Nonprofit media and exposing injustice: How philanthropy can help
From time to time, events at the highest levels of legal and political decision-making in Washington shed light on the importance of nonprofit media and the critical role of philanthropy in the support of journalism. Last week, the United States Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Curtis Flowers for the brutal murder of four people […]
Podcasting for all
Podcasting is on the rise. Over 700,000 podcasts are available in iTunes with an estimated 90 million monthly listeners globally. No single entity controls podcasts, which means they are an accessible, decentralized, and democratized way to create content. Today, on-demand audio has dramatically transformed the way important stories and unheard voices reach us.
6 impact tools for every type of funder and media maker
Here at Media Impact Funders, we’ve been researching best practices in measuring media impact since 2013. In addition to curating impact-related tools, producing original analyses on impact trends, and publishing a monthly impact newsletter, we also convene funders to discuss impact, and conduct research on how funders are thinking about and assessing impact in the […]
The 2019 Media Impact Forum
Last month, we convened our annual Media Impact Forum at the American Philosophical Society—the home of America’s oldest learned society—in Philadelphia, where we paid special attention to the role of radio and audio in creating and sustaining crucial connections with communities. See the full program here.
WATCH: High-impact radio and audio journalism
This year’s Media Impact Forum placed special emphasis on radio in the context of community-making media and creative expression. As a complement to that event, we invited funders to join us last week for a conversation on high-impact radio and audio journalism.
Listen up, grantmakers: Radio is a hot way to advance knowledge and culture
With the sharp rise of social media and the rapid collapse of so many daily newspapers in recent years, it would be easy to assume that radio is another traditional media format in decline. As more and more young listeners turn to music streaming services like Spotify and Pandora, predictions of broadcast radio’s imminent demise […]
Beyond the broadcast: The growing reach & impact of radio and audio
This week, media funders from across the country will gather at our annual Media Impact Forum to explore connections between radio and community, and how audio producers can spur civic conversations among audiences. We’re excited to showcase how one of media’s oldest forms of communications is reaching new audiences in creative ways—and garnering more funder […]
Program statement for the 2019 Media Impact Forum
We’re living in a new golden age of audio, by almost any measure. Every week, broadcast radio reaches 93 percent of American adults (228.5 million weekly listeners) and 30 million people watch, listen to, or download a podcast, up 157 percent since 2014. In public media, the top 20 largest public radio news stations together […]
10 tips for practicing lean impact in a time of rapid change
While the media and tech landscapes are changing rapidly—requiring nimble and adaptive business practices and new models—the larger social sector funding landscape can be stuck in model for a previous age, planning out discrete interventions and then collecting metrics to examine how many people were touched by them. And media funders—despite often being at the […]
Things we don’t talk about (but should): An open letter to media funders
Next week, several hundred people from national, community, and place-based foundations, as well as newsrooms and other nonprofits, will come together at the Knight Media Forum in Miami. The conference focuses on philanthropy’s role in strengthening local news and information, which is essential for healthy communities and a vibrant democracy. We believe there’s an important conversation missing […]
Here’s how to use our updated impact assessment tools
As you may have noticed, a few weeks ago we completely overhauled our website in an effort to better serve the rapidly changing fields of media and philanthropy. (Here’s an overview of what you can now find.) And with our shiny new website comes shiny new impact assessment resources, which we’re eager to showcase.
The 2017 Media Impact Forum
Agenda 9 a.m.—Welcome and Introductions Vince Stehle, Executive Director, Media Impact Funders David Rousseau, Vice President and Executive Director, Media & Technology, The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation 9:15 a.m.—Returning to Public Media’s Roots A conversation with NPR’s founding architect and one of today’s leading public radio reporters on how public media has served us for the […]