By Kiali Wong
Voices

The Michigan chapter raised about $500,000 for this year’s convention, bringing in 10 times more than the $50,000 minimum required for any AAJA chapter to host a convention, according to Detroit convention organizers.

“Even if you have a small team, if they’re passionate about what they’re doing, have a plan and work together, they can do remarkable things,” said convention co-chair Frank Witsil.

“If you can do that in Michigan – a very economically challenged state – what could we do in other cities in the future?”

For the AAJA Michigan chapter, hosting the association’s 22nd annual national convention was an event three years in the making. The chapter submitted a convention proposal at the 2008 UNITY convention in Chicago, beating a competitive bid from the New York chapter, which hosted the 1990 and 2000 conventions.

Ankur Dholakia, AAJA Michigan’s co-president and a convention co-chair with Witsil, said support instantly followed when AAJA Michigan was awarded this year’s convention. The Detroit News, Detroit Free Press and Detroit Media Partnership gave a combined $50,000 after AAJA Michigan’s convention bid was accepted.

Before the presentation of the bids, the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau promised to contribute $10,000 if it was held in Detroit, Witsil said.

The Ford Foundation was by far the largest contributor, accounting for about half the chapter’s total contributions.

Dholakia said one secret of the chapter’s success was pulling in the Asian American and Arab American communities, with the latter’s involvement “unprecedented.”

The Arab American News was one hard-to-miss example. AAJA National Treasurer Rene Astudillo said the news outlet was the first major media sponsor for the Detroit convention. The News was a diamond-level sponsor – which is at least a $30,000 donation – for this year’s convention.

From The News to other sponsors such as Buick, Gannett and Southwest, the breadth of AAJA Michigan’s fundraising means the chapter is likely to profit from hosting the convention, Witsil said. The host chapter of any convention receives a portion of the revenue from AAJA National, which earned $632,438 from the convention in Los Angeles last year, according to the association’s 2010 annual financial report.

Beyond the convention, AAJA Michigan doesn’t plan to halt its fundraising efforts. Dholakia said the chapter’s next goals will be to raise more money to provide scholarships and organize different community outreach programs.

Follow Kiali Wong @KialiWong.