A large group of people mingles and converses on a sunny rooftop terrace with modern glass buildings in the background. Red chairs and tables are scattered around, and some greenery is visible in the foreground.

The Media Impact Forum

The Media Impact Forum brings together philanthropic funders who use media as a strategy to advance public interest goals. Participants step out of day-to-day grantmaking to engage peers across issue areas, examine the pressures reshaping the field, and consider where greater alignment can unlock meaningful impact across the media landscape.

The Forum offers a rare opportunity to connect with leaders shaping the future of media philanthropy and to work collectively on challenges that no single funder can solve alone.

Revisit the 2026 Media Impact Forum

Watch all mainstage sessions from this year’s Media Impact Forum below.

Opening Remarks from MIF Executive Director Abby Rapoport

The biggest risk facing public-interest media right now isn’t funding. It isn’t political pressure. It’s a failure of imagination. That was the thread running through this year’s Media Impact Forum at KQED, where we convened a special community of funders from journalism, documentary, tech and more to engage with the larger questions facing our field.

In her opening remarks, our executive director Abby Rapoport laid out the challenge: we will always be outspent by commercial interests. We will always face powerful forces. That’s not the problem. The problem is whether we can be more strategic, more coordinated, and bold enough to imagine a better path forward.

Her full remarks go deeper, making the case for why this moment requires cross-sector, infrastructure-level thinking and what MIF is already doing to make it happen.

Philanthropy and the Future of Media and Civic Information

This plenary brought together philanthropic leaders working across today’s media and civic information ecosystem to explore how funders can step up their impact in a moment defined by risk, rapid change and rising stakes for democracy. Representing different approaches and philosophies, panelists reflected on how their strategies are evolving in response to this shifting landscape and where philanthropy itself must adapt.

Creators, Platforms, and Public Purpose with Hank Green

In this keynote conversation, Hank Green—entrepreneur, author, science communicator, and youtuber—reflected on how the internet has reshaped the information environment and why many traditional institutions struggle in attention-driven systems. Despite the noise and competition for attention online, audiences are still deeply interested in understanding the world around them.

Drawing on the experience of building his company Complexly and creating educational media for millions of viewers, Hank shared what creator-driven platforms have taught him about reaching and engaging audiences at scale. His remarks explored what this shift means for the future of trusted information and public understanding.

Following the keynote, Hank joined Outrider Foundation President & CEO Robert K. Elder for a fireside conversation about the implications for public-interest media and philanthropy.

The Next Challenge for Media & Journalism

The Next Challenge is a national competition promoting innovative ideas and trailblazing startups that will reinvent the media industry over the coming decade.

This year’s competition awarded $250,000 in grants to both nonprofit and for-profit startups.

A Creative Interlude with Baratunde Thurston

Baratunde Thurston, writer, speaker and host of the Webby-winning “Life With Machines,” performed “I Want to Define the Circle,” a poem exploring technology, humanity, and the kind of future we choose to create together.

From Personal Trust to System Trust in the Age of AI

This session invited funders to explore both the promise and the structural risks of AI-enabled information infrastructure. Panelists examined how trust shifts from individuals to systems, what it takes to build AI tools aligned with civic rather than commercial purpose, & where philanthropic investment can make the most meaningful difference, especially as new tools make it increasingly feasible for public-interest actors to build what they need.

New Approaches to Sustainability & Distribution: Part 1

Felipe Estefan, founder and CEO of Curiosity Capital, shared new research examining a central paradox in impact-driven media: The storytellers best positioned to shape culture are often the least resourced to scale their work.

Drawing on interviews and field analysis, Felipe identified two persistent gaps—capital constraints and fragmented audience intelligence systems—that limit sustainability and long-term impact. Funding models often favor individual projects over the shared infrastructure needed to build lasting influence, while critical audience and impact data remains concentrated within private platforms and out of reach for many creators and independent media organizations. Felipe highlighted emerging approaches and invited funders to rethink not just what they support, but the systems that determine who gets to participate, grow and shape public narratives.

New Approaches to Sustainability & Distribution: Part 2

Christie Marchese, founder and CEO of Kinema, shared how Kinema is putting new distribution and revenue models into practice, offering a concrete example of what it looks like when creators retain ownership while reaching global audiences. Her remarks illustrated how the gaps Felipe Estefan’s research identifies are beginning to be addressed in the field.

Journalism Under Pressure: Safety, Risk and Responsibility

Journalists across the United States are operating in an increasingly volatile environment, where physical, legal, and digital threats are becoming more frequent, and more normalized. What was once considered exceptional risk is now part of everyday reporting, from covering protests to local government meetings.

At the same time, safety and security remain underfunded and inconsistently integrated into how journalism is supported. As a result, news organizations and funders are being forced to rethink their roles. Safety is no longer a peripheral concern, but core infrastructure for a functioning media ecosystem. This session brought together journalists, funders and safety experts to examine how the field is adapting.

How Mainstream Media Shapes Public Understanding

Sydney Apple, Director of Foundation and Nonprofit Work at Protagonist, distilled key insights from recent Protagonist research that offers a close look at how the mainstream media ecosystem operates and what that may mean for investment strategies.

