San Jose Mercury News Wish Book Fund

Created in 1982, the Holiday Wish Book Fund is the winter holiday fundraising campaign project of the San Jose Mercury News. The Fund solicits tax-deductible donations from its readers, and then uses the collected funds to purchase items needed by low-income families and individuals in its primary circulation area (Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Benito, Alameda, Santa Cruz and Monterrey counties). Each year a group of reporters and editors from the San Jose Mercury newsroom gather information from a variety of social service organizations on the needs of their clients. From this information, a select number of holiday wishes is developed into a catalog of short stories that focus on the needy families and/or individuals that is featured in the Thanksgiving edition. The Fund will publish this series of stories outlining specific community needs and offer readers ways they can make donations to help make a difference. As a result, it gives readers an opportunity to select the individual(s) or organization to whom they want to provide direct assistance. The Wish Book Fund has been an educational tool about needs in the community and helps encourage philanthropy in families and individuals. (Renewal, $20,000/1; 4% of organizational budget)