Knight Foundation

Last updated
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
FoundedDecember 1950;74 years ago (1950-12)
Founder John S. Knight
James L. Knight
TypePrivate independent foundation
65-0464177
FocusMedia and arts
Location
Area served
United States
ProductPhilanthropy
Key people
Alberto Ibargüen
President & CEO
Revenue$254.8 million (2021) [1]
Endowment $3.0 billion (2021) [2]
Website www.knightfoundation.org
Formerly called
Knight Memorial Education Fund

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, also known as the Knight Foundation, is an American non-profit foundation that provides grants for journalism, communities, and the arts.

Contents

The organization was founded as the Knight Memorial Education Fund in 1940. For its first decade, most of its contributions came from the Akron Beacon Journal and Miami Herald . The fund was incorporated as the Knight Foundation in 1950 in Ohio, and reincorporated as the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in Florida in 1993. Its first grant in the area of journalism was given to the Inter American Press Association, a press advocacy group, in Miami.

After Creed Black assumed the presidency of the foundation in 1988, its national presence grew. In 1990, the board of trustees voted to relocate its headquarters from Akron, Ohio, to Miami, Florida, where it has been headquartered since.

History

20th century

From 1907 to 1933, Charles Landon Knight, publisher of the Akron Beacon Journal , provided tuition assistance to college students in need. Following their father's death, John S. and James L. Knight created the Knight Memorial Education Fund in 1940 to continue the mission of helping needy Akron college students pay for college. The Akron Beacon Journal also contributed some money to the education fund.

In December 1950, the Knight Foundation was created with a beginning balance of $9,047, transferred from the education fund. The Knight Foundation incorporated in the state of Ohio with the goal of carrying out the work of the education fund. At its start, the foundation gave grants for education, social services, cultural organizations and some journalism-related causes.

In its first decade, the foundation's financial resources came from contributions from the Akron Beacon Journal and Miami Herald , and from personal grants from John and James Knight. Other Knight newspapers also contributed in the early 1960s; this led to a limited number of grants to those cities. Despite several family ties, the foundation was legally independent of Knight-owned newspapers.

Newspaper contributions to the foundation stopped five years later. At that time, the Knights' mother Clara, who died on November 12, 1965, left her inheritance of 180,000 shares of Knight stock to the foundation. The stock was valued at $5.2 million.

The foundation's headquarters moved from Akron, Ohio to Miami in 1990. At that time, the foundation's portfolio was valued at $522 million and staff had grown to 14 employees.

On February 5, 1991, James Knight died, leaving a bulk of his estate, $200 million, to the foundation. Hills succeeded as chairman of the board.

With the foundation besieged by requests in the early 1990s for emergency funding to "save our symphony," Penelope McPhee, director of the Arts Program, designed the Magic of Music initiative. [3]

21st century

In 2005, to address the Internet's increasingly disruptive impact on the traditional media industry, Knight began a number of systemic changes in its approach to making grants. As one of his first actions as CEO, Alberto Ibargüen suspended the further creation of endowments of journalism programs at colleges and universities. The premise was that traditional journalism education had to change to meet the unique challenges of the digital age. Knight also began experimenting with non-traditional approaches to connecting with new grantees, such as contests that limited grantees to 150 words to describe ideas and were open to anybody.

The first of these contests, the Knight News Challenge, sought ideas that used "digital technology to inform communities." In addition to Knight's pivot toward funding digital innovations, the foundation also doubled down on its support of the First Amendment, funding regular surveys that gauged high school students' awareness of it, and helping create organizations like the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University to "preserve and expand First Amendment rights in the digital age through research and education, and by supporting litigation in favor of protecting freedom of expression and the press." Under Ibargüen, Knight also expanded its support of the arts, through "Knight Arts Challenges" in a number of Knight Communities.

