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Statement

Statement on Derek Chauvin Verdict

April 20, 2021

Today, we joined millions of people across the country in breathing a collective sigh of relief at the outcome of the Derek Chauvin trial. Together, we marked a too-rare instance in which the justice system held a police officer fully accountable for the murder of an innocent Black man. 

Despite the verdict, there is more work to do. Elected officials continue to target Black and brown communities with repressive election laws to gain political advantage and consolidate power. Social media platforms still amplify hate and racism, inspiring violence on and offline. And too many vital news outlets led by and serving people of color are under threat and attack just for doing their jobs.

Determined organizers are fighting these threats — in fact, this trial would not have been possible without their efforts to bring national attention to this murder almost a year ago. Despite perpetual oppression rooted in racism and white supremacy, BIPOC-led organizations continue to serve as a driving force pushing toward a more open and just democracy. 

We know there is a delicate balance between the relief today’s victory brings and the road ahead. This journey to a more perfect union does not end with one verdict, nor is justice achieved in one trial. We remain committed to investing in BIPOC-led organizations and amplifying the voices of Black and brown people, while challenging our own assumptions and checking our philanthropic privilege.

Democracy Fund will continue to stand with and support grantees, partners, organizers, and activists who are turning anger into action and working to create a democracy that serves not just a select few, but all. 

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Report

Stewards of Democracy: The Views of American Local Election Officials

Natalie Adona, Paul Gronke, Paul Manson, and Sarah Cole
/
June 26, 2019

Local elections officials (LEOs) are the stewards of our democracy, but oftentimes they are left out of important conversations about the future of our elections nationwide. The LEOs from our survey are the chief elections officers in their local jurisdictions. Not to be confused with poll workers, the LEOs surveyed in our new report oversee local election processes and are responsible for ensuring the voting process is fair, free, and secure. Among their many responsibilities, LEOs execute the election laws in their state, make decisions that define the voter experience, and train the permanent and temporary employees that interact with the electorate.

It might be hard to imagine but (depending on how you count) between 7,000-10,000 local election officials manage the front line of elections in the United States. Despite their recognition as the people who run elections, LEOs are often left out of national conversations about reform and may not have a seat at the table when important policy decisions are made at the local, state, or federal levels—decisions that they alone will ultimately implement.

Stewards of Democracy: The Views of American Local Election Officials details the findings of the Democracy Fund-Reed College 2018 Survey of Local Election Officials (2018 LEO Survey), and is part of our effort to create a space for these stewards of democracy to be heard. The survey is designed to capture the collective experience of officials across the country, and to help us learn more about their perspectives on election administration, access, integrity, and reform. The results should be interpreted as a snapshot of opinion taken in the midst of a competitive midterm election.

More than 1,000 LEOs from across the country responded to our survey. Our survey respondents serve over 81 million registered voters. They manage offices with staffs of one or two in the smallest jurisdictions to over 1,000 employees in the largest (not including poll workers). Our hope is that this report will be the start of an ongoing attempt to elevate LEO’s voices in efforts to modernize and secure American elections.

The report breaks down the findings of the survey into four sections:

  • Meet Your Local Election Official – This section provides data on the professional and demographic profile of the typical LEO including LEO workload, years in service, pay, professional training and other demographic information.
  • Running the 2018 Election – This section covers findings on 2018 election preparedness including information on resources, staff, meeting the challenges of cybersecurity, and confidence in voter registration list security.
  • Voter-Centric Elections: Education and Outreach – This section discusses LEO attitudes regarding accessibility, including voter education and outreach.
  • Improving Elections Using New and Old Tools – This section focuses on the adoption of modernization and of technology, such as online voter registration and automatic voter registration systems to improve elections. It also covers our analysis of LEO opinions, in their own words, on how they think elections can be improved, including legislative and policy changes involving voting.

The bottom line is that all the LEOs we surveyed care deeply about their ability to administer elections in an accessible, efficient, and secure fashion. We were particularly moved by how our survey demonstrated LEOs’ dedication to a positive voter experience and to nonpartisan election administration. Respondents in our survey made it clear that they have and will continue to be good stewards of democracy—but resources, staffing, and coordination between state and local officials are areas of concern.

