Wisconsin Watch seeks a pathways to success reporter who will expand our coverage of issues surrounding postsecondary education and workforce training. The right candidate will be a curious, collaborative, deep listener who can understand bureaucracies and economic trends that affect peoples’ lives. 

Wisconsin Watch provides trustworthy reporting that investigates problems, explores solutions and serves the public. We aim to strengthen the quality of community life and self-government in Wisconsin by providing people with the knowledge they need to navigate their lives, drive forward solutions and hold those with power accountable. We pursue the truth through accurate, fair, independent, rigorous, nonpartisan reporting. 

Click here to apply to this job.

Why pathways to success? 

Funding cuts and other financial pressures have forced higher education institutions to rely more heavily on tuition — increasing affordability challenges for students and affecting the quality of education. Meanwhile, Wisconsin faces a shortage of skilled workers, including in manufacturing, construction, health care, agriculture and information technology. This shortage is exacerbated by an aging workforce, particularly in rural areas, and a gap between the skills employers need and those job seekers have. 

Reporting on this beat will help policymakers and civic leaders understand how to expand pathways to jobs. It will also help Wisconsin residents learn the skills needed to build thriving careers. We’re taking a different approach to higher education coverage than news outlets traditionally do. Rather than prioritizing breaking news or scandals at major universities, we’re centering the experiences of learners, families, and employers to better understand how the state’s broader postsecondary landscape meets their needs. That includes paying close attention to technical colleges and trades programs. 

Job duties

The reporter will: 

• Work with the Wisconsin Watch managing editor and other colleagues to frame, report and write news stories. These stories will appear on Wisconsin Watch platforms and be distributed to news outlets across Wisconsin and the country.
• Listen to those struggling to find family supporting jobs and to those unable to fill positions to find disconnects between workforce recruitment, development and training and those who are underemployed. Find evidence-based best practices to address this challenge.
• Develop sources in secondary and postsecondary education, industries struggling to fill jobs, workforce development, labor and the general public to identify breakdowns in systems, information gaps and success stories that could inform pathways to success.
• Research the jobs that will be in high demand for years to come to inform reporting on effective programs for gaining the necessary skills to perform these jobs, from jobs in nursing and health care, where demographics show increasing demand, to developing technologies, such as those in artificial intelligence and robotics.
• Work with the Wisconsin Watch audience team to make sure this reporting reaches the people who most need the information.
• Cultivate collegial and productive relationships with collaborating news organizations to gather and analyze data, research best practices and maximize impact on stories with national scope. This includes Open Campus, a national news network aiming to improve higher education coverage.

At Wisconsin Watch we make sure that we are producing quality journalism and give our reporters the time they need to make sure the job is done well.

Required qualifications

The ideal candidate will bring a public service mindset and  a demonstrated commitment to nonpartisan journalism ethics, including a commitment to abide by Wisconsin Watch’s ethics policies. More specifically, we’re looking for a reporter who: 

• Has researched, reported and written original published news stories and/or features on deadline.
• Has demonstrated the ability to formulate compelling story pitches to editors. 
• Aches to report stories that explore solutions to challenges residents face. 
• Has experience with or ideas about the many different ways newsrooms can inform the public — from narrative investigations and features, to Q&As and ‘how-to’ explainers or visual stories.
• Has experience working with others. Wisconsin Watch is a deeply collaborative organization. Our journalists frequently team up with each other or with colleagues at other news outlets to maximize the potential impact of our reporting. 

Bonus Skills:

• Be able to analyze and visually present data. 
• Familiarity with Wisconsin, its history and its politics. 
• Multimedia skills including photography, audio and video.
• Spanish-language proficiency.

Don’t check off every box in the requirements listed above? Please apply anyway! 

Wisconsin Watch is dedicated to building an inclusive, diverse, equitable, and accessible workplace that fosters a sense of belonging – so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to still consider submitting an application. You may be just the right candidate for this role or another one of our openings!

Location

 The pathways to success reporter should be located in Wisconsin. Wisconsin Watch is a statewide news organization with staff based in Madison, Milwaukee and Green Bay.  

