Late last week The Walrus Foundation announced the creation of the Allan Slaight Writers’ Fund at The Walrus magazine. The fund came about through Allan Slaight, his wife Emmanuelle Gattuso and Allan's son, Gary Slaight who wanted to contribute to The Walrus in a very specific way, explained Shelley Ambrose, executive director of The Walrus Foundation and co-publisher of The Walrus. 

Every dollar donated — $75,000 a year for three years — goes towards writers, said Ambrose. “The recipients of the money from that fund will get a letter saying that money came from the Allan Slaight Writers’ Fund which supports serious journalism,” she said. The fund will go towards the $400,000 that The Walrus spends yearly on editorial. Ambrose says while the fund is a great start, it isn’t going to cover everyone. “It means we can go out to other philanthropic donors and use this as an example of people’s donations towards something they care about,” she said.

Since the summer when The Walrus launched its “Why We Need The Walrus” campaign featuring Canadian media celebrities and shared via social media channels the Foundation has raised more than $500,000. The Allan Slaight Writers’ Fund will be recognized in each issue of The Walrus, beginning in October 2009.

Allan Slaight started Slaight Broadcasting in 1971, which gradually morphed into Standard Broadcasting — the largest privately-owned multimedia company in Canada at the time of its sale to Astral Media in 2007. In 1997 Slaight was inducted into the Broadcast Hall of Fame and in 2001 he became a member of the Order of Canada.