Stay up-to-date on the latest news, trends and perspectives in media and philanthropy.

Since 2014, Media Impact Funders has been showcasing the work of producers dedicated to creating documentaries in the public interest through our annual Media Impact Festival. This year, we are celebrating the power of interactive technologies to deepen the relationship between news and documentary projects and their audiences. Our 2016 selections — celebrated at our annual […]

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 […]

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…”

Media Impact Funders and Southern California Grantmakers held a convening of funders on Saturday, September 26 in Los Angeles, at the Annenberg Foundation’s Skylight Studios to explore emerging strategies for supporting local and ethnic reporting projects. See our Storify from the day for highlights, speaker presentations and more.

For funders and grantees avidly tracking journalism’s evolution, the annual release of the Pew Research Center’s State of the News Media analysis sets the stage for strategy discussions and decisions in the months to follow. Last year’s much-quoted stat was 1% — the estimated percentage of “total news dollars” contributed by philanthropy, venture capital, and […]

By Vince Stehle |Originally posted on the Center for Effective Philanthropy blog Foundations are in the business of making the world a better place. Preserving the environment, reducing violence, and improving education are a few examples among the many philanthropic objectives that foundations may pursue. But are we applying ourselves as effectively as we might?

By Jon Funabiki On Monday morning (3/2), I joined hundreds of family members, friends, journalists and funders in mourning the death of Dori J. Maynard, the president of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education and an unflinching critic of the news media’s treatment of African Americans and other minority groups. She passed away on Feb. […]

Originally posted in the Chronicle of Philanthropy The streets of Ferguson, Mo., New York City, and many other cities across the nation have been overflowing with protests for the past month in reaction to grand-jury decisions not to indict police officers responsible for the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.

By Diane Wachtell, Executive Director of The New Press Books and films offer their creators entrée into a range of media — and access to new audiences — that are not available to those without such platforms.

On November 20, 2014, as the world waited for the Grand Jury decision in Ferguson, Missouri, Media Impact Funders and The Atlantic Philanthropies hosted a conversation on race, justice and media with philanthropic leaders and media makers. The event was designed to explore how media is changing public opinion and policy on multiple criminal justice […]

Media Impact Funders recently went to Camden, Maine for PopTech 18 — Rebellion. We convened a small group of funders and made our way to that very rainy and quaint coastal village for an exploration of media innovation, especially as it relates to the conference theme of rebellion and its place in social change. Before […]