We plan to solicit LEO opinions again, at different times, using different lenses. We hope that our efforts encourage conversations and collaboration with LEOs and lead to reforms that best serve the American electorate—providing policymakers with invaluable insight into the makeup of the election administration field and its evolving needs as it hopefully becomes more diverse in the coming years.

Democracy Fund’s Elections Program supports, among other things, nonprofit organizations that improve elections processes and provide assistance to election officials themselves. As we work with grantees and partners, we are reminded time and again of the important role of the LEOs ensuring that our voices are heard.

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Blog

The Growing Movement for Platform Accountability

Paul Waters
/
March 8, 2021

Social media companies have harmed our economy, government, social fabric, and public square. The January 6, 2021 insurrection at the United States Capitol, which was fueled not just by partisan networks like Parler, but by household social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, has made it clear that government intervention and better oversight is urgently needed. 

While many people still still understand the  problems in general terms, such as, “social media makes us polarized,” or “there’s no privacy online” there is a growing and strengthening movement to hold these companies accountable. Too often the voices of these organizers, researchers and civil society groups are missing from the discussion about how to develop better public policy, track online mis and disinformation, and hold platforms accountable through public advocacy campaigns.

Last year, we commissioned an independent report from ORS Impact to gain an in-depth understanding of the policy ideas and issues these organizations are pursuing and create a comprehensive view of current efforts to address these problems at their roots. This kind of report is an important part of our work at Democracy Fund that we use to make informed ongoing decisions about our strategy and highlight the vital work of grassroots organizations. We are publishing this report to help funders and organizations interested in doing platform accountability work gain an understanding of the field as it stands today, and develop effective strategies and programs of their own.

Three major learnings from the report will inform Democracy Fund’s Platform Accountability strategy:

1. The algorithms behind social media platforms often amplify existing inequalities along the lines of race, class, and gender, and allow for bad actors both foreign and domestic to manipulate public opinion. Existing laws and legal precedent make it difficult to regulate algorithms with public policy. For example, current interpretations of the First Amendment generally protect algorithms as a form of speech. And to begin with, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act absolves social media companies of responsibility for the content their users publish on their platforms, under the theory that the threat of being held liable for what users post would make platforms act as speech police rather than open platforms for free expression. In practice, the platforms have used this protection to avoid all responsibility  for hate speech and mis/disinformation that manipulates public opinion and undermines elections. They have also used the liability protection under Section 230 as a shield against transparency and due process in their moderation practices.

Important grantees and partners in this area include:

2. Journalists, researchers, and other investigators face difficulties as they try to understand how the platforms distribute and amplify information. It’s also very difficult for everyday users to know who is behind the political advertising they see. The platforms have offered very little access to internal data, and as a public, we can’t solve problems we don’t understand. Opportunities include the potential for research institutions to partner with one another to collect data about how the platforms operate, and act as data brokers between platforms and researchers. Challenges include the additional need for more qualitative data from the platforms about how they develop policy and make decisions about their algorithms and content moderation processes.

Important grantees and partners in this area include:

  • The NYU Online Political Ads Transparency Project, which has created a free tool that allows users and researches to track the sources of political advertising on platforms. 
  • The Stigler Committee on Digital Platforms, which has argued that the Federal Trade Commission could be empowered to have access to platforms databases, so they can perform their own research on platform impacts, and grant selective access to independent researchers. 
  • The German Marshall Fund, which advocates for new legislation similar to existing law that requires politicians to disclose the funding source of their TV ads (the Honest Ads Act).

3. There is a need for coordination between grantees, funders and partners to distribute important civic information at scale by leveraging the tools of social media. At present, there are few viable ideas for large-scale intervention, which points out the need for more research, strategy, and relationship-building. Major efforts in this space include the 2020 Elections Research Project, a first-of-its-kind collaboration between Facebook and outside academic researchers to study Facebook and Instagram’s impact on political participation and the shaping of public opinion; the Civic Information API, which aggregates essential information on local representatives and elections to empower developers and inform everyday people; and the Voting Information Project, which helps voters find reliable information on where to vote and what issues are on their ballots. 

