Our gift to create the Center for Sustainable Journalism at Kennesaw State University under the direction of Leonard Witt has received no small amount of attention.  Journalists being  journalists, they smell more than a story here. They smell opportunity.

The CSJ is meant to create opportunities for journalists, but more importantly, to create opportunities for JOURNALISM. Len Witt and his associates earned my trust and my investment because they are bold about trying new ways of gathering high-quality content and delivering that information to the people who want it and need it.

Most importantly, Len is an entrepreneur masquerading as an academic. Sure, he’s interested in scholarly research on this topic. But his primary objective is to discover and replicate self-sustaining methods of reporting.  If it can’t pay for itself, it’s not sustainable.  This isn’t “subsidized” or “supported” journalism, like ProPublica (www.propublica.org).  We don’t have pockets that deep, or maybe we’d emulate that model.  Naaah, we wouldn’t.  Here’s why.

I’ve learned many things from my husband, the money manager who created the revenue that funds my philanthropy.  One of his commandments is, “The Market Is Always Right,” no matter how wrong you might think it is.  That holds for individual business models, including nonprofit businesses.  The only difference between a nonprofit and a for-profit enterprise is what happens to the revenue.  In nonprofits, the cash goes back into the mission. For-profits distribute profits to shareholders. On the Harnisch Foundation website (www.thehf.org), we tell grantseekers that our preference is to invest in nonprofits with a plan for sustainability that does not include asking us for more money!

Because so many current business models in journalism are failing, we don’t want our philanthropic dollars to prop up failing models. The market is always right. It’s up to Len Witt and the CSJ to find and fund those experiments in journalism that stand a better-than-average chance of becoming self-sustaining. 

Same goes for you, by the way. Becoming self-sustaining, where you don’t depend on one source of income, is a great goal. Diversify. Find or create multiple streams of revenue. People who remember me from my journalism career may recall that I had a lot of jobs at the same time: I was a television news anchor, reporter, and talk-show host. I was a radio talk-show host. I was a newspaper columnist. I taught at a local university. I got paid for recording voice-overs and narration, out-of-the-market television commercials, giving speeches, being in movies, and even doing calligraphy. 

What can YOU do to make an “S” (self-sustainer) out of yourself?

Yesterday, a family member needed to see an eye specialist in a hurry. We braced ourselves for the inevitable.I could not be more shocked to report that we had an experience unlike any other in my nearly six decades.

I used to be a health reporter – I know what it takes to deliver the kind of care we experienced at the Moran Eye Center connected with the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. It takes money, leadership, dedication, and, um, vision.

We drove into the underground parking lot (no ticket, no charge) to be greeted by a pleasant attendant, who noticed me looking around when we got out of the car and without being asked, spoke up and indicated where to enter the building.

The first thing I noticed was how clean the place is. (Isn’t it amazing how dingy and stinky most health care facilities are?) The furniture is welcoming and comfortable. The decor is pleasant. Even though we were five minutes past the cutoff time for Triage patients, we were graciously accommodated. Every person we dealt with was so professional, warm, and just plain nice.The intake person apologized that the process would take ten minutes no matter how fast he worked.The technician was gentle and comforting.

We had to wait (who doesn’t expect to wait?) but we waited in a clean, pleasant examining room.Three times people dropped in to ask if we needed or wanted anything (bottled water? soft drink?) and to assure us we were not being forgotten. Dr. Richard Aldous was not only a thorough professional, he was a wonderful teacher. Two medical students observed his work as he quizzed them about what they were seeing.

He was patient with them and meticulous with us. After the students were dismissed, we got a private lesson in the anatomy of the eye. He made sure we understood what was wrong with the patient’s eye and what was to be done. He told us to be sure to check out the view as we left.

It was spectacular. We hadn’t even noticed on the way in – because the facility itself was so beautiful.

It was a perfect experience. It was the ideal. This is everything one could wish for in the delivery of health care. I know it can’t be replicated everywhere – only God has that much money. But now I know: it is POSSIBLE. It exists. It can be done. And the people of the John A. Moran Eye Center are doing it. At least they did yesterday.