Missouri Press Association
Serving Missouri Newspapers Since 1867
Missouri Press Foundation is a tax-exempt, non-profit corporation formed in 1984, by the Missouri Press Association. Our mission is to honor the past, protect the present, and build the future of journalism in general and Missouri newspapers in particular as a vibrant force in a democratic society.
Activities
The Foundation conducts the annual Missouri Better Newspaper Contest to reward and encourage excellence in newspaper journalism. It operates a museum and newspaper office (circa 1850) for the general public at Arrow Rock, MO. Seminars, workshops and other educational opportunities are held on various phases of newspaper operations to improve the skills of journalists. The Foundation also awards grants, awards and donations to deserving journalism students, teachers and institutions teaching journalism.
In 2021, Missouri Press Foundation, in partnership with the University of Missouri School of Journalism and the Reynolds Journalism Institute, announced the creation of the all-new Rural Missouri Newspaper Scholarship.
In 2026, Missouri Press Foundation launched the Community Journalism Fund, making available to any Missouri local news outlet that is a member of the Missouri Press Association with an Internal Revenue Service-accepted mechanism to solicit tax-exempt donations to support innovative initiatives that empower and educate Missouri communities. Find more information about the Community Journalism Fund here and apply for your newspaper here.
The need-based award provides qualifying students attending the Missouri School of Journalism with up to $40,000 over four years. Students chosen for the program must be pursuing a degree in journalism or strategic communication, and upon graduation students receiving the scholarship will be expected to work for a rural Missouri newspaper for at least two years.
The Missouri Press Foundation (MPF) and the Missouri School of Journalism are eager to attract Missouri high school graduates to the School of Journalism with the goals of preparing them to take leadership roles at rural Missouri newspapers and helping those students finance college degrees in journalism. This scholarship program is intended to attract such candidates and assist publishers with finding qualified candidates.
Funding
Missouri Press Foundation is supported by private contributions and memberships. Contributions come from individuals, corporations, foundations and others, both inside and outside the journalism fraternity. All donations are 100 percent deductible. The Foundation is recognized by the state and federal governments as a tax-exempt, non-profit corporation. Contact the Missouri Press Association for further information. Click here to download the Foundation Builders Form.
Read our latest news here.
BYLAWS
OF
MISSOURI PRESS FOUNDATION, INC
(Updated 2-24-26)
About the Foundation:
Missouri Press Foundation is a tax-exempt, non-profit corporation formed in 1984 by the Missouri Press Association. The foundation’s mission: Support local journalism in Missouri in partnership with local communities to improve civic life and keep Missourians informed.
Missouri Press Foundation solicits and accepts contributions from individuals, corporations, foundations and others who value the foundation’s mission.
ARTICLE I
Operations and Membership
Section 1. Registered Office: The Missouri Press Foundation’s principal office shall be located at Eighth and Locust in Columbia, Missouri. The corporation may have such other offices, either within or without the State of Missouri, as the business of the corporation may require from time to time. The registered office of the corporation required by The General Not For Profit Corporation Law of Missouri is to be maintained in the State of Missouri, may be, but need not be, identical with the principal office in the State of Missouri, and the address of the registered office may be changed from time to time by the Board of Directors.
Section 2. Purposes and activities: The corporation’s mission is to support local journalism in Missouri in partnership with local communities to improve civic life and keep Missourians informed. Initiatives to support this mission will focus on the following areas:
*Appendix A. Missouri Local News Partnership: The foundation’s projects, activities, and initiatives shall be knit together under the Missouri Local News Partnership rubric. This strategic framework reflects the comprehensive approach the foundation is undertaking to help Missouri local news outlets thrive. The Missouri Local News Partnership provides the infrastructure to support key pillars of the foundation’s fundraising efforts. The Missouri Local News Partnership Appendix A will be attached to the bylaws and updated periodically to ensure it reflects current and planned initiatives of the Missouri Press Foundation.
Section 3. Board membership: Any person who is an employee of a reliable local news outlet operating within established journalistic ethics and principles in the State of Missouri, or who is associated with teaching journalism in the State of Missouri, or who values the mission of the corporation to support local news shall be eligible for board membership.
ARTICLE II
Board of Directors
Section 1. General Powers: The business and affairs of the corporation shall be managed by its Board of Directors.
Section 2. Number and Qualification: The number of Directors of the corporation shall be fifteen (15).
Section 3. Election, Tenure and Term: Requests for board membership must be approved by a majority vote of existing board members. New board members shall be elected each year at the annual meeting of the Missouri Press Foundation. Directors shall serve for a term of three (3) years. Directors may serve multiple terms. A director may resign by filing a written resignation with the secretary of the corporation. The First Vice President of the Missouri Press Association Board of Directors shall serve a one-year term as an ex-officio member.
Section 4. Removal: A director may be removed from office by the affirmative vote of two-thirds (2/3) of the members of the Board of Directors then in office, taken at any regular meeting or at a special meeting called for that purpose.
Section 5. Regular Meetings of Directors: A regular annual meeting of the Board of Directors shall be held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Missouri Press Association.
