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The 2020 Media Impact Forum — Earth to World: Cool It
A series of online discussions on philanthropy's role in amplifying media's efforts to address the world's most urgent crisis.
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The 2020 Media Impact Forum — Earth to World: Cool It
Our Events The Media Impact Forum

Our annual gathering brings funders from across the country together with media makers and analysts to share insights about the field’s most influential projects and trends.

Media Impact Funders has been hosting the Media Impact Forum since 2013.

Each year, we come together for a day of inspiring media presentations and dialogue, and the chance to network with peers to deepen learning and spark collaboration.

The 2020 Media Impact Forum

With the health and safety of our network in mind, we have decided to revise our plans for our upcoming Media Impact Forum. We are converting what would normally have been our daylong funder gathering into six online discussions, which will take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays in June. Our sessions will focus on global reporting collaborations, environmental justice, the latest data in environmental media grantmaking, civic science, the relationship between health and the environment, and much more.

Learn more + register for the 2020 Media Impact Forum

Are you interested in sponsoring our 2020 Media Impact Forum? Email Courtney Eshleman, MIF’s director of development & member engagement, at courtney@mediafunders.org.

The 2019 Media Impact Forum

Off the Walls: How Art Museums Are Reaching People Where They Are Valerie Gay, Deputy Director, Audience Engagement & Chief Experience Officer, Barnes Foundation (red top) Barbara Wong, Director, Community Engagement, Barnes Foundation (straight black hair) Kalela Williams, Director of Neighborhood Library Enrichment, Free Library of Philadelphia (short sleeve top) Cultural organizations are increasingly relying upon film and digital media to strengthen their programming onsite and to reach a broader audience online and in their communities. Innovative figures at museums and other arts organizations are leading the way, with significant support from philanthropy. And more and more arts and culture organizations are using these tools and resources to spark civic engagement, beyond traditional educational and aesthetic functions of their organizations. Among media forms and formats, radio is seeing a resurgence in reach and impact, driven in part by the explosion of interest in podcasts and other streaming media experiences. Taken together, this year's Media Impact Forum will explore the intersection between the arts, culture and media, and will focus on the impact of creative expression through media. In particular, we'll take a close look at the connection between radio and community, and how this format continues to promote civic dialogue to the broadest audiences possible. for Media Impact Funders The American Philosophical Society May 23, 2019

The 2019 Media Impact Forum paid special attention to the role of radio and audio in creating and sustaining crucial connections with communities. Radio might be one of our oldest platforms, but in terms of reach and and impact, it is also one of the most innovative—and philanthropy is playing a vital role in its resurgence. Grantmakers and the cultural organizations they fund are investing in audio and media across traditional broadcasting, podcasting, and on-site properties in order to foster greater context, reach, and conversation with constituencies.

Watch the 2019 Media Impact Forum

Learn more about our previous Media Impact Forums here.

Upcoming events

As an event-driven organization, we’re constantly bringing changemakers together, whether in-person or online, to make strategic connections with like-minded professionals. Browse through our upcoming events.

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The 2020 Journalism Funders Gathering

A statement from Media Impact Funders: While we remain committed to hosting our annual journalism funders gathering this fall, our decision to move forward with an in-person gathering will depend on how COVID-19 continues to unfold over the next several months. The health and safety of our network is our highest priority. Stay tuned for […]

October 6, 2020

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Our story

Media Impact Funders—formerly Grantmakers in Film, Video & Television—began on a volunteer basis in 1984 as an affinity group for funders interested in the power of film to highlight social issues.
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The field of media funding

Funders, media makers and nonprofits are working together to unleash the power of media to move the needle on important social issues.
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