Global Media Philanthropy: What Funders Need to Know About Data, Trends and Pressing Issues Facing the Field

Sarah Armour-Jones is a consultant to foundations, nonprofits and academic institutions, with a focus on media and the role it plays in making lasting social change. Aligning strategic planning, communications, creative campaigns, network development, research and community engagement, Sarah helps organizations tell meaningful stories and increase their impact. Current and past clients include the Rita Allen Foundation, Media Impact Funders, the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, the Proteus Fund, Wharton Research Data Services at the Wharton School, and Free Press. Prior to her work as a consultant, she served as Special Projects Manager for philanthropist David Haas, Officer of Program Administration at the Pew Charitable Trusts, Editorial Assistant at the British Film Institute and Marketing Director at Free Press. Sarah earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. She works from her farmhouse in Vermont along with her husband, three daughters and assorted pets.

Jessica is a research consultant for Media Impact Funders, and the founder and director of media production/strategy firm Dot Connector Studio. She is also currently a senior fellow at the Norman Lear Center’s Media Impact Project. Previously, she served as the media strategist for AIR’s groundbreaking Localore project, the director of the Future of Public Media project at American University’s Center for Media and Social Impact, and a Knight Media Policy Fellow at D.C.-based think tank the New America Foundation. Over the past decade, she has led research and convenings with high-profile universities and national media networks, including NPR, PBS, Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, MIT, and USC’s Annenberg School for Communication. She is the co-author of Beyond the Echo Chamber: Reshaping Politics Through Networked Progressive Media (The New Press, 2010), and a longtime independent journalist.