Programs

Creed Black and W. Gerald Austen attending a board meeting of the Knight Foundation at the Douglass Theatre in Macon, Georgia 1998 Creed Black and Gerald Austen - Flickr - Knight Foundation.jpg
Creed Black and W. Gerald Austen attending a board meeting of the Knight Foundation at the Douglass Theatre in Macon, Georgia

The foundation's website describes grant-making programs in journalism, communities, and the arts. [4] Communities which had Knight-Ridder Newspapers in 1991, at the time of the last founder James L. Knight's death, are considered to be among the 26 "Knight Communities" which are eligible for funding through the foundation's community and arts programs. [5]

Communities

Knight works in 26 communities in the United States. In eight communities, a local program director leads the work:

Another 18 communities have "Knight Donor Advised Funds" guided by the Knight Foundation via local community foundations. In those communities, the local community foundation is the first point of contact for funding:

Education and training

The foundation endows Knight Chairs who are journalists in tenured positions at universities across the United States. [6] [7] [8] The Medill Knight Lab at Northwestern University, a journalism technology lab, is also funded by the Knight Foundation. [9]

The Knight Foundation funds multimedia training in newsrooms such as National Public Radio and through programs like Knight-Mozilla OpenNews. [10] [11]

Leadership

Alberto Ibarguen, president and chief executive of the Knight Foundation in 2013 Alberto Ibarguen (8466601850).jpg
Alberto Ibargüen, president and chief executive of the Knight Foundation in 2013

Knight Foundation presidents have been: John S. Knight, James L. Knight, Lee Hills, Creed C. Black, Hodding Carter III (1997–2005), and Alberto Ibargüen (2005–present).

Notable people

Grants

Any individual or U.S.-based organization may apply for a grant. (Before 2010, an organization had to be a registered section 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.) The process of asking for a grant begins with a letter of inquiry describing the project concept. In addition to the foundation's regular granting program, there are three contests (calls for entries): The Knight News Challenge, [13] the Knight Arts Challenge [14] and the Knight Community Information Challenge. [15] In 2011, the foundation added a fourth contest, the Black Male Engagement Challenge. [16] In 2015 a grant agreement was reached with Wikimedia Foundation to build a search engine called Knowledge Engine . [17]

Assets and grant making

YearAssets (US$)New GrantsApproved (US$)Paid (US$)
19991,888,543,16831169,541,64153,142,772
20002,198,985,12235693,365,46569,983,125
20011,900,829,94231986,433,07584,970,064
20021,718,236,23845980,949,24285,617,981
20031,845,869,048349128,719,47090,400,477
20041,939,340,90532999,905,48090,358,608
20052,071,507,29128678,224,14792,577,162
20062,261,797,09719173,799,294104,310,919
20072,618,700,006290165,310,078121,267,122
20081,974,780,135263138,670,778116,206,414
20092,189,663,052276141,813,088105,887,097
20102,305,269,82531880,045,442104,920,549
20112,192,836,75638079,284,121112,604,594
20122,179,634,48041492,352,685112,063,584
20132,395,608,86243480,483,204120,694,865
20142,443,818,246531148,564,966130,284,911
20152,301,502,477599150,688,190126,796,384
20162,256,756,85448293,859,603127,865,430
20172,473,340,12150088,528,014117,929,820
20182,271,386,220399157,028,547105,335,420
20192,424,843,251488155,146,399133,711,354
20202,674,252,73138171,731,889123,809,334
20213,089,444,60035895,853,815114,231,066

[18]

Dedications

John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall in Miami in 2008 John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall Miami 2008 HPIM2830.jpg
John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall in Miami in 2008

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medill School of Journalism</span> Journalism school of Northwestern University

The Medill School of Journalism is the journalism school of Northwestern University. It offers both undergraduate and graduate programs. It once ranked as one of the top schools of journalism in the United States. Medill alumni include over 40 Pulitzer Prize laureates, numerous national correspondents for major networks, many well-known reporters, columnists and media executives. Founded in 1921, it is named for publisher and editor Joseph Medill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knight Ridder</span> American media company

Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. Until it was bought by McClatchy on June 27, 2006, it was the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States, with 32 daily newspaper brands sold. Its headquarters were located in San Jose, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Akron</span> Public university in Akron, Ohio, US

The University of Akron is a public research university in Akron, Ohio, United States. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advanced materials, and engineering. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">E. W. Scripps School of Journalism</span>

The E. W. Scripps School of Journalism is the namesake school of the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University seated in the Schoonover Center for Communication. Founded in 1924, the school has been recognized by The Associated Press and U.S. News & World Report for excellence in instruction and research in the fields of journalism and mass communications. The program has attracted more than $54 million in grants, awards, and investments. The School of Journalism is accredited by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stow–Munroe Falls High School</span> Public high school in Stow, Ohio, United States

Stow–Munroe Falls High School (SMFHS) is a public high school in Stow, Ohio, United States. In the 2014–15 school year, the school had an enrollment of approximately 1,650 students and a staff of more than 160. It is the only high school in the Stow–Munroe Falls City School District and serves students in grades nine through twelve, mostly from the cities of Stow and Munroe Falls, but also neighboring parts of Cuyahoga Falls, Franklin Township, Hudson, and Tallmadge. In recent years, academic recognition has come from the Ohio Department of Education, Newsweek, and U.S. News & World Report.

WKSU is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to serve Kent, Ohio, featuring a public radio format. Owned by Kent State University and operated by Ideastream Public Media, WKSU's primary signal encompasses the Akron metro area, Greater Cleveland and much of Northeast Ohio as the regional affiliate for National Public Radio (NPR), American Public Media, Public Radio Exchange and the BBC World Service. The station's reach is extended into the Canton, Mansfield, Lorain, Ashtabula, Sandusky, New Philadelphia and Wooster areas via a network of five full-power repeaters, two low-power translators, and one on-channel booster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John S. Knight</span> American newspaper publisher

John Shively Knight was an American newspaper publisher and editor based in Akron, Ohio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Newton</span>

Eric Newton is an American journalist, writer and media consultant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C. L. Knight</span> American newspaper publisher and politician

Charles Landon Knight was an American lawyer and newspaper publisher who represented Ohio in the United States House of Representatives for one term from 1921 to 1923. His sons built his newspaper business into what would become Knight Ridder.

The Missouri School of Journalism, housed under the University of Missouri in Columbia, is one of the oldest formal journalism schools in the world. The school provides academic education and practical training in of journalism and strategic communication for undergraduate and graduate students across several media platforms including television and radio broadcasting, newspapers, magazines, photography, and new media. The school also supports an advertising and public relations curriculum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alberto Ibargüen</span> Puerto Rican/American entrepreneur

Alberto Ibargüen became President and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in Miami, Florida, in 2003. He is the former publisher of The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald in Miami, Florida. Under his leadership, The Miami Herald won three Pulitzer Prizes; El Nuevo Herald won Spain's Ortega y Gasset Prize for excellence in journalism. Ibargüen was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2022. As of March 2023, Ibargüen announced his intention to retire as Knight Foundation CEO.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Worth Bingham Prize</span> Award

The Worth Bingham Prize, also referred to as the Worth Bingham Prize for Investigative Reporting, is an annual journalism award which honors: "newspaper or magazine investigative reporting of stories of national significance where the public interest is being ill-served."

Roofless Records is an independent record label, producer and publisher based in Miami, FL. Roofless Records focuses predominantly on experimental music by Florida artists. All music is released as limited-edition vinyl records or cassette tapes. In an interview with the Miami New Times, Roofless Records co-founder Matt Preira says, "We deal in the business of objects and moments." Roofless Records is a finalist in the 2011 Knight Arts Challenge Miami grant competition, funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to support emerging artists and arts organizations.

DocumentCloud is an open-source software as a service platform that allows users to upload, analyze, annotate, collaborate on and publish primary source documents. Since its launch in 2009, it has been used primarily by journalists to find information in the documents they gather in the course of their reporting and, in the interests of transparency, publish the documents. As of May 2023, DocumentCloud users had uploaded more than 5 million documents.

