Exits with a timetable
On 22 October 2026, the Ford Foundation announced its first strategy overhaul in more than a decade. It will fund seven areas, with strategies rolled out “on a rolling basis over the course of 2027”. From January 2027, its programme staff move into three units: strategy design, transitional grant-making and Sunsetting and Relationship Management, which handles the “responsible sunsetting of areas of work”.
Ford has not said which of its more than 2,300 grantees will be affected. Nicholas Turner, its executive vice president for programmes, told the Associated Press it was “too early to say”. Media work now sits under an area called “Defending Information as a Public Good“. Ford also says it will give larger, multiyear general operating support, so the effect will be mixed: some grantees gain stability, others lose funding. If Ford funds you, now is the time to ask which new area your grant maps to, and which unit will manage it from January.
Ford is not alone. Craig Newmark, who has given nearly USD 200 million to journalism, said in January 2026 that he is moving his philanthropy towards cybersecurity and military families. Open Society Foundations froze most of its media grantmaking in 2023, and in October 2024 its board decided not to fund global journalism as a stand-alone initiative, according to the Carnegie Endowment. Several Latin American respondents told Carnegie they were already reeling from the loss of OSF funding when US money ended.
Money moving between regions
Some exits are geographic. The UK’s 2025/26 aid allocations cut Africa by 12% (to £1.37 billion) and the Middle East and North Africa by 21% (to £681 million), while budgets for Europe, including Ukraine, rose. The later 2026/27 allocations cut deeper: the Middle East and North Africa falls 45% in a single year, to £375 million. The government’s own statement of 19 March 2026 adds that bilateral allocations to G20 countries will be phased out (Turkey excepted), and that fragile and conflict-affected states will take over 70% of country and regional spending by 2028/29. It names no media-development priority, only extra funding for the BBC World Service.
In December 2025, Sweden announced it is phasing out development aid to Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Mozambique, Liberia and Bolivia, while raising aid to Ukraine to at least SEK 10 billion in 2026. Neither shift was framed as an exit from media. For an outlet in Kenya or Jordan, the effect can be the same.
New words, new rules
Other changes show up in the language. Funders that once said “media development” now say “information integrity”, “resilience” or “information as a public good”. The EU’s European Democracy Shield includes a Media Resilience Programme. The Commission’s proposed AgoraEU programme for 2028 to 2034 would merge Creative Europe with the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values programme, with a MEDIA+ strand budgeted at EUR 3.2 billion.
These words are not empty. They tell you what the funder will need to report on. A fact-checking project, for example, may now be funded as “information integrity” work, and a business-skills course as “media resilience” or viability. The same words can also be contested: Carnegie reports that in the US, efforts to promote information integrity came to be seen by some on the political right as censorship and were withdrawn.
Funders also want proof. When the Thomson Reuters Foundation closed its Context news service in February 2026, it said some long-standing donors had questioned their investment “due to a lack of demonstrable impact”. Its chief executive also cited overlap with Reuters, so impact was one reason among several.
Six signals that a funder may be winding down
One signal on its own means little. Two or three together are worth a conversation.
- Your renewal is offered as a one-off, “bridge” or “transition” grant. Example: your three-year radio grant is not renewed. Instead, you are offered a nine-month “bridge” grant for “transition planning”.
- Open calls are replaced by invitation-only or referral routes. Example: the open call you used for your local-language news desk disappears from the funder’s website. A programme officer says new proposals are now by invitation, after a short concept note.
- The funder announces a strategy review, and your programme officer leaves without a replacement. Example: your funder announces a “strategy review”, and your programme officer leaves in March. Emails go unanswered, and your renewal decision is pushed back.
- The programme is renamed, and describing your work in the new words feels forced. Example: your fact-checking desk was funded under “media development”. The new programme is called “information integrity”, and the report template asks how you build “resilience”.
- New eligibility rules appear: co-financing, minimum budgets, registration or audit requirements. Example: a funder now requires 30% co-financing and an external audit, which a six-person newsroom with one main grant cannot meet.
- Reporting asks shift from activities to impact, at shorter intervals. Example: a report that once listed 40 stories published now asks what changed because of them, such as a contract cancelled after your investigation; a workshop count is replaced by a request for evidence that trained reporters published and were cited; annual narrative reports become six-monthly ones with audience and impact data.
What is replacing legacy funding?
Less than is needed. The Carnegie Endowment found in April 2026 that other donors have not filled the gap left by the US. Of survey respondents with international support, only 21% reported an increase in support from other donors in 2025, while 48% reported a decrease.
There are some bright spots, though:
What to do this month
- Map your income by funder and by programme. For each grant, note which strategy or area it sits in, and when that strategy is due for review.
- Ask directly. A short, calm question to your programme officer about 2027 is normal. Most will tell you more in a call than in writing. For example: “We are planning our 2027 budget. Could you tell me which area of your new strategy our grant sits in, and when renewal decisions will be made?”
- Translate, don’t reinvent. If your work genuinely fits a funder’s new language, say so with evidence. If it does not, that is useful to know before you spend weeks on a proposal.
- Start recording your impact. Funders increasingly want proof, and a log kept now is easier than reconstructing it later. The IA Impact Tracker is a free, Google-based template for doing this.
The MediaDev Fundraising Guide has more on researching donors and building relationships before you need them.