Knight Foundation
 |
|
| Founded | December 1950 |
|---|---|
| Founder |
John S. Knight James L. Knight |
| Type | Private Independent Foundation |
| 65-0464177 | |
| Location | |
|
Area served
|
United States |
|
Key people
|
Alberto Ibargüen President & CEO |
|
Revenue
|
$140.2 million (2014) |
| Endowment | $2.4 billion (2014) |
| Slogan | