By Jack Marsh
Board chair and co-founder
Click here for a short video of Jack Marsh speaking to donors on Oct. 4.
South Dakota’s first nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization, marking five years as a consistent, reliable source of high-quality journalism, has bold plans for the future.
South Dakota News Watch, publisher of about 325 in-depth projects and articles on topics of statewide relevance since 2018, will transition to new leadership and expand its staff in 2023.
Randell Beck and I, the co-founders of South Dakota News Watch (SDNewsWatch.org), also have been the de facto CEOs since inception, overseeing news, fundraising and business operations and supervising the three-person paid staff, Rob Joyce, Bart Pfankuch and Stu Whitney.
We are in the process of recruiting and hiring our first Chief Executive Officer, who will be responsible for stewarding the continued momentum of this organization. Randell and I aren’t going away. We will continue to be involved, but in a governance role with the other members of the board of directors.
Sagency (SagencyTalent.com), a leadership coaching and executive development consulting firm, is managing the search to find a CEO with the qualities, skills, vision and experience to take News Watch to a whole new level while still honoring our core principles and standards.
Growing the staff, improving our journalism, enhancing its relevancy and deepening its impact will require additional financial resources. The board of directors set a 2023 fundraising goal of $510,000. News Watch does not accept advertising, corporate sponsorships, donations from elected officials or anonymous gifts. Therefore, News Watch is dependent on voluntary donations from individuals and grants from foundations.
We remain steadfastly committed to producing trustworthy, thorough and nonpartisan journalism for all people of South Dakota. We provide the kind of news and information that we believe is essential to a healthy democracy and that helps to ensure a well-informed and engaged citizenry.
We pledge to be good stewards of gifts large and small, to encourage civil discourse and civic engagement, and to seek and report the best obtainable version of the truth.
Contribute to our future. Support South Dakota News Watch by giving now
South Dakota News Watch is an independent non-profit news organization and relies on the support of readers like you. If you would like to help us continue to provide quality and in-depth reporting to our region, please consider making a donation.