely
Erik Kirschbaum
Executive Director
