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3 September 2003Ford Foundation Announces the Challenge Fund for Journalism
NEW YORK, 3 September 2003 — The Ford Foundation, in partnership with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, today announced a new fund to support organizations that promote diversity in the news media. The Challenge Fund for Journalism will help the groups broaden their base of financial support through challenge grants and fund-raising training.
The recent economic downturn has brought a significant decline in financial support from corporate and philanthropic sources for journalism organizations, creating a need to expand fund-raising efforts. The Challenge Fund for Journalism addresses this issue by encouraging the organizations to target individual donors as an important new source of funds. In addition to the challenge grants—in which individual donations will be matched one-to-one by the fund—the program will provide workshops and consulting on fund-raising strategies and cultivation of individual donors.
Seven journalism organizations will receive support from the program. Each has set a specific target amount:
Asian American Journalists Association, $75,000;
National Association of Black Journalists, $50,000;
National Association of Hispanic Journalists, $115,000;
National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, $75,000;
Native American Journalists Association, $25,000;
Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, $140,000;
UNITY: Journalists of Color Inc., $50,000.
The organizations have one year to raise new or increased funds from individual donors, which will then be matched by the fund up to the target amounts.
The Philadelphia office of The Conservation Company, a 23 year-old management consulting firm that works with funders and nonprofit organizations, will manage the fund and provide technical assistance to the grantee organizations.
"This project will increase the fund-raising capacity of organizations that work to ensure diversity in the news media," said Jon Funabiki, Deputy Director of the Media, Arts and Culture unit of the Ford Foundation. "The program will also encourage the organizations to target individual donors, including journalists, as a source of new funds."
The new fund is part of a continuing effort by Ford's Media, Arts and Culture unit to promote the voices of minority and other underrepresented groups in the news media.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of 26 U.S. communities. Since 1954, the foundation has given more than $200 million in journalism grants.
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