Do you provide news to your community in new ways, perhaps taking over part of a role played by a traditional news outlet of days past?
If the answer is yes, and you’re looking for funding for your efforts, be sure to check out the Knight Community Information Challenge.
Sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation (an MCF member), the challenge encourages news entrepreneurs to partner with community or place-based foundations in order to receive a grant from Knight. This year’s deadline for applications is Monday, March 7.
Since your foundation partner will be the official applicant to Knight and because they must match Knight’s funding, finding a partner is step one. So how do you go about partnering with a foundation in your area?
A good starting point is this blog post on Knight’s site, which contains advice from past winners and details three good tips for news entrepreneurs seeking foundation support. Tips include:
- Don’t be surprised if a foundation doesn’t immediately embrace journalism
- Do your homework about the mission of the foundation
- Think ahead: A plan for sustainability is critical
Be sure to check out the entire Knight Community Information Challenge site, where you’ll find contest rules, profiles of past winners (watch interviews with Round III winners below), and much more.
The Knight Community Information Challenge is a five-year, $24 million initiative to help community and place-based foundations to play leading roles in meeting the information needs of their communities. The challenge has three simple rules:- Applicants must be U.S. community or place-based foundations (though community partners are welcome);
- projects have to meet a local information need;
- and foundations must match Knight’s investment.
- Susan Stehling, MCF
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Mickie Kennedy, MCF. MCF said: Know any news-y entrepreneurs? Knight Foundation has journalism grants for those who pair up with a community fdtn – http://bit.ly/huMHAn [...]