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Need Magazine I stumbled into Need Magazine one afternoon perusing the stacks at Common Good Books, Garrison Keilor's fine little bookstore in Saint Paul. The cover story was about bringing aid to Darfur, and was illustrated by the photography of Ron Haviv. Intrigued, I took it to the cash register, plunked down the $9 cover price, and was then treated to a two-minute testimonial extoling the magazine's purpose and did I know that it was published right here in the Twin Cities? Not too many magazine titles elicit that kind of spontaneous praise. And so I came to be seated at a big work table with Stephanie and Kelly Kinnunen. We're surrounded by stacks of magazines in a bright white, high-ceilinged space carved out of the corner top floor of an an old brick warehouse in low-rent Northeast Minneapolis. Outside, 18-wheelers grind gears. Inside, volunteer editors stare into big computer monitors, tapping keyboards, talking quietly on the phone. Page mockups lining one wall comprise the sum total of adornment. The couple co-founded Need after visiting an orphanage in Russia that looks after children rescued from the sex trade. Appalled by its very need for existence, inspired by the dedication of its staff, and astounded that no one they talked to had ever heard of the place or its good work, they realized there was a need to connect humanitarian work with the world at large. "We asked ourselves, if we could do anything, what would we do?" says Kelly, a graphic designer. And they asked a lot of aid organizations, at home and abroad, "what do you need?" The answer was exposure. And Need Magazine's mission was born. The Kinnunen's dream was to tell the stories of aid workers and their subjects in a dignified and artistic manner, as a way of inspiring and directing donations to those organizations. They say they both knew the best medium for making that connection was photojournalism. In print. So they started looking for work that grabbed their attention. And then they reached out. Steve McCurry was one of the first people they called because of their admiration for "that picture of the Afghan girl," Kelly says. VII members Haviv, Gary Knight, Antonin Kratochvil and the late Alexandra Boulat, as well as Ami Vitale, Leslie Spurlock, Adam and Oliver Broomberg, and others lent their names and expertise. The magazine-format media kit was published in October 2006, national distributors have picked it up, issue No. 4 is in production, and the awards are coming in. Most recently, Need took a Gold Medal Ozzie in September for "Best Use of Photography: Consumer under Many humanitarian efforts these days seek to leverage communities on the Internet (Bono's One campaign comes immediately to mind), but the Kinnunens intentionally kept their publication old-school print. "This is for everyone, not just everyone online," Kelly says, pointing to the intimacy, longevity and timelessness of magazines -- qualities missing from Web sites that can only be accessed through a computer and that can't be thrown in a shoulder bag. The magazine is gorgeous. Rich, detailed images reproduced on heavy white stock leap out at the reader -- a great tear sheet. In most cases, the stories that accompany the images are short and to the point, and they are always paired with sidebars of information about how to contact and contribute to the aid organizations mentioned in the stories. The Kinnunens say they've been floored by the positive response from photojournalists in the field. Some contact the magazine before heading out on assignments and just ask "what do you need?" Stephanie says. Others have designed self-assignments with the help of editors. In a few cases the magazine can help photographers cover their costs, and Stephanie says her hope is to eventually pay all contributors to the magazine. (Like the photographers whose work they showcase, the editors at Need are largely a volunteer force.) Stephanie, who also serves as Need's CEO, says the edits aim not to elicit guilt or sadness but to inspire with a sense of optimism; her intention is to make the publication accessible and inspiring. And the work that appears covers the aftermath of disasters, debacles, or unhappy circumstances, when the tough, hopeful business of rebuilding lives and societies takes place. Hurricane and earthquake recovery, famine relief, emergency surgeries, sheltering the homless abroad and at home; volunteers and aid workers in all these situations get much-deserved visibility in the pages of Need. 
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