KNIGHT COMMUNITY INFORMATION CHALLENGE

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/
http://knightfoundation.org/funding-initiatives/knight-community-information-challenge/

Type of foundation: Independent

Types of grants: Project/implementation

Description: John S. and James L. Knight published a series of newspapers in cities around the country. In the area of Journalism, the foundation supports journalist training, news and newsroom diversity, digital media and news, and freedom of information. A full profile of the foundation is available here.

The Knight Community Information Challenge (KCIC) was launched in 2008 as a five-year initiative. It was part of the foundation’s Media Innovation Initiative, a $100+ million effort to help meet America’s information needs. In 2013, the Foundation announced that it would extend the KCIC for an additional three years. The KCIC makes matching grants to help community and place-based foundations have an impact on issues they care about by funding news and information projects. The KCIC is grounded in the beliefs that:

• Information is a core community need.
• As traditional media have struggled, residents aren’t getting the local information they need to take action on the issues that affect their lives.

• Foundations can and should help residents be informed about the issues that shape their communities.

While the KCIC is not limited to any specific model of delivering news and information, it is looking for models that potentially can be replicated in other cities and towns.

In 2013, the KCIC will include some new elements:

• It will provide up to $50,000 in seed funding to foundations, as a way to test new ideas.
• While all kinds of ideas may be proposed, preference will be given to Open Government projects. By this, the Foundation means "projects that improve the way that people and governments interact." In this special focus area, the Foundation will for partnerships between applicant foundations and municipalities and innovators.

The Foundation is offering a webinar reviewing these changes on May 1, 2013 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern. Registration is available from this page.

All project proposals must be submitted by community and place-based foundations. The grants then fund specific community-based information initiatives. In most cases, matching funds are provided by the community or place-based foundation. Past KCIC grants include:

• $802,000 to the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation for the New Jersey News Collaborative, a partnership founded by New Jersey Public Radio and Montclair State University. The partners will work on a range of projects to expand coverage, engage the public and provide training and services to the news ecosystem (2012).
• $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 Oregon Community Foundation to create a cooperative news network where partners – including Oregon Public Broadcasting and local newspapers – will be able to share content. The partners will also create a business plan to make the cooperative self-sustaining based on syndication fees for members and expanding community news partnerships. The network will also hold live events in rural communities to highlight specific issues facing communities and broadcast the discussions on radio and TV (2012).
• $302,000 to the Raymond John Wean Foundation for TheNewsOutlet.org to enable a new operating partnership with a local National Public Radio affiliate (2012).
• $302,000 to the Adirondack Community Trust to enable North Country Public Radio to expand and deepen its broadcast and digital operations and encourage residents to contribute content and help sustain its regional news and information service (2011). Listen to a Grant Center webinar with North Country Public Radio about this project here.
• $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).
• $240,500 to the Hawaii Community Foundation for Hiki No, a partnership with PBS Hawaii, to create a statewide student news network and produce newscasts for on air and online (2010). Learn more about this initiative in the Grant Center webinar featuring the Knight Foundation, the Hawaii Community Foundation and PBS Hawaii. Hiki No was the subject of one of four KCIC case studies published by the Knight Foundation in 2013.
• $175,000 to the Alaska Community Foundation for Alaska Public Telecommunications. The state’s public radio and TV stations will create a robust online news hub that will host hyperlocal blogs and virtual community "think tanks" on specific issues like arts and culture, Alaskan natives and local business. Organizers will make a special push to include the voices and contributions of rural Alaskans (2010).
• $103,000 to the Dade Community Foundation for South Florida Public Affairs, a project that will create an online video site, in partnership with a public television station, and offer in-depth public policy and hyperlocal news (2010).
• $102,000 to Greater New Orleans Foundation to help public radio station WWNO build a news service to cover issues like education reform, arts and culture. WWNO will add a reporting staff person and will partner with two local online news organizations (2012).
• $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).
• $57,000 to Arizona Community Foundation for a partnership between public radio station KNAU and the Arizona Daily Sun to create a real-time emergency information network that employs mobile apps and audio and video streaming (2012).

Fit for Public Broadcasting: The Community Information Challenge offers extraordinary opportunities to public media to expand or deepen their work to inform their local communities. Prior to 2012, relatively few public media projects had been submitted for consideration. In 2012, four projects led by public media were funded. The Challenge is particularly friendly to projects that use digital media. It is also a supporter of citizen journalism, youth media and more.

Listen to the 2010 Grant Center conference call on the Community Information Challenge featuring representatives from the Knight Foundation and Hawaii PBS, a 2010 grantee. 

Eligibility: The proposal must be submitted by a community or place-based foundation. However, the grant funds flow to the project, which is typically led by a media outlet of some variety. The project must be identified in advance; this is not a "regranting" arrangement where the community foundation receives funds and then takes proposals. The Knight Community Information Challenge is open to applicants nationwide. It is not limited to Knight’s "resident communities."

Deadline: The Knight Foundation has extended the Knight Community Information Challenge deadline to July 1, 2013.

How to apply: The initial application must be submitted online. The Knight Foundation will request full proposals from selected applicants. Only community or place-based foundations are eligible to apply. However, it is fine for a public media organization to approach local foundations about partnering on a project. The Knight Foundation offers the following suggestions to organizations interested in partnering with a community or place-based foundation:

"Contact the foundation president or a foundation program officer. Let them know that a) Knight Foundation has a matching grant program to help community foundations get involved in funding news and information projects; b) The program is premised on the belief that information is a core community need, and since community foundations are formed to meet core community needs, they are logical partners in funding information projects; c) You have an idea that can help fill an information need in your community, and would like to form a partnership."

Giving range: Generally between $100,000 – 400,000. There is a requirement that the project find matching funds (cash match). Typically – but not always – these funds come in whole or in part from the foundation applicant.

Assets: $2,036,153,513 (year ending 12/31/2011).

Total giving: $99,866,000 (year ending 12/31/2011).