LocalWiki is a collaborative project that aims to collect and open the world's local knowledge. The LocalWiki project was founded by DavisWiki creators Mike Ivanov and Philip Neustrom and is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. LocalWiki is both the name of the project and the software that runs the project's websites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solutions Journalism Network</span> Solutions for the world we live in

The Solutions Journalism Network(SJN) is an independent, non-profit organization that advocates an approach of solutions journalism, an evidence-based mode of reporting on the responses to social problems. It was founded in 2013 by David Bornstein, Courtney E. Martin, and Tina Rosenberg. Its staff in New York City and Oakland, California, help journalists and news organizations across the country understand, value, and build the capacity to do solutions-oriented reporting.

Carol Marbin Miller is a senior investigative reporter at The Miami Herald. Marbin Miller began covering social welfare programs at the St. Petersburg Times in the 1990s. She joined The Miami Herald in 2000 and has reported extensively on Florida's services to children as well as the state's juvenile justice system, programs for people with disabilities, mental health and elder care.

The Noya Fields Family Funds is a group of charitable foundations that provide funding and support to non-profit organizations primarily in the United States. The organization operates through two donor advised funds, one with The New York Community Trust the other with The California Community Foundation.

Ilene Shapiro is an American businessperson and politician. She has served as the Executive of Summit County, Ohio, since August 1, 2016. Her predecessor Russell M. Pry died in office on July 31, 2016. She was elected in 2016 and re-elected in 2020. Shapiro is currently serving a four-year term that ends December 31, 2024 and is running unopposed for re-election in 2024. Previously, Shapiro was a member of Summit County Council for ten years and Council President for three years. Prior to her time in public service, Shapiro was a businesswoman.

Bookleggers is a nonprofit mobile library located in Miami, Florida that expands access to free books as a way of building community.

References

  1. "Knight Foundation 2021 Form 990-PF" (PDF). 2022-11-11. Retrieved 2023-08-23.
  2. "Knight Foundation 2021 Form 990-PF" (PDF). 2022-11-11. Retrieved 2023-08-23.
  3. "Magic of Music Final Report: The Search for Shining Eyes". Archived from the original on 2015-10-13. Retrieved 2015-11-11.
  4. "What We Fund". Knight Foundation. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  5. Dahlberg, Nancy (January 12, 2015). "Knight Cities Challenge announces 10 Miami finalists". The Miami Herald.
  6. "Knight Foundation". knightfoundation.org. Retrieved 2016-09-28.
  7. "Rosental Alves | School of Journalism". journalism.utexas.edu. Retrieved 2016-09-28.
  8. "Penny Abernathy | UNC School of Media and Journalism". mj.unc.edu. Retrieved 2016-09-28.
  9. "History of the Lab". 2013-03-23. Archived from the original on 2015-09-05. Retrieved 2016-09-28.
  10. "Newsonomics: The new Knight-Lenfest initiative gives a kick in the pants to America's metro newspapers | NiemanLab". niemanlab.org. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
  11. "Knight-Mozilla OpenNews wants to fund code at lengths longer than a quick jog, shorter than a marathon" . Retrieved 2016-09-28.
  12. "Women At The New York Times Feel Frustrated As Paper Stands By Reporter Accused Of Sexual Misconduct". Huffington Post India. 2017-12-22. Retrieved 2018-02-03.
  13. "Knight News Challenge" . Retrieved 2015-11-11.
  14. "Knight Arts Challenge". Archived from the original on 2015-07-06. Retrieved 2015-11-11.
  15. "Knight Community Information Challenge" . Retrieved 2015-11-11.
  16. "Black Male Engagement Challenge". Archived from the original on 2015-10-31. Retrieved 2015-11-11.
  17. wmf:File:Knowledge engine grant agreement.pdf, 18 September 2015. Published 11 February 2016, retrieved 16 February 2016.
  18. "Financial Information - Assets and Grantmaking". Knight Foundation. Retrieved 2022-12-15.