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Reimagining Funding for Journalism: Key Takeaways from IJF 2025

Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD), May 6 (2025)

"At the International Journalism Festival (IJF) in Perugia this year, journalism funding and sustainability took centre stage. International funders, media leaders, and innovators grappled with the urgent question of how to keep independent journalism not just alive—but thriving—in an era of shr ... more

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Safeguarding independent journalism in Latin America

Francisca Skoknic

Oxford: Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (2024), 37 pp.

"In a region plagued by poverty, inequality, and attacks on press freedom, Latin American journalists have ventured into non-profit journalism to uphold democracy. Outlets producing award-winning and highly impactful journalism in the region include El Salvador’s El Faro, founded in 1998, Chile’ ... s Ciper (2007), IDL-Reporteros in Peru and La Silla Vacía in Colombia (2009), Animal Político in Mexico (2010), Agência Pública in Brazil and Plaza Pública in Guatemala (2011) – to name a few. But finding a sustainable financing model has eluded most outlets. There is limited advertising revenue for such controversial topics, and lower income audiences are hard-pressed to pay for news. This has led to an over-reliance on foreign funding to finance their work. Research by SembraMedia found that grants are the primary source of non-profit income, accounting for 63% of their revenue on average. To assess for myself how acutely reliant independent media in Latin America are on foreign donors, I set about analysing 40 independent outlets based in 16 countries. I focused on outlets that produce public interest journalism, play a significant role in their countries, and receive institutional foreign funding. [...] Between 2016 and 2022 those 40 outlets received more than $27 million from OSF and Ford Foundation. While Ford Foundation granted roughly half the number of grants as the Soros organisation, their grants were significantly larger, meaning the total amount donated was almost on par. OSF has been key in giving establishing grants to new outlets and then fostering their growth, while Ford tends to back outlets with a track record. Ana Joaquina Ruiz, Program Associate for Mexico, and Central America at Ford Foundation, told me: “OSF has the capacity to fund more innovative projects. Ford is a bit more conservative and works with projects that can be a contribution in the long term.” A third important player to consider in this ecosystem is Luminate, created by the founder of eBay, Pierre Omidyar. Publicly available data shows it has only distributed 11 grants between 2016 and 2022 among the 40 outlets I analysed. The average size of each grant was $360,000 – far more than the average Ford Foundation grants ($240,000) or OSF grants ($135,000). It is worth noting, however, that no consistent data could be found about the length of time each grant was intended to cover. An analysis of average amount granted per year might paint a different picture." (https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk) more

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Where is the money? A global perspective on forms of funding, financing and investment for public interest media
Top Insights

Clare Cook, Ross Settles, Chris Kabwato, Hassan Abbas, Alexandre Goudineau, Janine Warner, Laura Aguirre

Copenhagen: International Media Support (IMS) (2024), 63 pp.

"Two years in the making, this report unfolds regional perspectives of new forms of funding, financing and investment for public interest media. It provides a multistakeholder reflection in four regions of the world on how public interest media can best be supported over the next decade. Through con ... more

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Funding Journalism: A Guide for Canadian Philanthropy

Ana Sofía Hibon, April Lindgren, Sara Krynitzki

Inspirit Foundation;Local News Research Project at Toronto Metropolitan University;Philanthropic Foundations Canada (2024), 27 pp.

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Press Forward: A Guide for Local Funders

Press Forward (2024), 23 pp.

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Examining the Journalism Philanthropy Model: A Literature Review

Louisa Lincoln

International Journal of Communication, volume 18 (2024), pp. 889–907

"Amid the decline of commercial local news in the United States, another model has emerged as a growing alternative: philanthropy-supported journalism. Although foundation-funded journalism is not a particularly new model, the field has seen an influx of charitable funds in recent years—since 2009 ... more

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Saving Journalism 2: Global Strategies and a Look at Investigative Journalism
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Anya Schiffrin, Hannah Clifford et al.

Washington, DC: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) (2022), 56 pp.

"It’s clear that there are plenty of good ideas about how to save journalism as well as practical proposals for how to support quality information. The journalism community in much of the world is galvanized to make change happen and they’re ready to persuade the public and policy makers both th ... more

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Collaborative Sustainability Guide: How to Earn Revenue to Grow and Thrive
Inspiring Practice

Alex Veeneman, Shana Black et al.

Philadelphia: Lenfest Institute for Journalism;Center for Cooperative Media (2022), 42 pp.

"What’s working to generate revenue and sustain journalism collaborations, beyond philanthropy? To answer this question, the Center for Cooperative Media, The Lenfest Institute for Journalism and the Solutions Journalism Network conducted a survey, interviewed collaborative project managers, funde ... more

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Global Media Philanthropy: What Funders Need to Know About Data, Trends and Pressing Issues Facing the Field
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Sarah Armour-Jones, Jessica Clark

Philadelphia: Media Impact Funders (2019), 50 pp.

