Morning Block

Facing the Moment: Philanthropy and the Future of Media and Civic Information

This opening plenary brings together philanthropic leaders working across today’s media and civic information ecosystem to explore how funders can step up their impact in a moment defined by risk, rapid change and rising stakes for democracy. Representing different approaches and philosophies, panelists will reflect on how their strategies are evolving in response to this shifting landscape and where philanthropy itself must adapt.

Grounded in candid perspectives, the discussion will examine the realities shaping the field today, including declining public trust and technological disruption, as well as the growing influence of well-resourced efforts to advance a very different vision for the role of media in public life.

Panelists will also discuss how leaders are navigating risk, collaboration and long-term investment, as well as their relationships with control and the different frameworks they use to define and measure success. Throughout, the conversation will invite participants to consider their own role in supporting a more resilient, responsive and trustworthy information environment.

• • Jim Bildner, CEO, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation
  • Glen Galaich, CEO, Stupski Foundation
  • Katy Knight, President & Executive Director, Siegel Family Endowment
  • Moderator: Abby Rapoport, Executive Director, Media Impact Funders

Creators, Platforms, and Public Purpose with Hank Green

In this keynote conversation, Hank Green will reflect on how the internet has reshaped the information environment and why many traditional institutions struggle in attention-driven systems. Despite the noise and competition for attention online, audiences are still deeply interested in understanding the world around them.

Drawing on the experience of building his company Complexly and creating educational media for millions of viewers, Hank will share what creator-driven platforms have taught him about reaching and engaging audiences at scale. His remarks will explore what this shift means for the future of trusted information and public understanding.

Following the keynote, Hank will join Robert K. Elder for a fireside conversation about the implications for public-interest media and philanthropy. The discussion will explore Complexly’s transition to nonprofit status and what it suggests about the evolving relationship between creators, institutions and funders.

Hank will continue this conversation in a breakout session, “Reach, Trust and the Funding Choices Ahead” later in the day where participants will reflect on how these dynamics shape funding decisions in an increasingly platform-driven and AI-mediated information ecosystem.

• • Hank Green, Entrepreneur, Author, Science Communicator, and YouTuber
  • Robert K. Elder, President & CEO, Outrider Foundation

Networking Break

Next Challenge for Media & Journalism National Awards Celebration

As part of Media Impact Forum programming, MIF and the Glen Nelson Center are co-hosting the 2026 Next Challenge for Media & Journalism National Awards Celebration. The Next Challenge is a national competition promoting innovative ideas and trailblazing startups that will reinvent the media industry over the coming decade. This year’s competition will award $250,000 in grants to both nonprofit and for-profit startups.

Networking Lunch

Afternoon Block

From Personal Trust to System Trust in the Age of AI

The last decade of digital information has been shaped by influencers, engagement-driven algorithms, and a system optimized for attention over accuracy. Trust has increasingly been placed in individual voices who are often rewarded for emotional, entertaining, or polarizing content.

The rise of generative AI introduces a fundamentally different paradigm. Unlike influencers, AI systems can deliver information without performance, personal incentives or emotional calculation, creating real potential to shift trust away from personalities and toward systems designed for reliability, transparency, and public value. But this future is not guaranteed. The same commercial forces that shaped social media are already at play in AI, concentrated in the hands of a small number of powerful companies whose incentives often don’t align with the public interest. Critical questions around control, accountability, and purpose remain unresolved, and the design and governance choices made now will determine whether AI ultimately strengthens or erodes the information ecosystems communities depend on.

This session invites funders to explore both the promise and the structural risks of AI-enabled information infrastructure. Our panelists will examine how trust shifts from individuals to systems, what it takes to build AI tools aligned with civic rather than commercial purpose, and where philanthropic investment can make the most meaningful difference, especially as new tools make it increasingly feasible for public-interest actors to build what they need.

This conversation will continue in a breakout session, “Reach, Trust and the Funding Choices Ahead,” later in the day, where participants will explore how these shifts intersect with real-world funding choices.