The research—drawing on an analysis of 6.1 million news articles from 2020-2025—shows how even “neutral” coverage influences public understanding through patterns of framing, emphasis and repetition. The findings point to a consistent focus on conflict over solutions, an imbalance in whose voices are elevated, and a tendency to flatten complex issues into binary debates.

Sydney explored what these patterns mean in practice, and how funders might respond to support a more representative, solutions-oriented media landscape.

Reimagining Public Media for the 21st Century

As public media and nonprofit news organizations look toward the future, rapid technological change and a fragmented digital ecosystem are reshaping what “public-interest media” can and should be.

This discussion examined how philanthropy, public media institutions, technology platforms, and nonprofit news organizations can align around a shared vision for a 21st-century system—and where their incentives, roles, and responsibilities may be in tension. Speakers explored what it will take to build broader public support for that vision and how Media Impact Funders can help steward more coordinated, strategic investment to advance it.

Thank you to the sponsors of the 2026 Media Impact Forum

MIForum26 Sponsors

The stakes for independent media have never been higher.

In a fragmented, politically charged, and rapidly evolving information ecosystem, philanthropy’s role is essential. Media funding shapes whether communities have access to trusted journalism, whether public media remains strong and independent, whether documentary storytelling reaches broad audiences, and whether democratic discourse remains resilient.

The 2026 Media Impact Forum brings together philanthropic funders who support media in the public interest. Participants step out of day-to-day grantmaking to engage peers across issue areas, examine the pressures reshaping the field, and consider where greater alignment can unlock meaningful impact across the media landscape.

The Forum offers a rare opportunity to connect with leaders shaping the future of media philanthropy and to work collectively on challenges that no single funder can solve alone.

Through four focused programmatic pillars—The Future of Public Media, Effective Media Funding Practice, Platform Futures and Audience Reach, and Safeguarding Journalism and Media—the Forum creates a structured environment for cross-field connection across journalism, documentary, and public media. These pillars provide both depth and coherence, surfacing sector-specific challenges while illuminating shared questions that cut across issue areas and funding strategies.

By convening funders broadly, the Forum reflects the growing role of media as a cross-cutting strategy within philanthropy. It is designed not simply as a moment of reflection, but as a space where funders can deepen relationships and sharpen priorities.

The Forum functions as a working space for philanthropy at a moment of urgency.

Mainstage conversations ground the gathering in a shared understanding of the forces shaping journalism, documentary and public media today. Field leaders, funders and practitioners surface both the risks confronting independent media and the opportunities emerging across platforms and audiences.

Structured peer discussions create room for alignment. Participants explore where their strategies intersect, where gaps remain, and where stronger coordination could amplify impact. In a field often shaped by grant cycles, geography and institutional constraints, simply seeing the landscape together can shift what feels achievable.

Breakout and small-group working sessions allow for deeper exploration of potential collaboration. Some conversations will focus on shared learning and strategy. Others may move toward more concrete next steps. The Forum does not prescribe a single model of partnership. Instead, it creates the context and relationships that make coordinated, sustained action more likely once participants return to their institutions.

Media Impact Funders is committed to providing exceptional experiences for all attendees of our events. We understand that circumstances may change, and you may find yourself unable to attend.

We strive to accommodate our attendees to the best of our ability while also managing the resources necessary for hosting successful events.

Instead of requesting a refund for your ticket, we invite you to consider the following options:

  • Turn your ticket cost into a powerful contribution that will directly impact MIF’s mission, work and initiatives. Your support helps us serve our growing network of funders who care about effective use of media, and the programs we create to serve them.
  • Transfer your ticket to a colleague at your organization—just let us know the name and email of your colleague.

Please contact MIF Member Engagement Manager, Shannon Thomas at shannon@mediafunders.org to convert your ticket cost into a donation, transfer your ticket to a colleague, or to request a refund.

Refund and Cancellation Policy

  • Requests made up to April 17, 2026: Full refund minus $55 processing fee
  • Requests made between April 17 – May 6, 2026: 50% refund minus $55 processing fee
  • We are unable to offer refunds after May 6, 2026.
  • Refunds will be processed within 3-5 business days after approval.

This is a Funder-only Gathering

If you are unsure of your eligibility to attend this gathering, please contact Shannon Thomas at shannon@mediafunders.org. If you purchase a ticket and are not eligible to attend, the ticket price will be refunded, but not the processing fees.

Photographs and/or video will be taken at this event. By attending this event, you consent to your image/likeness, voice, and/or name being used in photographs and/or film, and any reproductions or adaptations thereafter, by Media Impact Funders to use in any and all print and digital media in perpetuity.

If you do not wish to be photographed and/or filmed, please contact Adriana Imhof, Communications Associate, at adriana@mediafunders.org.

KQED is a fully accessible building.

Media Impact Funders is committed to providing a friendly, safe and welcoming environment for all, regardless of race, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, ethnicity, or religion. Please email info@mediafunders.org if there is a barrier to your participation or if you need to share additional access needs.

Media Impact Funders has been hosting the Media Impact Forum since 2013 with the purpose of bringing funders together to network, deepen learning and spark collaboration. This is special because funders of journalism, documentary and other media seldom cross paths in their everyday work. The Forum provides a wonderful opportunity to come together for a day of inspiring media presentations and to stay up to date on current trends, issues and opportunities facing the field.