When I took over as editor of the California Legionnaire beginning with the December 2019 issue, a few changes came with me to the format of the Department of California newsletter. I wanted to make the publication more closely resemble a professional newspaper.

Using my experience as a journalist and content manager for more than 10 years, I took over the editing and page design of the California Legionnaire, winning the publication first-place recognition from The American Legion Media Alliance in 2020.

The American Legion Department of California’s leadership trusted me with its newsletter and I proved to them — I proved to our membership — that I could improve it. But I didn’t do it alone. Each issue, I’ve relied on our members to send me articles, photos and even news tips to help fill the pages of the California Legionnaire.

As an officer of your post, district or area, you can update veterans across the state on ways you’re successfully executing the mission and programs of The American Legion. If you’re a regular member and want to submit an opinion article on any news of the day, I welcome that wholeheartedly.

Just include your name, city and post number in an email to editor@caLegion.org or by mail to 
California American Legion, ATTN: California Legionnaire, 1601 7th St, Sanger, CA 93657

Upcoming Newsletter Changes

California American Legion leaders have once again entrusted me with more changes to the newsletter, having approved key points in a plan I developed to help once again increase the circulation of the newsletter while also raising money through sponsorships and donations to help offset the cost of production and mailing.

The first phase of the plan will transform the California Legionnaire into a quarterly publication, reducing the number of issues from six to four each year. This will allow us to shift the production and mailing costs of two issues to our freelance writer’s budget, which will give us more quality content for our website, caLegion.org, and the printed newsletter.

This, of course, is pending endorsement by the Finance Commission and a vote by the Department Executive Committee, which by article publication had not yet deliberated on the matter.

We Need Your Support

While operating as a quarterly, we will work to increase circulation by asking members like you to donate a yearly amount to help fund the newsletter. We’ll call this optional donation a “Subscription”.

What you’ll be supporting is an extended reach into the far corners and dense population centers of the Golden State. At last count, The American Legion Department of California had 48,690 members.

With an estimated 1.8 million veterans living in the state of California, according to the Census Bureau, just 2.7% of them are American Legion members. We can’t begin to reach a larger percentage of veterans in the state if we’re not first in touch with more of our own members.

This newsletter helps to spread the word of the good work Legionnaires do on a daily basis to support veterans, their families, and their communities. We need your support to help us get the message out.

When I took over as editor, the newsletter circulation had already been dropped significantly as a cost-savings measure. Hundreds of thousands of dollars had been diverted to other programs of the California American Legion.

There’s no doubt in my mind that the money is being well spent to support the mission of this great organization. Currently, the California Legionnaire is only being printed and mailed to less than 1,000 members and 421 posts in the Department of California.

The newsletter used to be mailed to close to 80,000 members. I’d like to see us get closer to that number in the coming years and we’ll need your help to do that.

What Will You Get for Your Annual Donation?

In addition to the satisfaction you’ll feel for directly supporting the outreach efforts of this organization to reach more of California’s veterans, your annual donation can help us to produce a more robust newsletter, with more color pages where needed and more quality news and feature stories.

With a freelance writer budget, we’ve been able to get consistent, quality writing about the most important veterans issues. Regular readers of the California Legionnaire will recognize the name Christian Southards. Since August 2020, he’s written close to 100 articles for the website and the newsletter, at about two articles per week.

Additionally, through my employment at Military Times, I’ll be able to use stories from Army Times, Marine Corps Times, Air Force Times and Navy Times in the pages of the California Legionnaire.

More plans are in the works to increase the quality, value and authority of the California Legionnaire and The American Legion Department of California, so keep reading in the coming months for an update on that.


Sponsorships 

Some may ask “Why invest so much time, effort and money into paper, when it’s eventually going away in favor of digital?”

To that I would say, yes, our website and email list are valuable resources that we need to focus heavily on, however, we still have members who prefer reading their member news on paper. Some of them can’t access the Internet or have a hard time doing so and we can’t abandon them.

But I would also add that having a printed newsletter gives an organization the opportunity to demonstrate its authority on a given subject and extend its reach to more of its constituents and to potential donors and sponsors.

The Department Executive Committee also gave me permission to seek out corporate sponsors who we can recognize in the newsletter and on the website. I cannot, however, sign any contracts. That authority rests with the adjutant at headquarters in Sanger. All sponsors will also need to be approved by the DEC.

The bottom line is that businesses want to partner with organizations that have a longstanding reputation for doing good, and likewise, we should partner with businesses whose missions align with our own.

The newsletter can help to build these reciprocal relationships so that when we need to, we can call on our partners to assist in a major way. 

With members and sponsors donating to the production of the newsletter, we will be able to extend our reach while simultaneously increasing our authority, which will work to attract more donors and sponsors.

There will be a tipping point, where the newsletter can be used to fundraise for the many programs of The American Legion.

We’ve already seen this with the Department’s Dixie Fire emergency fund, which has raised thousands of dollars for survivors of the blaze. The campaign was a partnership with Victory360, a direct-mail marketing company which drew on its contact list for support. 

The Dixie Fire began in July and ripped through almost a million acres. As Marj Goosey has written, Greenville was ravaged and Indian Valley Post 568 lost its home.

We published Marj’s article and others about the fire and our members responded with their support. Not only did our members donate funds, but they donated their time to purchase and deliver necessities to the survivors of the fire.

If the Legionnaire were still being mailed to almost 80,000 people as it once was, imagine the mighty support structure we’d be able to nurture and grow. Spreading the word about the good work this organization does is my primary mission but I can’t do it without your help.

A Mailed Copy

Any member in good standing can request a printed copy of the California Legionnaire be mailed to them, but we’d ask that you please donate to help offset the cost of printing and mailing the newsletter.   

To request a printed copy, visit: caLegion.org/newsletter-mail

You can also mail your request to Department Headquarters, 1601 7th St., Sanger, CA 93657-2801

If you prefer to pick up the phone, call 559-875-8387.