KNIGHT FOUNDATION, JOHN S. AND JAMES L.

Contact information:
Wachovia Financial Center Building

Suite 3300

200 South Biscayne Blvd.

Miami, FL 33131-2349
Phone: 305-908-2600
Fax: 305-908-2698

Website: http://www.knightfoundation.org/

Type of foundation: Independent

Types of grants: Capital, capacity-building, endowments, fellowships, general operating, program, program-related investments, seed funding.

Description: John S. and James L. Knight published a series of newspapers in cities around the country. Their company later merged with Ridder to become the Knight-Ridder Corporation, at the time, the largest newspaper company in the country. The Knight Foundation, funded by their contributions, invests in projects that "advance journalism in the digital age" and in projects that strengthen the 26 local communities where the Knight brothers held newspapers. The Foundation is very interested in supporting information media and believes that "information is a core community need." Since 1950, the Foundation has invested nearly $400 million in advancing journalism. In addition to its other journalism initiatives, the Foundation has established 24 endowed chairs in journalism at top universities. The Foundation has four giving areas:

1) Communities: The Foundation supports projects in 26 communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Interested applicants are strongly encouraged to create a letter of inquiry only after "extended conversations" with Foundation staff.

2) National: The Foundation is interested in supporting innovative and replicable projects with the potential to drive systemic change. Grants are made in the areas of Universal Access (focused on helping Knight communities implement the technology to support universal Internet access); community engagement; social innovators; and immigrant naturalization.

3) Arts: The Foundation's arts funding focuses on the following communities: Akron, Ohio; Charlotte, NC; Detroit, MI; Macon, GA; Miami, FL; Philadelphia, PA; San Jose, CA and St. Paul, MN. The Foundation supports both emerging and established arts organizations.

4) Journalism:

• Training and Education: The Foundation works to speed the news community's digital transformation by working with both current and future journalists, including by helping NPR retrain its workforce and supporting News University (an e-learning site for journalists).
• News and Newsroom Diversity: The Foundation helps newsrooms and citizens use emerging technologies to better cover and engage their entire community. This includes the Foundation's High School Journalism Initiative, as well as partnerships with the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education and ReznetNews.org (a Native American news site that trains Native American journalism students).
• Digital Media and News in the Public Interest: The Foundation works to advance the best values of journalism through rapidly developing digital media, including support for New Voices (a project to seed community news experiments) and the Institute for Interactive Journalism at the University of Maryland.
• Press Freedom and Freedom of Information: The Foundation works to advance journalism excellence, free expression and freedom of information worldwide through high-impact projects, including support for Knight International Journalism Fellowships, projects to monitor abuses against journalists and more.

Sample grants:

• $25,000,000 to the Newseum for two broadcast studios and a conference center (2008).
• $2,950,330 to Minnesota Public Radio to expand Public Insight Journalism to an open-source platform and extend it beyond public radio and into Knight communities (2008).
• $1,000,000 to National Public Radio to extend the Knight Foundation’s digital training of the NPR newsroom by creating 12 local news test sites linked to one another and to NPR. This grant is the test project of the creation of a new local reporting network (2009).
• $500,000 to the Minnesota Community Foundation to spread a deeper understanding of key community issues and challenges by engaging citizens in problem-solving efforts (2008).
• $250,000 to the Independent Television Service to develop a new global network of public broadcasters that will coordinate worldwide release of "One Water'' and other works produced by the Knight Center for International Media (2007).

The Foundation also runs contests in the area of journalism. Specifically:

• Knight News Challenge: A $5 million annual challenge, the Foundation seeks innovations that use new or available technology to distribute content in local communities. The contest is open to anyone worldwide. All projects must use digital, open-source technology; distribute news in the public interest; and be tested in a local community. Winners in 2010 include (full list available here):
• $250,000 to John Davidow, Executive Editor of New Media, WBUR, to create Order in the Court 2.0, a laboratory in a Boston courtroom to help establish best practices for digital coverage that can be replicated and adopted throughout the nation.
• $75,000 to Jake Shapiro, PRX for PRX StoryMarket, enabling anyone to pitch and help pay for production of a story for a local public radio station.
• $74,000 to Eric Gunderson, DevelopmentSeed, for Tilemapping to help local media create hyper-local, data-filled maps for their websites and blogs.
• Knight Community Information Challenge: A five-year (2009-2013), $24 million initiative to help community and place-based foundations find creative ways to use new media and technology to keep residents informed and engaged. All projects are submitted by community and place-based foundations. Grants made through the Community Information Challenge include (full list available here):
  • $352,000 to the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice to create a nonprofit, statewide online news network, The Florida Independent. The project is a collaboration among the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice, the Community Foundation of Central Florida and the Center for Independent Media. The Florida Independent will provide original investigative reports on subjects currently under-covered at the state level and link communities' issues with reporting in the state capital. Experienced journalists will lead coverage of topics such as aging, health care, housing and social services and use online tools to engage with and connect interested residents (2010).
  • $302,000 to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation to help launch an Internet, public radio, television and community information campaign called "Envision Bay Area" focused on land use planning. Using a series of "what if" scenarios enhanced by visualization tools, this project will provide residents with the information they need to develop a deeper understanding of policy decisions and their impact (2010).
  • $302,000 to the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving to help launch ctmirror.org which offers news, information and discussion about the state's government and public policy. Providing insight and analysis, the site will disclose the "whys" and consequences of public policy decisions. It will use the vast capacity of the Internet to provide data from voting records and school test scores to original source documents in ways that are accessible and searchable. The project will also provide channels for information to flow from the people to public officials, through online public hearings, issue forums and conversations (2010).
  • $102,000 to the Rhode Island Foundation to create a series of forums to be broadcast on public radio station WRNI. The conversations will also continue online through various social media. The project strives to unite Rhode Islanders around major issues in health, education, arts, the environment, economic development and human services (2010).

Eligibility: The Foundation does not support:

• Fund-raising events or charities operated by service clubs.
• Operating deficits.
• Activities that are normally the responsibility of government (though it will sometimes join with units of government in supporting special projects).
• Medical research; organizations or projects whose mission is to prevent, eradicate and/or alleviate the effects of a specific disease; hospitals (unless the requests are for community-wide capital campaigns with a stated goal and beginning and ending dates or for specific projects that meet foundation goals).
• Activities to propagate a religious faith or restricted to one religion or denomination.
• Support of political candidates or memorials.
• International programs and organizations, except U.S.-based organizations supporting a free press around the world.
• A second request for a capital campaign for which the Foundation previously approved a grant.
• Conferences; group travel; honoraria for distinguished guests—except in initiatives of the Foundation in all three cases.

Deadline: No deadlines for letters of inquiry. Knight-sponsored contests do have deadlines. The 2011 News Challenge contest will open in the Fall.

How to apply: The Foundation uses an online letter of inquiry.

Giving range: $1,000 – $25,000,000

Assets: $2,079,000,000 (as of 12/31/09)

Total giving: $105,887,097

View 2007-08 Annual Report.