Each year, Commonweal celebrates its anniversary with Commonweal Tuesday, an online day of giving. For 2025, the campaign featured “Commonweal 101” trivia, which shared some of the fundamental facts about Commonweal as the magazine celebrated 101 years. This idea began with executive director Ellen B. Koneck, and marketing and audience development director Gabriella Wilke helped bring it to life. Commonweal interns Stephen McNulty and Sarah Zampino supplied the content through research and social media.

While readers were encouraged to consider the questions in real-time, here below is the “key” to these core questions.

Q. Commonweal, which began as a weekly, is, indeed, older than sliced bread. What is the publication date of our very first issue?

A. The first issue of The Commonweal (as it was called then) was published on November 12, 1924.

Q. Commonweal’s first woman on staff brought the magazine significant editorial experience from her time at The New Republic. What was her name?

A. The first woman on staff was Helen Walker, who served as assistant editor from 1924-1927. As she wrote in the inaugural issue of Commonweal: “It is very pleasant to be a nobody.”

Q. Commonweal regularly seeks feedback from its readers, including a long tradition of publishing letters to the editor. In a survey conducted earlier this spring, how many grand individuals like you offered feedback to help shape our work?

A. Over 1,000 grand individuals like you offered critical feedback and insight as we imagined the priorities for our second century of publication.

Q. Thanks to the generosity and foresight of longtime publisher Edward Skillin, Commonweal has been a nonprofit. How many years has Commonweal been a nonprofit?

A. According to the Internal Revenue Service, our tax-exempt status became effective on August 17, 1983, which means we’ve been a nonprofit for 42 years. Today, we honor any person who includes us in their planned giving with membership in the Edward Skillin Society.