Knight Foundation's $250K Local Journalism Matching Grant

Learn about a $250K matching grant from Knight Foundation to support local news in Indiana.

IPA member requests must be sent to Knight Foundation by the end of this year.

During the IPA Philanthropy Leads opening plenary Jim Brady announced that the Knight Foundation will generously match your grants (up to $10,000 per IPA member) that support local journalism in Indiana. Watch this All Member Call to hear answers to member questions about the grant. You'll hear how IPA members navigate expenditure responsibility to fund for-profit organizations. We also discuss the role local news plays in building trust, reaching audiences, increasing civic engagement, and fostering an informed citizenry.

Guest Speakers

• Jim Brady, Vice President of Journalism, Knight Foundation
• Stephanie Wang, Communications Strategy Officer, Lumina Foundation
• Bro Krift, Executive Editor, IndyStar
• Thomas Major, Jr., Associate General Counsel, Lumina Foundation
• Jeff Small, Vice President of Programs, Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust

About the Matching Grant 

The Knight Foundation is offering to match grants made by members of Indiana Philanthropy Alliance—up to a total of $250,000—to support local journalism efforts within Indiana. The goal of this initiative is to help strengthen Indiana journalism efforts that IPA members are investing in. 

How it Works

• IPA members should send their requests with grant agreements (*or other documentation) via email to Jim Brady and Duc Luu at Knight by **Dec. 31, 2022. If the grant will not be finalized until early 2023, a written commitment, rather than a grant agreement, is acceptable; although, Knight won’t make the match until the funds are disbursed.
  • *Knight will consider matching sponsorships to for-profit media organizations made by IPA members.
  • **If the Dec. 31 deadline presents a significant burden or deterrence, Knight will consider extensions upon request.
• Funds must be committed or have been distributed by the IPA member during or after Sept. 2022 to valid local journalism entities or endeavors, which may include 501(c)3 nonprofits and for-profit media outlets. Questions about grantee validity or requests to match grants distributed before Sept. can be sent directly to Knight with your match request.
  • Funds should be used to support local reporting efforts that are not funded by political organizations, and can include advertising or sponsorships and student journalism projects.
• Knight will distribute matching grants directly to your grantees in early 2023.
• Knight will match up to $10,000 per IPA member and consider individual requests that exceed this amount, until the $250,000 threshold is reached. 
• Depending on the level of interest, Knight hopes to issue a second round of matching grants in 2023 with an even larger threshold.

Resources

• Lumina Foundation shared this sample contract language they use in their media grant template: "The Grantee is editorially independent of Lumina." It comes in the section of their media grant template that relates to publicity/use of the foundation's name in association with the project; but it can be placed in any appropriate spot in your respective agreements.
• If you're looking for ideas on how to engage in funding journalism at a local level, Lumina Foundation is offering to share their strategies and answer your questions. Lumina supports the American Journalism Project in Indiana and has a journalism portfolio that includes Chalkbeat Indiana and Report for America. We encourage you to reach out to Kevin Corcoran or Stephanie Wang.