• • Neil Chase, CEO, CalMatters
  • S. Mitra Kalita, Co-Founder and CEO, URL Media
  • Moderator: Gideon Lichfield, Journalist and Media Entrepreneur

Research Interstitial: Exploring New Funding Models for Narrative Media

Felipe Estefan, a fellow at Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, will share new research on a central paradox in impact-driven media: the storytellers best positioned to shape culture are often the least resourced to scale.

His work identifies two core gaps—capital constraints and fragmented information systems—that limit sustainability and long-term impact. Funding models continue to favor established voices and projects over the infrastructure needed to build lasting influence, while critical audience and impact data remains siloed within private platforms, out of reach for the creators who need it most.

Felipe will point to early signals of a different approach, from blended capital models to shared audience intelligence—and invite funders to rethink not just what they support, but the systems that determine who gets to participate, grow and shape the narratives that define our time.

New Funding, Revenue and Business Models

As funders and media leaders explore more flexible and sustainable ways to support public-interest media, this session highlights how capital is beginning to flow differently into, and through, the field.

Two lightning talks will highlight models that challenge conventional assumptions about sustainability, from strategies that align capital with public-purpose outcomes to distribution approaches that open new pathways for revenue and audience engagement.

These perspectives will surface what is showing promise, where challenges remain, offering a clearer view of how evolving funding and business models can support long-term sustainability while staying aligned with public-interest goals.

Christie Marchese, CEO of Kinema, will explore how new distribution pathways are reshaping the economics of independent film. She will examine how community screenings, event-based releases and direct-to-audience streaming can enable creators to retain ownership while reaching global audiences. The session will consider how these approaches may support more sustainable revenue models while reducing  reliance on traditional gatekeepers.

Camille Cannon, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Purpose US, will introduce an emerging  approach to investing that challenges the idea that capital should be focused only on financial returns. Drawing on her work developing and testing new investment models, she will explore how investment strategies can align with public-purpose goals while still supporting the growth of sustainable organizations. Camille’s  remarks will highlight approaches that sit between traditional philanthropy and investing, and what they make possible for public-benefit media.

Journalism Under Pressure: Safety, Risk and Responsibility

Journalists across the United States are operating in an increasingly volatile environment, where physical, legal, and digital threats are becoming more frequent, and more normalized. What was once considered exceptional risk is now part of everyday reporting, from covering protests to local government meetings.

At the same time, safety and security remain underfunded and inconsistently integrated into how journalism is supported. As a result, news organizations and funders are being forced to rethink their roles. Safety is no longer a peripheral concern, but core infrastructure for a functioning media ecosystem.This session  brings together journalists, funders and safety experts to examine how the field is adapting. Speakers will share what risks look like on the ground, how support systems are evolving, and what funders need to understand—from coordinating responses in moments of crisis to embedding safety into long-term strategies.

This conversation will continue in an interactive breakout session later in the day, where participants will engage directly with real-world scenarios to explore how these challenges show up in practice, and what more effective support could look like.

• • Mazin Sidahmed, Founder, DocumentedNY
  • Carlos Martinez de la Serna, Chief Programs Officer, Committee to Protect Journalists
  • Moderator: Tracy Baim, Chicago Community Trust, Press Forward

Networking Break

Concurrent Sessions

Session 1: Reach, Trust, and the Funding Choices Ahead

As the information ecosystem continues to evolve, funders are navigating a central tension: the systems that drive reach and visibility are not always the ones that build trust and understanding.

Throughout the day, we explored two powerful shifts shaping this landscape—how creators build trust with audiences in attention-driven environments, and how emerging AI systems may begin to shift trust away from individuals.

This session brings those ideas together.

Participants in this peer-driven discussion will reflect on how these dynamics are showing up in their own work. Where are current funding approaches aligned or misaligned with how trust is actually built today? How are decisions about reach, growth and distribution being shaped by platform dynamics and emerging tech? And how might these forces influence the long-term public value of media investments?

Rather than offering a single answer, this discussion will surface the tradeoffs, questions and emerging approaches shaping the field, inviting participants to consider if and how their own strategies may need to evolve.

Session 2: Rethinking Impact: Who is Responsible and What Are We Measuring?

There is growing interest across media philanthropy in strengthening how impact is defined and assessed. But many current frameworks don’t reflect how media work actually operates or the tradeoffs practitioners face, and there is no shared understanding of what “impact” means, who is responsible for it, or how it should be resourced.

