Empathy machine? Learn how VR creators are measuring the impact of their projects
By Meghan Ventura | Community & Operations Manager, Games for Change With VR’s promise to help us see the world from someone else’s point of view, one word has become nearly synonymous with virtual reality projects on real-world issues—empathy.
A deep dive on misinformation, disinformation, propaganda and democracy with the Hewlett Foundation
By Kelly Born | Program Officer, Madison Initiative, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Democracy and the Internet may not be as compatible as many had hoped. The “fake news” allegations of 2016 re-focused attention on longer-standing concerns about echo chambers, filter bubbles, declining journalistic revenue models and a range of issues in the online information […]
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 […]
Crossing the abyss
Grant Oliphant | President, The Heinz Endowments A common aphorism has it that “one man with courage is a majority.” Most of us instinctively don’t believe that. Most of us think one man standing athwart the tide makes for a powerful photo but a predictably tragic ending.
3 ways funders can stand up for the truth
It’s been a rough month for the truth in America. Disputes over “alternative facts” from the White House on crowd size and voter fraud have been coupled with attempts to muzzle government agencies accustomed to sharing their research with the public. Scientists are gearing up to march on Washington, and even The Onion’s satire about Sean Spicer’s […]
Silence
By Grant Oliphant | President, The Heinz Endowments Lately I have found myself stupefied into virtual silence. And I know, from speaking with many colleagues and many of you reading this, that I am not alone.
Philanthropy can bridge the gap between trumped-up fears and real threats
Cosmologist Stephen Hawking recently predicted that the human race has 1,000 years before we will have to vacate planet Earth. These days, that passes for optimism.
'The Web belongs to all of us': Q&A with the Web’s inventor, Sir Tim Berners-Lee
This post originally appeared on the Ford Foundation’s Equals Change blog on Sept. 21, 2016. Not everyone knows the name Sir Tim Berners-Lee, but they certainly know his invention: the World Wide Web. And if being responsible for one of the most important innovations in human history wasn’t enough, early on Berners-Lee made the generous […]
Knight Foundation report explores early insights from Philadelphia’s new journalism model
Editor’s note: This piece originally appeared on KnightBlog, the blog of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, on June 15, 2016.
CNN commentator Van Jones breathes life into national conversations around racial & political divides
On July 24, the night before the opening of the Democratic National Convention here in Philadelphia, Van Jones—CNN commentator, social activist, author and president & co-founder of The Dream Corps—offered his candid thoughts on the state of our increasingly divided nation.
After the conventions, time for foundations to focus on change
When a political convention rolls through your neighborhood, it’s easy to believe that anything is possible. In Philadelphia, where I live, we’ve just witnessed an event that had the fervor and optimism of a Taylor Swift concert for four days but the precision and orchestration of a military convoy taking over an entire city. No […]
DNCinPHL: Funders and nonprofit news on the scene
Editor’s note: This piece was updated on Aug. 5, 2016, to include DNC contributions by graphic journalist and VR/AR expert Dan Archer, the Youth News Team, and the NoVo Foundation. This week’s Democratic Convention is taking place in our hometown. So, we’re reporting from both inside and outside the event on how nonprofit outlets and their funders are addressing issues at […]