Important collaborations in this area include:

  • The Social Science Research Council, which supports scholars, generates new research, and connects researchers with policymakers, nonprofits, and citizens. 
  • The Google News Initiative and Facebook Journalism Project, both of which provide monetary and in-kind support to help local news publishers connect with their communities and adapt their business models for the digital age.
  • The Facebook Civil Rights Audit, which Facebook initiated after a campaign led by groups like Free Press and Color of Change pressured the company to take civil rights issues on its platform more seriously. 

The ORS Impact report will inform Democracy Fund’s grantmaking strategy, and how we build networks between grantees that cut across traditional divides between researchers, civil society organizations, advocates and policymakers. The report provides a snapshot of the field during a critical time for platform accountability work, providing a fuller understanding of the current context. Our sister organization, Democracy Fund Voice, will be implementing a similar review process in the coming months for its Media Policy strategy, which will include in-depth interviews with several grantees mentioned in this report about how the challenges of 2020 have impacted their work. 

To learn more about our Digital Democracy program, contact Paul Waters, associate director, Public Square Program at pwaters [@] democracyfund.org. 

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Report

A new tool to measure the health of local news ecosystems

Democracy Fund
/
March 3, 2021

The new report “Healthy Local News & Information Ecosystems: A Diagnostic Framework,” presents a framework to help local news funders assess whether a community’s information environment is actually becoming healthier. This assessment approach was tested and refined across nine U.S. communities of various sizes.

Accompanying the report is a playbook designed as a tool to help funders and other community organizations evaluate strengths and opportunities in their locale.

Photo by Matt Donders on Unsplash.

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Blog

How we are holding ourselves accountable to equity in democracy and in journalism

Joe Goldman & Tom Glaisyer
/
March 1, 2021

Independent journalism is an essential instrument of accountability and critical to the health of our republic. Without it, the public’s ability to check the power and influence of those who represent them is severely limited. While our elected officials may not always appreciate or agree with the criticism they receive, it is their responsibility to support a vigorous free press. 

The world of philanthropy is no different. As funders, we must hold ourselves accountable to — and be willing to be held accountable by — the communities and grantees we support. As institutions with substantial power that is derived from private wealth — and not from a democratically accountable body — we have a special responsibility to embrace transparency. We should welcome dialogue and public critique if we are committed to the best interests of the communities we serve. 

At Democracy Fund, we acknowledge that — through our systems, structures, and choices — we have been complicit in upholding white supremacy. We are therefore examining our external grantmaking and internal culture to ensure that we live up to the values we want to see in our democracy. Last year, we formally moved away from our previous commitment to bipartisanship because we were unwilling to compromise on the fundamental principles of a healthy democracy. Instead, we decided that we must ground ourselves in our values, including a belief that “a just and equitable political system must eliminate structural barriers to ensure historically excluded communities have meaningful influence in our democracy.” Key to this work has been listening and being accountable to our own staff, especially women of color, who have raised these issues  and helped move us forward. 

Specifically, our Public Square program has interrogated what it means to support racial equity in journalism (and encouraged other funders to join us). We expanded our investment in newsrooms led by and serving historically marginalized groups (and will continue to do so). We funded Black, Indigenous and people of color led organizations holding tech platforms accountable for combatting discrimination, harassment and hate. We supported new leaders working to shift industry culture. We recognize that we have much more to do to achieve justice and a democracy that works for all. 

Last year we announced a number of commitments regarding how Democracy Fund will be part of the solution. Expanding on those ideas in the field of journalism, our Public Square program is working this year to: 

  • Expand the proportion of grantees led by or serving BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and other historically marginalized communities across our strategies. 
  • Invest in trailblazers and leadership within diverse communities who are building power and organizing for equity.
  • Confront systemic racism, white supremacy, and white dominant culture when it shows up in our own processes and community. 