Section 6. Additional Meetings: Additional or special meetings of the Board of Directors may be called by or at the request of the President, or the Secretary, or any two directors. The person/persons authorized to call such meetings may fix any place, within or without the State of Missouri, as the place for holding any meeting.
Section 7. Notice: Any special meeting shall be called with at least five (5) days’ notice. The attendance of a director at a special meeting shall constitute a waiver of notice, except where a director attends a meeting for the express purpose of objecting to the transaction of any business because the meeting is not lawfully called or convened. Neither the business to be transacted at, nor the purpose of, any regular or special meetings of the Board of Directors need be specified in the notice or waiver of notice of such meeting.
Section 8. Quorum: A minimum of eight (8) directors fixed by Section 2 of Article II shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business at any meeting of the Board of Directors. Except as otherwise provided by the Articles of Incorporation, or these bylaws, or by statute, the act of the majority of directors present at a meeting where a quorum is present shall be the act of the Board of Directors.
Section 9. Advisory board: An advisory board to the Missouri Press Foundation may be appointed by the Board of Directors in consultation with the Executive Director of the Missouri Press Association and the Chief Advancement Officer of the Missouri Press Foundation. Advisory board members should be supporters of the foundation’s mission and can advise the foundation in development projects, help build the profile of the foundation, and assist in fundraising. The advisory board may include past members of the foundation’s elected board, members of the Missouri Press Association, outside advisors with expertise or experience related to an MPA/MPF initiative, past donors, prospective donors, and other supporters of local news in Missouri. The advisory board does not have voting rights on the Board of Directors.
Section 10. Vacancies: Any vacancy occurring in the Board of Directors may be filled by the affirmative vote of the majority of directors then in office, although less than a quorum. A director elected in such a manner to fill a vacancy shall serve for the remaining term of his or her predecessor and until his or her successor shall have been elected and qualified.
Section 11. Compensation: Directors as such shall not receive any salaries for their services, but the Board of Directors may establish reasonable compensation for other services to the corporation by directors, officers, advisory board members, or others, or may delegate such authority to an appropriate committee.
Section 12. Presumption of Assent: A director of the corporation who is present at a meeting of the Board of Directors or a committee thereof at which action of any corporate matter is taken shall be presumed to have assented to the action taken unless his or her dissent shall be expressed and entered in the minutes prior to the adjournment of the meeting. Such right to dissent shall not apply to a director who voted in favor of such action.
Section 13. Informal Action Without a Meeting: Any action required or permitted by the Articles of Incorporation, or bylaws, or any provisions of law to be taken by the Board of Directors at a meeting or by resolution may be taken without a meeting if approved in writing or by email, by a majority of the directors then in office.
ARTICLE III
OFFICERS
Section 1. Executive Committee: The principal officers of the corporation shall be a President, one or more Vice-Presidents (the number thereof to be determined by the Board of Directors), and a Secretary/Treasurer, each of whom shall be elected by the Board of Directors. Such other officers and assistant officers as may be deemed necessary may be elected by the Board of Directors. Any two (2) or more offices may be held by the same person, except the same person may not hold the offices of President and Secretary. Officers shall be chosen from the members of the Board of Directors.
Section 2. Election, Tenure, and Term: The officers of the corporation shall be elected annually by the Board of Directors at the regular annual meeting of the Board of Directors. Vacancies may be filled or new offices created and filled at any meeting of the Board of Directors. Each officer shall hold office until his or her successor shall have been duly elected and shall have qualified or until his or her death or until he or she shall resign or shall have been removed in the manner hereinafter provided.
Section 3. Removal: Any officer or agent elected or appointed by the Board of Directors may be removed by the Board of Directors by a two-thirds (2/3) majority vote of the directors then in office. Such removal shall be without prejudice to the contract rights, if any, of the person so removed. Election or appointment shall not of itself create contract rights.
Section 4. Vacancies: A vacancy in any principal office because of death, resignation, removal, disqualification, or otherwise, shall be filled by the Board of Directors for the unexpired portion of the term.
Section 5. President: The President shall, when present, preside at all meetings of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee and has such authority and performs such other duties as set forth in these Bylaws and as the Board of Directors may from time to time designate.
Section 6. Vice President: In the absence of the President, or in the event of his or her death, inability, or refusal to act, the Vice-President (or in the event there be more than one Vice-President, the Vice-Presidents in the order designated at the time of their election, or in the absence of any designation, then in the order of their election) shall perform the duties of the President, and when so acting, shall have all the powers of and be subject to all the restrictions upon the President. Any Vice-President shall perform such other duties as from time to time may be assigned to him or her by the President of the Board of Directors.
Section 7. Secretary/Treasurer: The Secretary/Treasurer is responsible for minutes at all regular and special Board meetings and meetings of the Executive Committee. He or she will give or cause to be given notice of all meetings to the Board of Directors. The Secretary/Treasurer is also responsible for oversight of the books and records of the corporation and the reporting thereon to the Board of Directors. He or she shall be the custodian of the corporate records and of the seal of the corporation and see that the seal of the corporation is duly affixed to all documents, the execution of which on behalf of the corporation under its seal is duly authorized in accordance with the provisions of these Bylaws.
