JOURNALISM AND MEDIA GRANTMAKING GUIDE OFFERS INSIGHTS FOR NEW FUNDERS

To respond to interest of funders about the role they can play in supporting news and community information, Media Impact Funders network has produced an updated version of Journalism and Media Grantmaking: Five Things You Need to Know and Five Ways to Get Started, produced with support from the Wyncote Foundation.

This booklet is a starter guide for foundations interested in exploring how to make impactful journalism and community-information grants. Foundations do not need to have a formal journalism program to make grants that support healthy news and information flows. Nor does a foundation need large dollar investments to get started. Even a small grant may help citizens in a given community or demographic gain access to credible information that will help them participate in civic life.

Journalist and consultant Michele McLellan co-wrote the original version of the booklet, produced in 2011 with support from the John S. and James L.  Knight and William Penn foundations. Now, she offers an expanded analysis of how the field has changed, informed by insights from a distinguished group of media funders who offered hard-earned lessons from their own practice.