By Ola Seifert
Marketing & Communications Manager
Eight years ago, the closing of the Nashville Banner newspaper marked the end of Ruth Ann Harnisch’s journalism career but opened the door to her new passion — helping others enjoy the “thrill of giving.” She established the Harnisch Family Foundation and became a spokesperson for creative philanthropy.
As president of the Foundation, Harnisch encourages people to become “Thrillionaires” by donating their money, time, skills, ideas and other assets to causes they care about. Everybody has a gift to give, she says, whether they donate money, bake a cake, write a song, design a Web site, pull a tooth, plant a garden or drive a truck.
Her foundation tells the stories of those who do give, to provide inspiration for others to do the same.
The Harnisch Family Foundation recently gave a $5,000 grant to The Poynter Institute in honor of Al Tompkins, Poynter’s group leader for broadcast and online.
Poynter will use the money to fund scholarships for tuition and housing to several upcoming seminars including Reporting for Public Radio, Producing Newscasts and TV Power Reporting. Applicants will be alerted to the scholarships on the respective seminar pages on Poynter Online.
Because Poynter also believes in the power of stories, the scholarship recipients will be asked to write about how their training at Poynter will help them be better journalists.
In a telephone interview, when asked why she chose to make the grant in Tompkins’ name, Harnisch said, “To me, Al is a hero in the journalism field because of his ethics and conscience.”
She said journalism training is not in the foundation’s target area of giving, but after reading something Al had written recently on Poynter’s Web site, www.poynter.org, she wanted to make the grant to support the good work of Al and Poynter.
Harnisch first met Tompkins years ago in Nashville when he was a reporter at WSMV-TV, and she, then known as Ruth Ann Leach, was an anchor at WTVF-TV. Her journalism career also included hosting a popular call-in talk radio program for WLAC-AM and writing for the Nashville Banner newspaper for 17 years.
Harnisch sees her foundation work as an extension of the activities she was asked to do during her journalism days, such as emceeing a charitable telethon or chairing a statewide fund drive.
“I could never ask someone else to donate unless I did too,” she said. “It might have been just a small check, but I always became a convert to the causes I worked on.”
In a letter to Harnisch thanking her for the grant, Poynter president Karen Brown Dunlap said that, she had been inspired by the journalism of Ruth Ann Leach, and is proud of the outstanding work Harnisch is doing now.
“In some ways that’s a different form of the stories that you gave Nashville for years,” Dunlap said. “By focusing your stories on people who made a difference, you taught others how to give of themselves.”
Correction: The original version of this article incorrectly reported when the Nashville Banner newspaper closed. The newspaper shut down in 1998. (4/18/2006)