We applaud those who have come forward with feedback for foundations in the past, often at risk to themselves and their livelihoods. We saw that last week when a public critique was published about the Knight Foundation, one of our philanthropic peers and partners in the journalism field. As the journalism community comes together this week at the Knight Media Forum (KMF), we hope it is an opportunity to talk more openly about how systems of power, wealth, and white supremacy shape philanthropy, and how we all can work towards a holistic system rooted in equity and inclusion. 

Make no mistake, Democracy Fund has its own work to do. We will continue to take steps to live our values more closely and to address systemic racism within our organization and within democracy. We encourage our partners and grantees to examine how their own systems may be complicit in maintaining a culture of white supremacy and be open to the uncomfortable discussions and decisions that could follow. You can expect to hear more from us on these topics throughout this year and beyond. We welcome accountability as we do the work.

We are eager to continue the conversation. If you have feedback you can email us at info@democracyfund.org, and we also encourage people to provide anonymous feedback about Democracy Fund on Grant Advisor.

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Op-Ed

Philanthropy’s Inauguration March: What the Real Work of Protecting Democracy Demands Now

Joe Goldman
/
January 20, 2021

After a heroic effort to maintain the integrity of our election system over the past year, Wednesday’s inauguration marks a key turning point, one that requires philanthropy’s continued focus on the health of our democracy.

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Statement

Democracy Fund’s Statement on President Trump’s Second Impeachment

Democracy Fund
/
January 14, 2021

Last week, President Trump and his allies incited an insurrection against the United States of America in an attempt to undermine the peaceful transfer of power. Almost exactly 12 months after the Senate trial began in President Trump’s earlier impeachment, he is now the first president of the United States to be impeached for a second time. With the most bipartisan impeachment vote of a president in the history of the republic, Congress took an important stand in defense of our Constitution and our democracy.

On January 20th we will (officially) begin the journey to repair the damage done by an authoritarian president bent on tearing down the core institutions of our democracy and responsible for further unleashing the forces of white nationalism into our democratic society. As we take the steps necessary to heal our country, we must not simply turn the page, but rather ensure accountability for the damage done throughout these past four years. 

Accountability — for the president and his allies — is an essential step but cannot stand alone. It must be coupled with a new era of reform that ensures our democracy is never again left so vulnerable, and that pursues a reimagined vision of an open and just democracy. We must use our collective experience to focus our attention on building a democracy worthy of the support and trust of every American.

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Statement

Philanthropies Condemn Political Violence, Call on Leaders to Protect Democracy

Democracy Fund
/
January 13, 2021

As representatives of nonpartisan philanthropic institutions, serving rural, urban, and suburban communities across the nation, we condemn the violence that broke out at the U.S. Capitol this week. The events in Washington are a stain on our nation’s history and a painful break in the peaceful transition of power that has been a defining hallmark of American democracy for more than 200 years.

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Blog

Why I’m hopeful about local news in 2021

Teresa Gorman
/
December 16, 2020

When you look back at how local news fared in 2020, you might be surprised by how hopeful I am for the future. 

Things have been pretty rough this year. Local newspapers, public media, digital startups, and even independent nonprofit local news outlets faced debilitating layoffs and budget shortfalls despite calls for journalism to be considered an essential service in a pandemic. Newsrooms faced a drastic plunge after a steady economic fall, but the economic reality wasn’t the only danger. Many outlets continued to hold on to outdated journalistic practices that harm communities of color and destroy trust with residents. I see that every day with Democracy Fund’s grantees — they’re stretched impossibly thin, dealing with dual pandemics of structural racism and COVID-19.

Taken as a whole, that story of local news may feel like a tragedy unfolding, but the thing is, the story of local news is so much more nuanced than that. While those grantees are stretched, at the same time, they and many other local leaders have come through with some of  the most resilient, creative work this year. Across the country, we have seen many examples, like these::

These responses to challenging circumstances all centered equity and community needs, The pioneering leaders behind this work represent just a sampling of people who are ecosystem builders — who see a gap in local information where they live, and work to fill it. And the ideas they implemented in 2020 didn’t come out of nowhere. They have been writing the playbook and connecting and strengthening their ecosystems as they go, from the bottom up, for years. 