Across the field, different models are already shaping how impact is understood. In journalism, impact is often associated with reach, engagement and accountability reporting. In documentary and narrative change work, impact may refer to shifts in understanding, community engagement or long-term cultural influence. These differences can create misaligned expectations, unclear responsibilities and tension around questions of independence.

This session will:

• Examine different definitions of impact across the field
• Consider how responsibility gets distributed (and where it breaks down)
• Explore how funding structures can shape expectations and outcomes

The goal of this session is not to resolve these challenges in real time but rather to identify key tensions and open questions that can be explored more deeply in follow-up work. For those interested, we’ll offer follow-up opportunities to continue these conversations in smaller settings focused on developing practical, field-aligned approaches.

• • KX Jin, Caswell Jin Foundation
  • Sonya Childress, Founding Co-Executive Director, Color Congress
  • Erika Howard, Impact Strategy and External Relations Director, FRONTLINE
  • Moderator: Taryn Fort, Senior Director of Communications and Influence, The Colorado Health Foundation

Session 3: Supporting Safety: Understanding the Realities and Ecosystem of Journalist and Filmmaker Protection

Journalists and documentary filmmakers are navigating increasingly complex safety and security challenges both in the U.S. and globally. These risks are not only growing, but also evolving in ways that are often difficult for funders and field partners to fully see or understand.

This interactive session is designed to make those realities more concrete.

We’ll begin with a series of short, real-world scenarios that illustrate how safety and security challenges unfold in practice, from harassment and legal threats to emergency response and displacement. These examples will highlight how quickly needs can escalate, and how difficult it can be to navigate available support.

From there, participants will break into small groups to work through these scenarios, considering what kinds of support would be needed in each situation, where they would turn, and how decisions would be made in real time.This exercise is intended to highlight assumptions, gaps and opportunities in how safety is currently understood and resourced.

Facilitators and discussants will then respond to key themes that emerge, reflecting on what aligns with lived experience, what may be missing, and where current approaches may fall short They will also provide a brief overview of how different organizations collaborate to deliver safety and security support, helping participants better understand the broader ecosystem and the roles different actors play within it.

The session will conclude with a short, full-group reflection on what stood out, what surprised participants, and how these insights might inform their own work.

• • Charlotte Cook, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Field of Vision
  • Carlos Martinez de la Serna, Chief Programs Officer, Committee to Protect Journalists

Closing Block

Research Interstitial: How Mainstream Media Shapes Public Understanding

Sydney Apple, Director of Foundation and Nonprofit Work at Protagonist will distill key insights from recent Protagonist research that offers a closer look at how the mainstream media ecosystem operates and what that may mean for investment strategies.

The research—drawing on an analysis of 6.1 million news articles from 2020-2025—shows how even “neutral” coverage influences public understanding through patterns of framing, emphasis and repetition. The findings point to a consistent focus on conflict over solutions, an imbalance in whose voices are elevated, and a tendency to flatten complex issues into binary debates. These dynamics can reinforce existing power structures and influence which narratives gain traction.

Sydney will explore what these patterns mean in practice, and how funders might respond to support a more representative, solutions-oriented media landscape.

Reimagining Public Media for the 21st Century

As public media and nonprofit news organizations look toward the future, rapid technological change and a fragmented digital ecosystem are reshaping what “public-interest media” can and should be. This discussion will examine how philanthropy, public media institutions, technology platforms, and nonprofit news organizations can align around a shared vision for a 21st-century system—and where their incentives, roles, and responsibilities may be in tension. Speakers will explore what it will take to build broader public support for that vision and how Media Impact Funders can help steward more coordinated, strategic investment to advance it.

• • Deepti Doshi, Co-Director, New_Public
  • LaFontaine Oliver, Executive Chair, New York Public Radio; Executive Chair, Public Media Infrastructure
  • Moderator: Tim Isgitt, CEO, Public Media Company; Board Member, Media Impact Funders

Cocktail Reception

Day 2 of the Media Impact Forum is designed for facilitated funder-only conversations. Funders will organize in small groups around specific topics to help set the course for much of our programming in the second half of the year.

