Media Impact Funders welcomes submissions from funders and other stakeholders in the fields of media and philanthropy. Email us your ideas at news@mediafunders.org.
We didn’t get to have our annual funder meeting at Sundance, but we were eager to make space for our film funders to connect with each other and build in time to reflect on the film festival as a group. We also learned about a new field-building organization called the Color Congress. The organization, seeded […]
In partnership with Candid (formerly Foundation Center and GuideStar)—which provides data-driven tools, educational resources and trainings, analyses, and more to the philanthropic sector—MIF offered a workshop to help funders learn how to use data maps to inform funding priorities and strategic decision-making. These maps are free, interactive tools that show the full scope of philanthropically-funded […]
A new report commissioned by the Wyncote Foundation, “Culture, Heritage, and Place: How Media Amplifies Community Narratives,” profiles eight place-based organizations that use media for cultural expression and connection, with local funding support.
In recent weeks, it seems like America has arrived at a crucial crossroads in its long and painful history of gun violence. In the wake of several high-profile mass shootings in Atlanta, in Boulder, Colo., and most recently, in Indianapolis, Ind., there is a growing sense of outrage and demand for solutions. And in Washington, […]
What should digital public spaces look like? For the third and final installment of our series exploring the problems and solutions of Big Tech, we heard from four organizations—Amara, Mozilla, Wikimedia Foundation and VolunteerMatch—that have built digital public spaces that serve all communities. These organizations, whose business models center on people over profit, strive to […]
This year was slated to be our year of impact. We started off with a bang in January at the Sundance Film Festival, where we released Decoding Media Impact: Insights, Advice and Recommendations, our impact report summing up seven years of research in the media impact space.
It’s impossible to live in the digital world without engaging with Big Tech. These behemoth information technology companies—Apple, Google, Facebook, etc.—influence all facets of life, impacting us in ways we are only just starting to understand. While these platforms are making good on the promise of keeping us connected, the effects have been catastrophic. Turns […]
How do foundation-funded media projects need to rethink their storytelling and distribution models in order to break through in today’s polarized environment? In this guest post, communications strategist and filmmaker Christine Arena of Generous Films shares key insights for funders from the novel approach behind Let Science Speak—a multi-media campaign designed to counter anti-science propaganda […]
To further explore issues related to media impact and assessment, MIF is forming a working group of funders who want to strengthen the field of practice. Here’s a bit of background on how we arrived at that decision: MIF has been regularly tracking the field of media impact assessment for the last eight years. Every […]
As protests for racial justice continue in cities across the U.S., more and more institutions are publicly reckoning with their own roles in perpetuating systemic racism. In the journalism space, a debate about the concept of objectivity is raging: whose view is considered “objective”? Do “both sides” of an issue always demand equal weight? Some […]
Media Impact Funders was closed on Friday in celebration of Juneteenth. But our friends in the media were quite busy, exploring sometimes painful history and tragic current events, but also revealing uplifting personal stories of triumph over adversity. In the first installment of our Media Impact Forum, Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman interviewed Dr. Ayana […]
This is where you’ll find recaps of each our six Media Impact Forum sessions. This year’s Media Impact Forum paid specific attention to philanthropic support for environmental media and the need for our decisions to be centered around protecting our planet and its natural resources. The recorded sessions appear in chronological order below.