Here’s our year-end impact review—and our questions for 2021

This year was slated to be our year of impact. We started off with a bang in January at the Sundance Film Festival, where we released Decoding Media Impact: Insights, Advice and Recommendations, our impact report summing up seven years of research in the media impact space.  Read More

On May 10, we convened our annual Media Impact Forum at the American Philosophical Society—the home of America’s oldest learned society—in Philadelphia. From its earliest days, the American republic has relied on scientific inquiry to propel our nation forward, in all facets of our life–in commerce, national defense, social policy and creative expression, among many other areas. The meeting helped philanthropy focus on the special role of science in our national debates, the importance of sharpening the communications of science, and broader issues about understanding how and when communications and storytelling make a difference. Below, you’ll find video clips of each session. If you want the highlights, check out the thread we made for Twitter Moments. Or just read the notes here. And here are some more in-depth impressions from those who were there: One of our speakers, Ethan Zuckerman, director of the Center for Civic Media at MIT, posted his entire talk over on Medium. The gist? That Benjamin Franklin, in response to polarization and fake news, would say that these are not even remotely new concepts. Independent consultant Louise Lief wrote a nice recap for the Knight Foundation’s Trust, Media &… Read More

Last month, we headed down to Gainesville, Fla., for the annual Frank gathering of people who use communications to drive social change. This year, the conference felt more necessary than ever. Many of us in the social-change sector are looking for answers to how we continue our work in a culture that not only rejects facts and science, but one that also—thanks to sophisticated social media algorithms that tailor content specifically to our interests and the echo chambers that result—seemingly cannot distinguish between real information, unintentional misinformation and intentional disinformation. Read More

“It was too close for comfort, but maybe that was the point,” writes The Case Foundation’s Louise Storm of her first virtual reality experience. Viewing the New York Times’ series “The Displaced”—which tells the stories of three children displaced by war—her initial response was tears. But then the chief of staff to CEO Jean Case began to think about all the uses of the technology for social impact. “I can’t wait to see what the clever do-gooders of the world do next with this medium,” she observes. Read More

Following the buzz in journalistic circles, it seems clear that interactive stories and productions have the potential to engage audiences in new and exciting ways. But how does this work exactly—and when should funders be stepping in to invest more seriously in such experiments? Read More

In November, Media Impact Funders and Vulcan Productions convened award-winning media makers, funders and researchers to share best practices for crafting high-impact media on climate change. In this guest post, Annie Neimand—the research director and executive editor for the frank conference and website—rounds up the latest research on what works in environmental communications, which she presented at that gathering. Read More

By Bruce S. Trachtenberg I've been working in the field of social change communications for a long time, and over the years I've seen various efforts to measure – even define – success. Then, just the other day, while attending the frank2015 conference, an annual gathering focused on public interest communications, I heard a speaker say the following: Success in public interest communications starts when people say 'OMG this is important!' Read More