Blade launches non-profit foundation

Washington Blade this week announced the formation of a new non-profit entity to preserve and make accessible the paper’s 40 years of archives.

The Washington Blade Foundation for Education and Research will work to digitize those archives. In addition, the Foundation will fund academic research into LGBT topics and support young LGBT journalists with scholarships.

“We are excited by the potential of the Foundation,” said Blade editor Kevin Naff, who will serve as the first president of the Foundation’s board of directors. “The Blade has played a prominent role in the LGBT rights movement for more than 40 years and that history must be preserved and shared.”

A new website — washingtonbladefoundation.org — debuted this week where supporters can make tax-deductible donations to the Foundation.

The announcement was made on the one-year anniversary of the bankruptcy of the Blade’s former parent company, Window Media. Since then, Blade staffers purchased the name from the bankruptcy court and resurrected the paper, which was returned to local ownership.

The other members of the Foundation board are: Colleen Dermody, a marketing executive and proprietor of Out to Market; Peter Rosenstein, an LGBT activist and Blade contributor with a background in non-profit management; Khadijah Tribble, a non-profit executive with experience in LGBT and HIV/AIDS topics; and Mark Meinke, an archivist and historian known for his work with the Rainbow History Project.