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Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our our newsletter to get our investigative stories and Friday news roundup.

In the waning hours of 2019, you have the power to make a difference by sending a gift to the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism — an independent nonprofit organization guided by three values: Protect the vulnerable. Expose wrongdoing. Explore solutions.

Your gift supports the Center’s nonpartisan, fact-checked investigative reporting and the training of the next generation of investigative journalists.

We have met our initial NewsMatch goal, thanks to our amazing donors, and now there’s a final opportunity to boost the impact of your gift. The national funders behind NewsMatch have given us one more challenge: Can you help us reach 100 new donors by the end of the year?

We have just 34 left to go before midnight Dec. 31! 

Help us meet this challenge and earn an extra NewsMatch bonus by starting a monthly donation or making a one-time gift today. 

A gift of even $1 would count toward the new-donor challenge by NewsMatch, a nationwide effort to increase grassroots support of nonprofit journalism. 

So please share this message with your friends!

Donate now to help the Center continue to produce fearless investigative reports that strengthen our democracy. In fact, we’re expanding our staff as this critical swing state heads into a critical election year.

You may make a gift securely via credit card or mail a check to WCIJ, Fifth Floor, Vilas Hall, 821 University Ave., Madison, WI 53706.

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If you have the means, please consider joining more than 100 supporters in our Watchdog Club with a gift of $1,000 or more.

Join the Watchdog Club

The Watchdog Club Leadership Circle is a new network of people and businesses taking a leadership role in sustaining investigative reporting and the training of investigative journalists. Donors of $5,000 or more per household become members of our Leadership Circle and receive all the benefits of the Watchdog Club, plus an office tour and lunch with members of the staff and invitations to exclusive Leadership Circle events.

Join the Leadership Circle

If, like me, you’re in a reflective mood on this New Year’s Eve, please consider the value that an investment in the Center produces for the people of Wisconsin:

— Award-winning, fact-checked, nonpartisan investigative reporting, made available for free to foster an informed citizenry and strengthen democracy. We collaborate with newsrooms such as Wisconsin Public Radio and NPR to maximize the use of resources and impact of the journalism. This year our 46 reports — on health issues, immigration, the justice system, economic issues, the environment and more — were picked up by 220 news organizations and reached an estimated audience of 15.5 million people.

— Financial transparency — all donors are publicly acknowledged and they have no say in our news coverage decisions — and transparency about our practices and policies to protect the integrity of our journalism. As a charitable organization, we are beholden to the public, not shareholders.

— Training, through internships, fellowships and classroom collaborations, of investigative journalists and news entrepreneurs who will sustain local and state public service journalism for decades to come.

As news organizations continue to face staffing cuts and a decline in trust, please show your support for a growing, public-spirited news organization dedicated to one thing in Wisconsin:

Truth.

P.S. For an inspiring look at some of our top work of the year, please check out these 10 photos selected by Coburn Dukehart, Wisconsin Watch’s digital and multimedia director.

The nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism (www.WisconsinWatch.org) collaborates with Wisconsin Public Radio, PBS Wisconsin, other news media and the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by the Center do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.

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Andy Hall / Wisconsin WatchExecutive Director

ahall@wisconsinwatch.org

Andy Hall, a co-founder of the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism and a former Investigative Reporters and Editors board member, won dozens of awards for his reporting in 26 years at the Wisconsin State Journal and The Arizona Republic. Since the Center’s launch in 2009, he has been responsible for the Center’s journalistic and financial operations.

Hall began his career in 1982 as a copyboy at The New York Times. At The Republic, Hall helped break the “Keating Five” scandal involving Sen. John McCain. At the State Journal, Hall’s stories held government and the powerful accountable and protected the vulnerable through coverage that addressed the racial achievement gap in public schools and helped spark the creation of the nationally noted Schools of Hope volunteer tutoring program, revealed NCAA violations by University of Wisconsin athletes, and exposed appalling conditions in neglected neighborhoods such as Allied Drive and Worthington Park. Hall won a first-place award in 2008 for beat reporting from the Education Writers Association. He also has received National Headliner, Gerald Loeb, James K. Batten and Inland Press Association awards for investigative, financial, deadline and civic journalism coverage. Hall has served as a mentor to the staff of La Comunidad, a Spanish-language newspaper in Madison, and has taught numerous courses at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism & Mass Communication. He serves on the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council Board of Directors, Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism Board of Directors, and Indiana University Media School’s Journalism Alumni Board, of which he is president. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University and, in 2016, received a Distinguished Alumni Award from the IU Media School. He also serves as a member of the Institute for Nonprofit News membership task force to create and uphold high industry standards.