News from the Field
Stay up to date on the latest news, trends and perspectives in media and philanthropy.
Learn MoreMeet Crisis Text Line, one of the winners of this year’s Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship Awards
Next week marks the beginning of the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, the premier international platform for advancing entrepreneurial solutions to the world’s most pressing problems. (Follow #SkollWF on Twitter for updates on the Forum.) In the meantime, we were fortunate to get in touch with Nancy Lublin, founder & CEO of Crisis Text […]
10 tips for practicing lean impact in a time of rapid change
While the media and tech landscapes are changing rapidly—requiring nimble and adaptive business practices and new models—the larger social sector funding landscape can be stuck in model for a previous age, planning out discrete interventions and then collecting metrics to examine how many people were touched by them. And media funders—despite often being at the […]
Impact Assessment
Since 2013, MIF has provided resources for funders and media producers seeking to build impact strategies and evaluate the outcomes of media projects. Funded by the Rita Allen Foundation, the Wyncote Foundation and the Knight Foundation, our curated collection of resources includes the latest impact tools and original analyses by MIF staff and leaders in the field, a monthly newsletter that highlights current research reports and articles in popular publications, and case studies of highly impactful documentaries and immersive storytelling projects featured in our annual Media Impact Festival.
Research
As a publisher of original research, we partner with foundations and other organizations to produce reports on the field of media funding.
Learn MoreGlobal Media Philanthropy: What Funders Need to Know About Data, Trends and Pressing Issues Facing the Field
With support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Media Impact Funders has been researching trends, challenges and opportunities for global media funding. The research in this report draws on a variety of sources: data from the media data map through 2015, results from a survey of leading organizations engaged in funding media-related projects around […]
Funding Journalism, Finding Innovation: Success Stories and Ideas for Creative, Sustainable Partnerships
Produced by Media Impact Funders in collaboration with Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, this case study report surfaces pioneering funding practices in journalism. It highlights five foundations and their grantees, and describes the innovative ways in which philanthropic support can revive quality journalism.
Journalism Funders Network
In the wake of the 2016 Presidential election, funders across the country are leveraging their substantial influence in policy- and grant-making to reposition quality journalism as the central pillar of American democracy. With consistent threats to news media from the political realm, a lingering public distrust in news media created by the hands of “fake news” purveyors from across the globe, and a tectonic shift in news media consumption from print-based to online, the role of journalism has never been so uncertain nor so deeply vital. As such, the journalism funders network is aimed at strengthening connections among members and giving funders ample opportunities to discuss their current work among peers.
Science Communications Network
Media Impact Funders has launched a multi-year initiative to develop resources and connections to help funders effectively support productive public engagement with science and evidence.
Collaborative Events
To help our peers gain a better understanding of media projects, the power of storytelling through documentary films and the impact they can have on pressing social issues, and the importance of funding media, we will work with you to host a special screening or panel at your conference or event.