About the FWF
The AIW Freedom to Write Fund (FWF) is a new non-profit charitable organization dedicated to education and public advocacy on behalf of the community of writers, whose work is essential to a democratic society. Re-launched in 2005 (based on the prior AIW Legal and Education Fund), FWF is currently developing a wide range of innovative approaches to:
- Providing educational and support services for writers;
- Establishing a Writers Action Group (WAG) to address the shrinkage of traditional reporting media; and
- Championing issues that threaten free gathering and dissemination of information and opinion, including free expression, access to government information, and ownership of written content.
Please join us in our important work!!
Mission Statement
A critical measure of any free society is the extent to which writers are free to search out and reveal truth. The AIW Freedom to Write Fund (FWF) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) dedicated to protecting the essential benefits to a democratic society that flow from efforts to maintain a thriving community of independent writers. FWF sponsors educational programs and innovative approaches to reporting developments in free expression, access to information, and copyright, as well as to public advocacy on those topics.
1. FWF supports educational programs and forums for independent writers to explore new ideas and share knowledge, providing guidance on subjects such as:
- Policies and regulations that affect writers’ ability to perform their work, including copyright, access to government data, and libel and slander laws.
- The business of writing and how to reach a wider audience.
- The technological revolution in publishing and the digital delivery of written material to the public.
- The craft of writing fiction, narrative non-fiction, memoir, poetry, journalism, and more, including the development of new genres.
2. FWF champions reporting developments threatening the free gathering and dissemination of information, and the expression of opinion. To this end, FWF supports innovative initiatives for the reporting and distribution of news about such issues, including copyright and ownership of written content, access to information, the prosecution of writers, and libel and slander law. These initiatives will aim to be self-sustaining, and will offset the shrinkage of traditional media and explore the use of new media for quality journalism.
3. FWF advocates on behalf of writers on critical public issues, including free expression, access to government information, and the ownership of written content, and helps writers secure legal representation in disputes.
2009-2010 FWF Board of Directors
David O. Stewart, President
Joseph A. Barbato, Vice President
Kenneth D. Ackerman, Treasurer
Alan C. Portner, Secretary
Ronald K. L. Collins
Juan H. Gaddis
John C. Lowe
Eugene L. Meyer
Cecilia Sepp
Donald O. Graul, Jr., Executive Director
FWF Advisory Board
Fred Barbash
Beryl Lieff Benderly
Kai Bird
Paul Dickson
David Everett
Ronald Goldfarb
Kitty Kelley
Dan Moldea
Michael Nussbaum
Martin J. Sherwin
Paul M. Smith
Thomas M. Susman