Salary and benefits 

The salary range is $45,500-$64,500. Final offer amounts will carefully consider multiple factors and higher compensation may be available for someone with advanced skills and/or experience. Wisconsin Watch offers competitive benefits, including generous vacation (five weeks), a retirement fund contribution, paid sick days, paid family and caregiver leave, subsidized medical and dental premiums, vision coverage, and more.

Deadline

Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. For best consideration, apply by Jan. 10, 2025.

To apply

Please submit a PDF of your resume and answer some brief questions in this application form, and send links or PDFs of four published writing samples to Managing Editor Jim Malewitz at jmalewitz@wisconsinwatch.org. Contact Jim if you’d like to chat about the job before applying.

Wisconsin Watch is dedicated to improving our newsroom by better reflecting the people we cover. We are committed to diversity and building an inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and ages. We especially encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities. We are an equal-opportunity employer and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, or any other status protected under applicable law.

Wisconsin Watch seeks a pathways to success reporter is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Wisconsin Watch is seeking an intern to report on information and accountability gaps in rural Wisconsin communities that lack robust news coverage, telling stories that explore solutions to broken systems and center the voices of community members.

This internship is available through a Scripps Howard Fund/Institute for Nonprofit News partnership, which in 2025 is supporting 13 paid internships for journalism students in newsrooms across the country. 

Applications for the INN/Fund internships close on Jan. 31. Apply here.

The Wisconsin Watch reporter will:

• Work with the Wisconsin Watch managing editor and other colleagues to frame, report and write news stories that fill information and accountability gaps and seek solutions to challenges faced by rural Wisconsin residents. These stories will appear on Wisconsin Watch platforms and be distributed to news outlets across Wisconsin.
• Cultivate collegial and productive relationships with collaborating news organizations. This could include sharing bylines on high-impact stories.

At Wisconsin Watch we make sure that we are producing quality journalism and give our reporters the time they need to make sure the job is done well. Stories could take anywhere from one week to one to two months to report and write, depending on the complexity and timeliness of the issue and access to data. 

This intern will be expected to work approximately 40 hours per week throughout the reporter’s time at Wisconsin Watch. No additional benefits are included.

Location

This reporter must live in Wisconsin (the exact location is negotiable) and would have opportunities to work within Wisconsin Watch’s Madison and Milwaukee newsrooms. Wisconsin Watch is a hybrid workplace, meaning work on some days can be performed remotely. But the intern would be expected to conduct some of the reporting in person, depending on the story, and would work with the managing editor to map out a schedule for occasional work from the newsroom. 

Duration

This is a temporary position, with the expectation of work full time (40 hours/week) over 10 weeks.

Compensation 

The reporter will earn $15 per hour. 

Once selected, an intern can apply to the Fund for an additional grant to help with housing, relocation and other expenses to support the ability to accept an internship. Those applications will open in the spring. 

About Wisconsin Watch 

Wisconsin Watch is a nonpartisan, independent nonprofit with offices in Madison and Milwaukee.

Our mission is “to increase the quality, quantity and understanding of investigative journalism to foster an informed citizenry and strengthen democracy.” Our multimedia journalism digs into undercovered issues, documents inequitable and failing systems, puts findings into regional and national contexts and explores potential solutions. We aim to generate impact that improves people’s lives and holds power to account. Wisconsin Watch also trains diverse groups of current and future investigative journalists and entrepreneurs through workshops, internships and fellowships, mentoring and collaborations with journalism classes and news organizations. And we share information about journalistic practices, ethics and impact with the public.

Wisconsin Watch embraces diversity and inclusiveness in our journalism, training activities, hiring practices and workplace operations. The complex issues we face as a society require respect for different viewpoints. Race, class, generation, sexual orientation, gender, disability and geography all affect point of view. Reflecting these differences in our reporting leads to better, more nuanced stories and a better-informed community.

We especially encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including Black, Indigenous and other people of color, LGBTQ+ people and people with disabilities.

Wisconsin Watch seeks reporting intern to serve rural Wisconsin communities is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service (NNS) is looking for a reporter to investigate and report on health disparities and issues affecting Milwaukee, particularly those impacting communities of color.

Description

If you care passionately about informing readers about health-related topics and giving Milwaukee residents the information they need to navigate complicated systems, then the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service wants to hear from you.

