We passionately believe things can be better.
Knight Foundation’s twin missions are to seed and inspire great journalism everywhere, and to build strong communities in the 26 cities and towns where our founders ran newspapers.
As a national foundation with local roots, we seek opportunities that can transform both communities and journalism, and help them reach their highest potential. We believe nothing big happens without a big idea, nothing new without a new idea. In every project we fund, the idea comes first.
Every day, we ask the question, of ourselves and our partners, ‘Is this the best there is?’ We seek out leaders who ask the same, who can identify the best opportunities and turn the big ideas into action.
Here are five basics that all transformational projects seem to have:
- Discovery of the facts.
- The vision to see what’s possible.
- The courage to push for change.
- The know-how to get it done.
- The tenacity that gets results.
Every successful project or initiative we’ve launched in the past has had an abundance of those elements. If you believe your grant opportunity fits these criteria, we want to hear from you.
Read about our programs below.
The Communities Program funds projects that provide direct and measurable benefits to residents in our communities, and are at the highest levels of quality and innovation.
Letters of Inquiry must respond to specific opportunities identified within a community and should be developed only after extended conversations with foundation staff.
- To see a list of the communities of interest, including definitions of geographic eligibility, click here. From there, you can enter the "community site" where you can meet the community program director -- Knight's first point of contact for partners.
- To see the six Knight funding priorities which guide our funding in the Communities Program, click here.
As part of the Communities Program, we have funded a Community Foundations Initiative, which provides direct support to community foundations in the Knight communities. For more information on the Donor-Advised Funds, visit the Donor-Advised Funds page.
For more information:
National and New Initiatives
Knight's National and New Initiatives (a.k.a. National Venture Fund) support innovative leadership, organizations and ideas addressing our fields of funding interest; integrates their contributions into our programs nationally and in the 26 Knight communities; and communicates the knowledge gained from these investments to those who influence change on the local and national level.
The long-term goal of National and New Initiatives is to deepen Knight Foundation’s impact by providing models, leveraging resources and influencing decisions that create systemic change across our areas of funding interest, at the community level and ultimately across the nation.
For more information
Updated
February 9, 2007