Democracy Fund has dedicated millions of dollars to building healthier and more resilient local news ecosystems across the country in partnership with these ecosystem builders. This work is not possible without them, and I’ve been impossibly lucky to learn from them over my tenure as a program officer. They have been doing the hard and continuous work to develop new models, champion new ideas, build trust and community, and literally underpin our democracy, often while being unrecognized, undermined and under-funded by philanthropy.

In 2021, let’s focus on (and fund!) the solutions that have been there all along

That troubling trend of being unrecognized and unappreciated is never more clear than when I read almost any article about the future of local news. Too often, the “future of news” is defined by white men from elite parts of the industry who seize on a flashy technology or a national startup as the thing that will save us all. They ignore and demean those who are building with equity and community as their guiding star, many of whom are Black and brown women. They wail about the loss of local news, while refusing to see the solutions right in front of their faces. 

In 2021, I say, no more. It’s time to put our hope, our dollars, and our support behind the people and solutions that were there all along. It’s time to listen. 

Here are just a few of the Democracy Fund grantees, partners, and leaders that I am turning to for this transformative, hopeful, vision of what local news can be. All of them, and many more, are who give me hope — and I hope they give you hope, too. 

  • “This moment calls for radical thinking — for fundamentally reimagining the role of the journalist. By seeking a rigorous understanding of history, learning how to work collaboratively with shared trust and agency, and building collective power, journalism can rise to meet this moment in a spirit of liberation and resistance,” —Cierra Hinton, Lewis Raven Wallace, and Manolia Charlotin, leaders at PressOn, a media collective that catalyzes change and justice in the South. (Journalism Must Be an Act of Community-Building) 
  • “The journalists we need today are not heroic observers of crisis—they are conveners, facilitators, organizers, educators, on-demand investigators, and community builders. Most of all, they strengthen the systems that make communities resilient, ” —Darryl Holliday, co-founder of City Bureau, a civic journalism lab building community in Chicago and sharing their model with communities in Cleveland and Detroit. (What Journalism Can Learn from Mutual Aid) 
  • “I personally know so many colleagues who are just very passionate about journalism. They’re also passionate about New Mexico… In spite of all these pressures and all these difficulties, they believe they have a meaningful role in creating a better future for New Mexico… I think at least some folks have that mentality: that even though there are many difficulties, it is an opportunity, as well. We can choose to take the opportunity.” —Diana Alba-Soular, Southern manager for the New Mexico Local News Fund, an organization connecting journalists and communities with resources, support, and new ideas. (Why Diana Alba-Soular is working on the wellbeing of New Mexico journalism)
  • “Over time, institutions and individuals in power have been allowed to ignore the concerns and struggles of the disenfranchised. But when underserved and marginalized communities come together our voices can be heard, and who better to identify the needs of the community than the people who live there? If I know anything about Newark, I know for certain that the people who make up New Jersey’s largest city are as resilient as they are resourceful and they always find a way to work it out,” —Kenneth Miles, a freelancer and consultant for the Center for Cooperative Media, a backbone organization whose mission is to grow and strengthen local journalism in New Jersey. (Solutions needed to help fill information gaps in Newark) 
  • “This year’s election cycle elicited record donations — now it’s time to direct that support to another feature of our democracy: a new generation of local news outlets,” —Sarabeth Berman, the Executive Director of American Journalism Project, a venture philanthropy organization which pairs capacity building with transformative investments in civic news organizations.  (How the death of local news has made political divisions far worse)
  • “For journalism to have a future, it must broaden its definition of audience and serve more diverse communities with a staff and models that reflect the changing reality…Well, for those publishers of color serving low-wealth news consumers, they’re already hitting that mark by attracting, serving, and building trust with those that many newsrooms have discarded. They are reimaging what a newsroom can and should be.” —Candice Fortman, Executive Director of Outlier Media, a service journalism outlet that uses SMS texting technology to provide information to Detroit and shares their methodology with other ecosystems. (Faith is not a business plan) 
  • “I’m realizing that so much is untapped as [NewsMatch] year over year progresses and gets to strengthen these [nonprofit news] organizations. It gives me a lot of hope for the future. Once organizations are able to learn and leverage these opportunities, it shows how a sustainable ecosystem for nonprofits news could eventually become the norm.” —Courtney Hurtt, program manager for NewsMatch, a yearly matching campaign that has helped nonprofit newsrooms raise over $100M over 5 years. (Courtney Hurtt is building a better future for nonprofit newsrooms via NewsMatch. Here’s how.) 
  • “By following New Jersey’s example, local and state governments can build off the decades-long tradition of public investments in media and target government funding toward news deserts and underserved communities…The future of local news is too important to be left to market forces, and the media conglomerates that got us into the local-news crisis aren’t going to get us out of it. That’s why we need more people-powered campaigns like the one behind the Civic Info Bill in New Jersey so that any decisions about local journalism respond to our needs and don’t rely on the systems that have failed us,” —Mike Rispoli, News Voices Director at Free Press and board member of the NJ Civic Info Consortium, an example of a structural change that is inspiring states across the country including in Ohio and Colorado. (Why the Civic Info Consortium Is Such a Huge Deal)