We seek a reporter who can dig into issues such as the city’s ongoing lead crisis; infant mortality; the lingering effects of COVID; and how residents can live healthier lives. We want someone who can aggressively and masterfully cover the Milwaukee Health Department and other governmental entities while shining a light –  and solutions –  on health disparities that plague our communities of color in Milwaukee.

You will also be a key contributor to News 414, a reader-engagement initiative that delivers resources to community residents via texts and other forms of outreach.

Because we serve Black and Brown communities that have been misrepresented, ignored or only get media attention when there is crime and conflict, NNS has a three-pronged editorial agenda. We celebrate the resilience of residents by consistently and unapologetically spotlighting the good works of our community leaders and organizations. We educate our readers by connecting them to resources that can help uncomplicate their busy lives. And we illuminate through good shoe-leather watchdog reporting issues that create much-needed dialogue while holding institutions and leaders accountable.

This job requires curiosity, creativity and tenacity. We seek reporters who have initiative, resolve and the willingness to dig deep while simultaneously centering the voices of communities of color into their stories. We are not looking for stenographers who summarize meetings or rewrite news releases. Instead, we seek journalists who can connect the dots and deliver insightful stories that leave our readers better informed.

What you can expect from us

The Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service (NNS) is an ambitious nonprofit newsroom that serves the city’s Black and Latinx communities. Our readers are our neighbors, and filling their information needs is our top priority.

We are a division of Wisconsin Watch, a statewide nonprofit that focuses on high-quality, impactful journalism, and have offices in Marquette University’s Diederich College of Communication.

We value collaboration, communication and creativity. And we hire people for who they are … and for what they can become. We want everyone to win.

What makes an outstanding candidate

You’re a good fit if:

• You have a demonstrated commitment to the use of investigative journalism and you live to develop and execute sustained, powerful stories that spur reform.
• You are organized and can handle multiple projects under tight deadlines.
• You have a collaborative spirit and want to work with a team to give central city Milwaukee residents the journalism they want, need and deserve. You believe that we are all stronger together.
• You believe that legacy models for local media’s business and journalism are broken and that new approaches are needed to serve the public and our democracy.
• You have sharp news judgment and a strong record of detailed reporting and powerful storytelling.
• You are obsessed with accuracy and transparency.
• You have adept interviewing skills: This reporter will need to talk to high-level officials and neighborhood residents.
• You have some proficiency – or at least interest – in working with data and public records.
• You have strong people skills and an affinity for working with others.
• You believe in our North Star: to give Milwaukee residents the newsroom they deserve.
• Audio or video reporting skills are a plus.

Responsibilities:

The reporter will: 

• Work with the managing editor to strategize, frame, report and write news and feature stories. 
• Develop sources in the medical community and engage members of the public in identifying the information gaps that need to be filled. 
• Write two to three stories a week and contribute to community engagement efforts.

Location: The reporter will be based in Milwaukee. Some evening and weekend work is necessary. We have a hybrid workplace and expect you to be more in the community than in our office.

We know no one is perfect

We expect great things. But we know no one can have all the skills listed above. So apply anyway.

We encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including women, people of color, LGBTQ people, veterans and people with disabilities. We believe that a newsroom that includes a broad range of life experiences will ultimately produce better journalism.

What we want to see from you

• A cover letter telling us why you seek the position and why you are the right person for our team.
• A resume.
• Links or PDF files of at least three examples of your best work.
  • (Send to rsmith@milwaukeenns.org; please put “Health Reporter Application Materials” in the e-mail subject line.)

You can reach out to Executive Director Ron Smith and discuss this position. He can be reached at rsmith@milwaukeenns.org. Please put “Health Reporter” in the e-mail subject line.

Salary

$40,000 – $45,000 per year

Click here to apply.

Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service seeks health reporter is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

The associate director of philanthropy will perform administrative duties related to fundraising, marketing and public relations, gaining firsthand experience in strategic planning to increase the capacity of a growing nonprofit organization. This role will grow with the right candidate and serve as the catalyst for a successful career in nonprofit fundraising and relationship management.

