WATCH: The 2020 Journalism Funders Gathering

Last week, we convened our peers for our annual journalism funders gathering to discuss some of the most pressing issues facing journalism—and our nation—today. We hope that our two days of programming and breakout sessions introduced you to new people, new ideas, and a new way forward. We are so grateful to the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation and Independence Public Media Foundation for sponsoring our first online journalism funders conference. (And special thanks to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Henry L. Hillman Foundation, and the Rita Allen Foundation for their support.) Zoom fatigue is real, and we are that much more grateful for the network’s participation our virtual format. We also know that many of you are juggling work and other family responsibilities, whether it’s your kids’ remote learning or caring for a loved one. Because of that, we’ve recorded all of our plenary discussions so that you can watch them at a time that’s more convenient for you. As we grapple with seemingly growing efforts to spread lies online, persistent issues preventing the advancement of newsroom culture, and what we need to do now to ensure a more equitable media ecosystem in the future, we hope you’ll… Read More

This post was updated on Nov. 18, 2019. We’ve come a long way since 2001, when a handful of journalism funders got together to compare notes. (We’re looking at you, Jon Funabiki, Vivian Vahlberg and Eric Newton!) Last week, we convened more than 100 funders for our annual gathering to discuss some of the most pressing issues facing journalism today. Read More

At the 2016 Media Impact Forum, we explored the networks, data and collaborations that support and amplify powerful narratives in film, journalism virtual reality and more. Agenda 9:30 a.m.—Welcome and Introductions Vince Stehle, Executive Director, Media Impact Funders Andrew Rasiej, Founder/CEO, Civic Hall Musical interlude Michael Thurber, Composer, Performer, From the Top 9:55 a.m.—Tech Support: Mapping Our Networks Foundation Maps for Media Funding Sarah Armour-Jones, Consultant, Media Impact Funders Nicholas Savot, Electronic Grant Analyst, Foundation Center Mapping the System Dynamics of Local Journalism Jessica Clark, Research and Strategy Director, Media Impact Funders Paul Waters, Program Associate, Democracy Fund The Story that Moved Us: When I Walk + AXS Map as Building Blocks for Change Jason DaSilva, Producer, Director, Writer, Activist & Founder, AXS Labs Vince Stehle, Executive Director, Media Impact Funders 11 a.m.—Networking Break 11:30 a.m.—The Power and Impact of Investigative Reporting David Rousseau, Vice President and Executive Director of Health Policy Media Technology, The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Troubled Water: Uncovering Massive Fraud in Flint, Michigan Amy Goodman, Co-host, Democracy Now! Curt Guyette, Investigative… Read More

PHILADELPHIA, PA (May 31, 2016)—Media Impact Funders (MIF), a member-supported network of funders who seek to improve society through media and technology, has been awarded a two-year, $500,000 matching grant from The Atlantic Philanthropies, a limited-life foundation. It is the largest-ever grant awarded to the nonprofit since its incorporation in 2009. Read More

The American Press Institute—an educational nonprofit that helps advance news media in the digital age—released a report last month that explores the ethical terrain of nonprofit journalism.  “The ethics of taking grants from foundations and gifts from donors to produce news is still evolving and not without controversy,” the report reads. Read More

At this year’s Media Impact Forum, we asked two important questions: “What do we want from media innovation in the public interest?” and “How do we get it?” To explore answers, we brought together leading thinkers, funders and media innovators to share their ideas and projects for an inspired digital future. The key theme for the morning was inclusion—from providing tech opportunities for all to ensuring access to knowledge for all. Wendy Hanamura of the Internet Archive served as the emcee, and David Rousseau of the Kaiser Family Foundation as the day’s host, welcoming attendees to the foundation’s Menlo Park headquarters. Watch videos from the day here. What do we want? We started with Van Jones who masterfully grounded our conversation in contrasting stories of hatred and exclusion versus those of love and inclusion. In the agricultural age, he noted, African Americans were property. In the industrial age African Americans were also at the bottom of the economic ladder and the last to be included in industrial revolution. Now with digital age, how will we create one that includes everyone? The good news? It’s only after we have a breakdown that we… Read More

At the Open Society Foundations' headquarters in Manhattan, philanthropic leaders and media makers gathered for Maladies and Miracles: Funding Media to Illuminate Health and Science, a day-long series of panels on health-related media coverage and storytelling projects. Read More

Collaboration and invention were key concepts for the mid-afternoon sessions at the 2014 Media Impact Forum, which honed in on how cross-platform public media initiatives are filling holes in local news and healthcare coverage and influencing audiences and policymakers. View highlights from this discussion below, or go to our YouTube page for the full session. Media Impact Funders Executive Director Vince Stehle moderated the discussion on innovation in local journalism, which featured Laura Walker, the president and CEO of New York Public Radio; Laura Frank, the executive director of I-News and vice president for news at Rocky Mountain PBS, and Clark Bell, the director of the McCormick Foundation’s Journalism Program. Walker heads up a clutch of award-winning public stations—WNYC-FM, WNYC-AM, WQXR, WQXW, and New Jersey Public Radio—which, along with related digital properties and programs, reach an average 14.2 million people each month. She spoke about the importance of partnerships in building better local coverage across the region, especially in New Jersey, where major outlets have collapsed. With support from such funders as the Charles H. Revson Foundation, The Gates Foundation, The Wyncote Foundation, and the Jerome L. Read More