Section 8. Executive Director and/or Chief Advancement Officer: The Board of Directors shall have the power to employ an Executive Director and/or a Chief Advancement Officer who shall operate the affairs of the corporation, and authorize him or her to employ associate or assistant managers and such clerical, administrative and other help as may be necessary for the efficient operation of the corporation. The Executive Director/Chief Advancement Officer shall work with the MPA Executive Director and staff to help supervise the financial records of the corporation in the manner determined by the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors has full authority to regulate the duties of the Executive Director/Chief Advancement Officer and to set the salary or other compensation including retirement benefits and his or her term of office.
ARTICLE IV
Contracts
Unless otherwise ordered by the Board of Directors, all written contracts and other documents entered into by the corporation shall be executed on behalf of the corporation by the President, Vice President or Executive Director/Chief Advancement Officer and if required, attested by the Secretary.
ARTICLE V
Committees and advisory board
The Board of Directors may create and appoint standing, special or other committees and/or an advisory board 9 (see Article II, Section 9) to undertake studies, make recommendations, and carry out functions for accomplishing the purposes of the corporation. Committees, to the extent specified by the Board of Directors, may exercise the powers, functions, and authority of the Board of Directors, except where prohibited by law. If a committee is to exercise board powers, all persons serving on the committee must be directors. Advisory board members do not have to be directors and serve only in an advisory, not voting, capacity.
ARTICLE VI
Fiscal Year
The fiscal year of the corporation shall begin on the first day of January and end on the last day of December in each year.
ARTICLE VII
Seal
The Board of Directors shall provide a corporate seal which shall be circular in form and shall have inscribed thereon the name of the corporation and the words, “Corporate Seal, Missouri.”
ARTICLE VIII
Termination and Tax Status
Section 1. Termination: Upon the dissolution of the corporation, the Board of Directors shall, after paying or making provision for the payment of all of the liabilities of the corporation, transfer the assets to such organization or organizations organized and operated exclusively for charitable, educational, religious, or scientific purposes as shall at the time qualify as an exempt organization or organizations under section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (or the corresponding provision of any future United States Internal Revenue Law), as the Board of Directors shall determine.
Section 2. No substantial part of the activities of the corporation shall consist of carrying on propaganda or otherwise attempting to influence legislation or participating in or intervening in (including the publishing or distribution of statements) nor shall any part of the activities of the corporation be in support of any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for public office.
Section 3. Tax Status: Notwithstanding any other provision of these bylaws, no trustee, officer, employee or representative of this corporation shall undertake any action or any activity by or on behalf of the corporation not permitted by an organization exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Code and Regulations as they now exist or as they may hereafter be amended.
ARTICLE IX
Liability and Indemnification
In the absence of fraud or bad faith, the Directors of the corporation shall not be personally liable for its debts, obligations, or liabilities; and the corporation shall indemnify any director or officer or former director or officer of the corporation, or any person who may have served at its request as a director or officer of another corporation, whether for profit or not for profit, against expenses actually and necessarily incurred by him in connection with the defense of any action, suite, or proceeding in which he or she is made party by reason of being or having been such director or officer, except in relation to matters as to which he or she shall be adjudged in such action, suit, or proceedings to be liable for negligence or misconduct in the performance of a duty. Such indemnification shall not be deemed exclusive of any other rights to which such director or officer may be entitled, under any bylaw, agreement, vote of a duly authorized board, or shareholders, members, or otherwise. Anything contained in this article to the contrary notwithstanding, the corporation shall in no event indemnify any person otherwise entitled to such indemnification, since such indemnification would constitute "self-dealing" as defined in IRS Section 4941, or corresponding provisions of any subsequent tax laws.
ARTICLE X
Amendments
The bylaws may be amended in a manner as follows:
In lieu of the foregoing, the bylaws may be amended by action without a meeting if authorized in writing signed by all the members of the corporation and trustees.
ARTICLE XI
General
As used in these Bylaws, words which import one gender shall be applied to either gender wherever appropriate, and words which import the singular or plural shall be applied to either the singular or plural whatever appropriate.
Adopted February 18, 2026
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*APPENDIX A. Missouri Local News Partnership
For fund-raising and messaging purposes, the foundation’s projects, activities, and initiatives shall be knit together under the Missouri Local News Partnership rubric.
This strategic framework reflects the comprehensive approach the foundation is undertaking to help Missouri local news outlets thrive. The concept provides an easily-understood way to explain the foundation’s work across a wide range of initiatives.
This approach creates more opportunities for engagement through innovative initiatives and appealing community-building projects.
The Missouri Local News Partnership umbrella will facilitate the foundation’s ability to broaden and deepen its donor pool to support both ongoing activities and new projects.
Internally, the Missouri Local News Partnership creates an infrastructure to track and support key pillars of the Missouri Press Foundation’s planning and fundraising. Over time, foundation activities can be evaluated on the basis of how well they fit and function within this infrastructure.