Member spotlight: John Templeton Foundation
Media Impact Funders: The John Templeton Foundation has provided support for radio shows and podcasts such as On Being, The Science of Happiness, and Everything Happens as a means to explore life’s biggest questions. What are some takeaways from that support? David Nassar: One takeaway is that there is a real thirst for conversations that […]
How evaluation perpetuates inequity (and how to stop it)
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 […]
Funding impact work amid a pandemic: A Q&A with Perspective Fund
For the first time in history, the 2021 Sundance Film Festival will take place in at least 20 cities across the country, as well as online. “We want to reach people who we have not been able to reach before—where access to the work is not predicated on being able to afford to travel to […]
2020 Media Impact Forum speakers commemorate Juneteenth with stories of triumph, pain
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 […]
WATCH: The COVID-19 origin story is a case study for understanding the need for evidence-based communications
Last week, Media Impact Funders hosted a webinar about the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic and implications for media and philanthropy.
Lessons from our nation’s founding particularly relevant amid COVID-19
Sometimes, at Media Impact Funders, we find that we are slightly ahead of our time. Looking back on our programs for the Media Impact Forum in 2018, we are struck by how much of what we heard then resonates clearly in this peculiar moment we find ourselves in.
How does this make you feel? How emotions compel us to act—or not
Now more than ever, we are experiencing a range of emotions based on the media we encounter. Sometimes, these emotions lead us to take action—for better or for worse.
Highlights from our funder meeting at the Sundance Film Film Festival
Last month, Media Impact Funders (MIF) made its annual trek to the Sundance Film Festival, where we released our latest report—Decoding Media Impact: Insights, Advice and Recommendations—to a room of about 80 funders from some of the country’s leading foundations.
Innovative early childhood initiative empowers Hispanic parents through entertainment television
Children’s early learning and brain development are subjects that I have always cared deeply about. But now, as the mother of three little ones, these subjects have taken on a much more personal significance. I marvel every day at the connections my daughter and two sons are making and all that they are absorbing from […]
Highlights from our meeting on climate and the environment
Last week in Boulder, CO, we held a meeting to explore philanthropy’s role in amplifying attention to our global environmental crisis. It was 25 degrees and snowing, but thankfully we didn’t have to walk far from our hotel to eTown, our gracious host for the daylong gathering. The day before, the high temperature reached a […]