Resource Library
Funders are making decisions in a rapidly changing media landscape that’s increasingly fragmented and difficult to navigate. The MIF resource library exists to make sense of that complexity—with research, tools, frameworks, videos and more to help you think through how to do your work more effectively.
Start with a Learning Pillar Hub—four issue areas that reflect the most pressing strategic questions shaping the media ecosystem today—or browse the full library by topic, format, or focus area.
Members get exclusive access to resources such as tip sheets and network call recordings to stay up to date on the latest trends and strategies in media funding.
Learning Pillar Hubs
MIF’s work is organized around a set of thematic pillars that reflect the core challenges and opportunities facing media funders today. Each of these learning hubs brings together resources related to each pillar, making it easier to stay oriented over time. These hubs are updated continuously as new work, insights and conversations emerge.
Future of Public Media
Supporting funders working to strengthen public media as a trusted, resilient civic institution. This includes questions of sustainability, governance, innovation and public service in a rapidly evolving media environment.
Platforms & Audience Reach
Helping funders understand how platforms, algorithms and distribution systems shape who sees and trusts information, and what it takes for public-interest media to reach and engage audiences today.
Effective Philanthropic Practice
Advancing shared learning about best practices in funding media effectively.
Safeguarding Media & Journalism
Addressing the threats facing independent media and journalism, including political pressure, legal risk, safety concerns and challenges to press freedom, integrity and trust.
Resource Library
Elev8Docs: A Documentary Marketing Initiative
Eight case studies on marketing experiments that tested different approaches to connecting audiences with films.
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Color Congress
Effective Grantmaking Practice • Impact Evaluation • Platforms & Audience
Members Only
Four Station Leaders on Supporting Public Media Through Its Most Significant Shift in Decades
At our second network meeting in Dec. 2025, public media station leaders from communities across the country shared what they’re experiencing on the ground, what they need to move forward, and how funders can most effectively engage in the wake of Congress’s July 2025 vote to rescind federal…
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Media Impact Funders
Civic Engagement/Civic Information • Platforms & Audience • Public Media
Members Only
From Personal Trust to System Trust in the Age of AI
Our panel from the 2026 Media Impact Forum about civic trust in the age of AI
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Media Impact Funders
Platforms & Audience • Science & Tech
Members Only
From Pop Culture to Public Benefit: Funding Entertainment that Creates Change
Our Nov. 2025 network meeting featured a discussion with Luminate’s Kristel Muciño, Cinereach’s Candice McFarlane, and Common Era’s Yonah Schiller on how philanthropy can strategically engage in the public-benefit entertainment space. We talked about what public-benefit entertainment is, why it matters, and how funders can use it to advance…
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Media Impact Funders
Effective Grantmaking Practice • Impact Evaluation • Platforms & Audience
Global Impact Producers Alliance
Find an impact producer
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Doc Society
Impact Evaluation • Platforms & Audience
Imagine the Pluralist Narrative Power We Will Build: A Primer for Investing in Digital Creator Infrastructure
A 4-part series on narrative creator infrastructure
Civic Engagement/Civic Information • Effective Grantmaking Practice • Platforms & Audience
Impact Pack
A card deck to spark conversations about impact
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Dot Connector Studios
Effective Grantmaking Practice • Impact Evaluation • Platforms & Audience
Narrative Infrastructure for Narrative Immersion
A grantmaking framework for narrative infrastructure strategy
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Pop Culture Collab
Effective Grantmaking Practice • Platforms & Audience
Narrative Observatory
An interactive platform to help you think strategically about reaching the right audience
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Harmony Labs
Arts and Culture • Impact Evaluation • Platforms & Audience
Pew-Knight Initiative Media Habits
Ongoing audience research on civic information & local news
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Pew Research Center
Effective Grantmaking Practice • Media Access & Policy • Platforms & Audience
Radio & Audio Grantmaking: Reaching New Audiences Through Old Platforms
Making the case for radio and audio grantmaking
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Media Impact Funders
Effective Grantmaking Practice • Impact Evaluation • Platforms & Audience
The Creator Journalism Trust and Credibility Toolkit
Tips for funders on creator journalists
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Lenfest Institute
Civic Engagement/Civic Information • Effective Grantmaking Practice • Misinformation/Disinformation • Platforms & Audience
The Impact Tracker
A digital platform designed to define, measure and track impact data for journalism and funders
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Impact Architects
Impact Evaluation • Local Journalism • Platforms & Audience
The Narrative Directory
A tool for sharing resources to support narrative change
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IRIS
Effective Grantmaking Practice • Impact Evaluation • Platforms & Audience
The Pivotal Role of Grantmakers in Supporting Successful Mergers & Acquisitions Among Nonprofit Media Organizations
The do’s and don’ts of supporting successful integrations between nonprofit media organizations
Effective Grantmaking Practice • Platforms & Audience
The Power of Narrative and the Playbooks Shaping Public Opinion
As polarization intensifies across the U.S., philanthropy must understand how media ecosystems—and the narratives they advance—shape public opinion, identity and civic engagement. Protagonist’s Rita Parhad and Sydney Apple spent -years researching both right-wing and left-wing media ecosystems in a project funded by the Lumina Foundation. At the 2025…
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Protagonist
Civic Engagement/Civic Information • Misinformation/Disinformation • Platforms & Audience
US Independent Film Audience & Landscape Study
Landmark audience & landscape study for independent film
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Shorenstein Center
Arts and Culture • Platforms & Audience • Public Media
Members Only
Where Stories Meet Audiences: Opportunities for Funders in the Evolving Platform Landscape
Our Dec. 2025 network meeting continued MIF’s series on public-benefit entertainment with an academic perspective on social media platform evolution. Ethan Zuckerman—Associate Professor of Public Policy, Communications, and Information at the University of Massachusetts Amherst—traced the development of today’s siloed social media landscape and identified…
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Media Impact Funders
Civic Engagement/Civic Information • Misinformation/Disinformation • Platforms & Audience