Wisconsin Watch, a nonprofit news organization dedicated to making sure Wisconsin residents have the news and information they need, seeks a philanthropy associate to help us achieve our ambitious fundraising and expansion goals. The associate director of philanthropy will report to the director of philanthropy and work closely with the chief revenue officer. The right candidate will be highly organized, detail-oriented and entrepreneurial, with strong communication, project management, and task management skills.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit news company providing trustworthy reporting that investigates problems, explores solutions and serves the public. We aim to strengthen the quality of community life and self-government in Wisconsin by providing people with the knowledge they need to navigate their lives, drive forward solutions and hold those with power accountable. We pursue the truth through accurate, fair, independent, rigorous, nonpartisan reporting. 

Job duties:

The associate director of philanthropy will perform administrative duties related to fundraising, marketing and public relations, gaining firsthand experience in strategic planning to increase the capacity of a growing nonprofit organization. This role will grow with the right candidate and serve as the catalyst for a successful career in nonprofit fundraising and relationship management.

The associate director of philanthropy will be involved with stewardship activities related to nonprofit fundraising and relationship management, including working with a team to create and implement the fundraising, development and communications strategy for Wisconsin Watch, as well as donor and grant research and tracking. 

The associate director of philanthropy will work closely with the development and business team to plan, implement and coordinate effective multi-year strategies and plans for gift prospects, including individual donors and foundations. 

Major donors

• Serve as a representative of Wisconsin Watch and a point of contact for staff and donor inquiries.
• Uphold excellent stewardship practices and regularly help craft funder outreach and updates.
• Partner with the director of philanthropy to conduct prospect research.
• Potentially manage a small portfolio of major donors.

Institutional donors

• Collaborate with the director of philanthropy to manage a robust calendar of institutional funder grants and reporting deadlines.
• Uphold excellent stewardship practices and regularly help craft funder outreach and updates.
• Assist with financial budgeting and reporting processes.

Systems management

• Responsibilities include running weekly gift reports, requesting development notes, merging letters, customizing copy, and routing letters for approvals and signatures.
• Draft acknowledgment letter templates and refresh/update content on a bi-annual basis.
• Administer the Watchdog Club and Leadership Circle acknowledgment process.
• Send out monthly recurring gift initiation thank you cards and pledge reminders.
• Partner with the business team on database policies and best practices in record keeping.

Required qualifications:

• 2+ years’ experience in nonprofit fundraising, stewardship, donor relations, project management and/or a related area.
• Proficient in Google Suite, MS Office, Word, Excel, and Outlook.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.

Other desirable qualifications:

• Passion for journalism, local news, media, and/or civic engagement.
• Excellent organizational, critical thinking and project management skills.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Skilled at proactively solving problems and offering solutions.             
• Strong customer service mentality.
• Self-starter, able to successfully coordinate multifaceted projects, timelines, competing priorities, and duties both independently and in collaboration with other people involved.
• Exceptional relationship-building skills with both internal and external constituents.
• Ability to work effectively in a decentralized environment with high complexity.
• Experience with writing communications for donor gratitude.
• Experience using Salesforce or other CRM software.
• Experience with donor prospect research.

Don’t check off every box in the requirements listed above? Please apply anyway! Studies have shown that marginalized communities, such as women, LGBTQ+ and people of color, are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. Wisconsin Watch is dedicated to building an inclusive, diverse, equitable, and accessible workplace that fosters a sense of belonging – so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to still consider submitting an application. You may be just the right candidate for this role or another one of our openings!

Location: The associate director of philanthropy should be located in Wisconsin, preferably in the greater Madison or greater Milwaukee areas.

Salary and benefits: The base salary for this position is $60,000. Final offer amounts will carefully consider multiple factors, including prior experience, expertise and location, and may vary from the amount above. Wisconsin Watch offers competitive salaries and benefits, including generous vacation (five weeks), a retirement fund contribution, paid sick days, paid family and caregiver leave, subsidized medical and dental premiums, vision coverage, and more.

Deadline: Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. For best consideration, apply by Sept. 6, 2024.

To apply: Please submit a PDF of your resume and answer some brief questions in this application form. If you’d like to chat about the job before applying, contact Anna January, director of philanthropy: ajanuary@wisconsinwatch.org

Wisconsin Watch is dedicated to improving our newsroom by better reflecting the people we cover. We are committed to diversity and building an inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and ages. We especially encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities. We are an equal-opportunity employer and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind. All employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, or any other status protected under applicable law.

Salary

$60,000 – $70,000 per year

Click here to apply.

Wisconsin Watch seeks associate director of philanthropy is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.