As you can probably imagine, I could share voice after voice, person after person, making change and transformation happen now. But I’ll leave you with what is probably the most important point of all:

“Alone, no one person or organization has the power, insight, creativity or path for achieving what is possible. In coalition, however, all of that is present… Together, we have everything we need.” (Media 2070: An invitation to dream up media reparations)

Together, all of these ideas, leaders, and initiatives represent the transformation that can, and will, come to local journalism in 2021. They go beyond economic bandaids and trying to recreate old systems. Instead, they look to the future and, if we support them and follow their lead, can create true structural changes so that all communities can have access to the information they need to live healthy lives. We should all thank them for giving us this hope — I certainly will.

In 2021, Democracy Fund’s Public Square Team will continue to share what we’ve learned in our first five plus years of grantmaking with you. Did something here connect with you, or did I miss something? Reach out at tgorman [@] democracyfund.org.

Learn more about Democracy Fund’s grantees and work:

 

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Blog

NewsMatch: A unique program to fund news “for the people, with the people”

December 4, 2020

News is a public good.

What does it mean to treat journalism as a public good? Without an informed citizenry able to access the news they need to navigate their lives, actively participate in the public square, and hold their local and national government officials accountable to their public duties, we are at risk of weakening democracy’s most vital participant and protector, the people. That is why NewsMatch has spent five years building a people powered campaign to support and strengthen nonprofit news. 

Since 2004, nearly 1,800 communities in the United States have lost their newspapers. This is in addition to communities that have long existed with limited access to news and information that is relevant and useful to navigating local life. Not only are Americans losing their local newspapers, but local tv and radio news programs are also losing the original and substantive investigations these newspapers used to provide. While some news seekers turn toward social media, local tv and local newspapers remain the most utilized sources for news. The ongoing disappearance and deterioration of credible and comprehensive local news limits people’s ability to meet the critical information necessary to make important decisions that impact their everyday lives. It is not enough to simply save what has been lost, we need to rebuild stronger with serving the public as our foundation.

Mission versus money.

As traditional news models break down, there have been entrepreneurial efforts experimenting with business models to find new markets and new audiences. Many of these efforts utilize digital platforms and focus on attracting paying subscribers and advertisers. Yet, people most in need of quality and credible news are the least likely to be able to pay for it (and for what advertisers are trying to sell). They are also often part of communities whose stories and informational priorities need to be better reflected in the news already. Fortunately, there are emerging newsrooms who are increasingly committed to improving representation, inclusion and equity in their news content creation and seeking to transform the industry. But these newsrooms are forced to compete with the bottom-line need to be financially sustainable. NewsMatch seeks to level the playing field through philanthropic matching dollars and in-depth investment in capacity building around fundraising for nonprofit newsrooms. 