"Both funding and making media are now dangerous in new ways: Foundations, publishers, editors and journalists across the world are facing not just familiar forms of repression and censorship, but new threats from breaches to digital privacy and a notably uncivil online culture. Funders need to work ... more

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Quid Pro Quo: How Donor-Funded Journalism Redefines Job Descriptions

Mia Malan

African Journalism Studies, volume 39, issue 2 (2018), pp. 121-129

"Donor-funded journalism is a complex sphere, frequently characterised by balancing acts between the priorities of two vastly different environments. The health desk of one of South Africa’s legacy media outlets, the Mail & Guardian, owes its existence to philanthropy. Launched in 2013, the Bhekis ... more

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Philanthropic Journalism Funding in Germany

Thomas Schnedler, Günter Bartsch

Maastricht: European Journalism Centre;Journalism Funders Forum (2017), 34 pp.

"As this study shows, many of the more than 21,000 German foundations contribute a wealth of ideas, and substantial funding, to a wide variety of journalistic projects and grants. But only around 120 foundations profess express support of journalism in their statutes. Unfortunately, the total moneta ... ry value of their activities remains in the dark. A project of the not-for-profit ZEIT-Stiftung makes the case in point what a focused engagement can look like. The area of interest is in Eastern Europe, where preconditions for independent reporting are entirely different from Germany, and where information is hard to get hold of, or cannot be accessed at all. Between 2000 and 2016, ZEIT-Stiftung has been awarding its prestigious “Gerd Bucerius Prize for a Free Press in Eastern Europe” for a total of 17 times (from 2004 in cooperation with Norwegian Fritt Ord Foundation). In a trusting international cooperation, the two foundations have awarded 97 laureates – 40 journalists and 57 media outlets – with €1.7m overall. The aim: to strengthen independent journalism in Eastern Europe. Meanwhile, both foundations have launched the follow up project “Free Media Awards. Supporting Independent Journalism in Eastern Europe“. It is well worthwhile further to encourage foundations to engage with projects that contribute to better journalism and plurality of opinion. Support for, and the defence of, press freedom; the free flow of information; and improving journalistic standards remain on top of the agenda. Notably, this is precisely not about steering opinion-forming processes, peddling of influence, or surreptitious lobbying. Moreover, foundations are not positioned to mitigate the adverse effects that come with the erosion of traditional business and distribution models. Nor can they develop alternative sources of media revenue. But as actors of civic society, foundations can uphold the importance of journalism. They can insist on the diversity, quality, and relevance of journalism – values that are constitutive for an open society. They can do so, for instance, through endowed journalism professorships, or by way of training and exchange programmes for mid-career journalists." (Foreword, pages 5-6) more

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The Civic Media Crisis and What Philanthropy Can Do

Bruce Sievers, Patrice Schneider

Stanford University (2017)

"Protecting the independent media and the public sphere presents an epic challenge, but there is great opportunity for philanthropy to step up and help." (Introduction)

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Case Studies: How Four Community Information Projects Went from Idea to Impact

Knight Foundation;Network Impact;FSG (2013), 41 pp.

"This report offers four case studies on how different foundations used information to improve the healthy functioning of their communities. The cases highlight the following: Why did each foundation support local media? How did it connect to their strategic priorities? What steps did they take to m ... more

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Qualitätsjournalismus

Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte, volume 62, issue 29-31 (2012), 46 pp.

"Freie und unabhängige Medien sind für das Funktionieren einer demokratischen Gesellschaft unerlässlich. Sie informieren, erklären, ordnen ein, bieten verschiedene Meinungen, aktivieren, kurz: Sie helfen, demokratische Öffentlichkeit herzustellen. Zudem haben sie eine wichtige Kontrollfunktion ... more

Where is the money? A global perspective on forms of funding, financing and investment for public interest media Top Insights

Saving Journalism 2: Global Strategies and a Look at Investigative Journalism Top Insights

Collaborative Sustainability Guide: How to Earn Revenue to Grow and Thrive Inspiring Practice

Global Media Philanthropy: What Funders Need to Know About Data, Trends and Pressing Issues Facing the Field Top Insights

Where is the money? A global perspective on forms of funding, financing and investment for public interest media
Top Insights

Saving Journalism 2: Global Strategies and a Look at Investigative Journalism
Top Insights

Collaborative Sustainability Guide: How to Earn Revenue to Grow and Thrive
Inspiring Practice

Global Media Philanthropy: What Funders Need to Know About Data, Trends and Pressing Issues Facing the Field
Top Insights