The Fledgling Fund offers insights on funding virtual reality
Editor’s note: Earlier this month, Media Impact Funders brought funders together at Philanthropy New York with organizers and presenters from the first VR for Change summit to explore how immersive platforms offer new ways to engage and mobilize users around social issues. Because this is a new and quickly evolving medium, attendees had many questions. The […]
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.
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 […]
A key task for grantmakers: Enhance the freedom of journalists around the world
In his eighth and final speech to the United Nations General Assembly, President Obama called on world leaders to embrace the idea of open society as the only way for nations to prosper. “Entrepreneurs need to access information in order to invent; young people need a global education in order to thrive; independent media needs […]
'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 […]
Technology delivers hope to refugees around the world
According to the United Nations, every minute, 24 people leave everything behind to escape war, persecution or terror. Worldwide, there are 65 million people who have been forcibly displaced from their homes. It’s overwhelming to think about how much violence in the world there is to have that many refugees. To that end, the U.N. has recognized June […]
Foundation Maps for Media Funding: Introducing a new tool for unlocking the power of media grants data
Media Impact Funders and Foundation Center Announce New Mapping Tool for Media and Philanthropy
Games making impact: "Super Powers Legion," "Life is Strange," and "Syrian Journey"
By Games for Change Every year, the Games for Change Festival celebrates the most impactful digital games that touch on social issues and aim to inspire their audiences to action. As video game’s audience increases—with gamers in 60 percent of American homes, according to the Entertainment Software Association—so does their potential to impact even more […]
Popularity of virtual reality is booming, but impact is mixed
“It was too close for comfort, but maybe that was the point,” writes The Case Foundation’s Louise Storm of her first virtual reality experience. Viewing the New York Times’ series “The Displaced”—which tells the stories of three children displaced by war—her initial response was tears. But then the chief of staff to CEO Jean Case began […]
Exploring the return on investment for interactive storytelling
Following the buzz in journalistic circles, it seems clear that interactive stories and productions have the potential to engage audiences in new and exciting ways. But how does this work exactly—and when should funders be stepping in to invest more seriously in such experiments?
#InequalityIs
What is it: A campaign launched by Ford in late January that seeks to raise awareness about inequality in all its forms and what can be done about it. Ford asked people on social media one question: “Finish this sentence: Inequality is…”
Insights from an Impact Conversation Gone Global
On the one hand, President Obama dubbed this weekend’s historic climate change agreement in Paris “a turning point for the world.” On the other, it “didn’t save the planet,” according to environmental activist Bill McKibben. However, “it may have saved the chance of saving the planet.” Either way, there’s much more to be said and […]