News for all, not for some.

More and more, the philanthropic world is recognizing the opportunity to protect democracy by supporting rigorous and inclusive journalism. Finding ways to disentangle news generation from news revenue ensures that the media industry won’t just serve the interest and needs of those who can afford to pay for it or pay to influence it. Supporting news organizations committed to inclusive and fact-based news and information might also help to stymie the proliferation of media organizations with nefarious objectives that are filling the media gap in poor communities with news that is often free to the consumer, but also highly partisan, not credible and not independent from political or corporate interests. A public shift from seeing news as a service one pays for solo access to a collective good that benefits us all is an important step toward treating local news like the vital democractic resource it is.

NewsMatch is one strategy.

NewsMatch was created as a strategic way to support quality journalism. It aims to jumpstart small, emerging newsrooms, some serving communities that have been poorly served by mainstream or national media. News for the people, with the people, NewsMatch’s 2020 slogan captures the promise of what newsrooms can become when we recognize the public good it provides and act to protect it.

The NewsMatch annual campaign pools funds nationally to provide participating newsrooms with a matching incentive and tools and training to build its long-term fundraising capacity. Newsmatch is a powerful tool for donors, foundations, and corporations concerned about the future of local and investigative reporting. Since 2016, NewsMatch helped 200+ nonprofit newsrooms across the country raise more than $100 million from hundreds of thousands of people — many of whom were first-time donors to nonprofit news. In 2019, NewsMatch turned $3.7 million in philanthropic investments into $43.5 million in support for local news in just two months, a more than 1200 percent return on investment.  

So, how is NewsMatch doing?

So far, so good. Last year, Democracy Fund partnered with the Knight Foundation to commission an evaluation of NewsMatch to see how the campaign was faring on three ambitious goals: 1) to dramatically increase giving to journalism, 2) to strengthen long term fundraising capacity in newsrooms; and 3) to build awareness about journalism’s impact in our democracy. There was ample evidence that the 2019 NewsMatch program met the first goal, with returning organizations securing more donors and donations then the previous year. The second and third goals, which were longer-term in nature, were not yet met, although there was indication of progress toward both goals. Related to the second goal by design, NewsMatch serves a diverse array of nonprofit news organizations ranging from small community-based start-up organizations to national public media outlets. That diversity makes it a necessity to tailor the training and support provided so that it is more relevant to the specific context and challenges each media organization faces. To better provide this added nuance, an investment toward additional administrative support was made to help newsrooms strengthen long-term fundraising capacity. As for the third goal, while this evaluation found some evidence that the general public may not yet be aware of news as something to donate to, part of NewsMatch approach is to help funders and the public begin to see news as vital to our democracy and thus cannot be left solely to market forces.

What can I do?

This post opened with the line local news is a public good. If after reading this you agree, well then, we’re a bit closer to it becoming one. Reimagining the role of the news as a collective good that strengthens and protects democracy moves us beyond futile attempts to patch and reinstitute a flawed industry with a history of neglecting and harming communities of color. There is an opportunity now to set the bar much higher by supporting local news organizations committed to the transformative change necessary to become a news industry that truly serves all people. 

If you are an individual interested in donating to support news as a public good, you can find a local media organization by using the search engine NewsMatch provides on their site. If you are a grantmaker, consider becoming a partnering funder.

Lastly, while philanthropic giving is powerful, we recognize that it is just one strategy to treat local news like a public good. Newsrooms serving marginalized communities can struggle to compete for philanthropic dollars as well. While philanthropy is important, it is no replacement for sound local and federal policy. Democracy Fund is also supporting burgeoning media policy efforts to protect local news. We look forward to sharing more about this work in future posts.

Democracy Fund is a foundation working to build an inclusive, multiracial democracy that is open, just, resilient, and trustworthy.

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