After more than 12 years of service to our growing network of funders who support media and journalism in the public interest, Vince Stehle will be departing from his role as Executive Director.
During his tenure, Vince created many new opportunities for foundations and philanthropists to gather and work together to increase their support to journalists, filmmakers and storytellers across the country, contributing to the organization’s growth and impact. Beginning as Grantmakers in Film and Electronic Media, one of the first things we did in 2012 was to rebrand the organization as Media Impact Funders (MIF), to reflect a broader range of media activities supported by foundations. At the same time, the field of media philanthropy has grown, with our research documenting that foundation media grants have grown from $1.1 billion in 2009 to more than $3.8 billion in 2021. Under Vince’s leadership, MIF has served this growing field with membership that has tripled over these years.
And now, at a moment of even greater expansion and excitement in the field of media philanthropy, MIF is poised for its next great chapter.
Over the next few months, we will continue a very busy pace of programming at MIF, including preparations for our next gathering of journalism funders in October at KQED in San Francisco.
We hope you’ll stay connected as we usher in an exciting new era at Media Impact Funders. Vince will remain in his role until a new leader is selected by our Board of Directors. Stay tuned for further information about our transition plans; a national search for Vince’s successor will be under way in the fall.