Agenda coming soon!

The stakes for independent media have never been higher.

In a fragmented, politically charged, and rapidly evolving information ecosystem, philanthropy’s role is essential. Media funding shapes whether communities have access to trusted journalism, whether public media remains strong and independent, whether documentary storytelling reaches broad audiences, and whether democratic discourse remains resilient.

The 2026 Media Impact Forum brings together philanthropic funders who support media in the public interest. Participants step out of day-to-day grantmaking to engage peers across issue areas, examine the pressures reshaping the field, and consider where greater alignment can unlock meaningful impact across the media landscape.

The Forum offers a rare opportunity to connect with leaders shaping the future of media philanthropy and to work collectively on challenges that no single funder can solve alone.

Through four focused programmatic pillars—The Future of Public Media, Effective Media Funding Practice, Platform Futures and Audience Reach, and Safeguarding Journalism and Media—the Forum creates a structured environment for cross-field connection across journalism, documentary, and public media. These pillars provide both depth and coherence, surfacing sector-specific challenges while illuminating shared questions that cut across issue areas and funding strategies.

By convening funders broadly, the Forum reflects the growing role of media as a cross-cutting strategy within philanthropy. It is designed not simply as a moment of reflection, but as a space where funders can deepen relationships and sharpen priorities.

The Forum functions as a working space for philanthropy at a moment of urgency.

Mainstage conversations ground the gathering in a shared understanding of the forces shaping journalism, documentary and public media today. Field leaders, funders and practitioners surface both the risks confronting independent media and the opportunities emerging across platforms and audiences.

Structured peer discussions create room for alignment. Participants explore where their strategies intersect, where gaps remain, and where stronger coordination could amplify impact. In a field often shaped by grant cycles, geography and institutional constraints, simply seeing the landscape together can shift what feels achievable.

Breakout and small-group working sessions allow for deeper exploration of potential collaboration. Some conversations will focus on shared learning and strategy. Others may move toward more concrete next steps. The Forum does not prescribe a single model of partnership. Instead, it creates the context and relationships that make coordinated, sustained action more likely once participants return to their institutions.

Media Impact Funders is committed to providing exceptional experiences for all attendees of our events. We understand that circumstances may change, and you may find yourself unable to attend.

We strive to accommodate our attendees to the best of our ability while also managing the resources necessary for hosting successful events.

Instead of requesting a refund for your ticket, we invite you to consider the following options:

• Turn your ticket cost into a powerful contribution that will directly impact MIF’s mission, work and initiatives. Your support helps us serve our growing network of funders who care about effective use of media, and the programs we create to serve them.
• Transfer your ticket to a colleague at your organization—just let us know the name and email of your colleague.

Please contact MIF Member Engagement Manager, Shannon Thomas at shannon@mediafunders.org to convert your ticket cost into a donation, transfer your ticket to a colleague, or to request a refund.

Refund and Cancellation Policy

• Requests made up to April 17, 2026: Full refund minus $55 processing fee
• Requests made between April 17 – May 6, 2026: 50% refund minus $55 processing fee
• We are unable to offer refunds after May 6, 2026.
• Refunds will be processed within 3-5 business days after approval.

This is a Funder-only Gathering

If you are unsure of your eligibility to attend this gathering, please contact Shannon Thomas at shannon@mediafunders.org. If you purchase a ticket and are not eligible to attend, the ticket price will be refunded, but not the processing fees.

Photographs and/or video will be taken at this event. By attending this event, you consent to your image/likeness, voice, and/or name being used in photographs and/or film, and any reproductions or adaptations thereafter, by Media Impact Funders to use in any and all print and digital media in perpetuity.

If you do not wish to be photographed and/or filmed, please contact Adriana Imhof, Communications Associate, at adriana@mediafunders.org.

Media Impact Funders has been hosting the Media Impact Forum since 2013 with the purpose of bringing funders together to network, deepen learning and spark collaboration. This is special because funders of journalism, documentary and other media seldom cross paths in their everyday work. The Forum provides a wonderful opportunity to come together for a day of inspiring media presentations and to stay up to date on current trends, issues and opportunities facing the field.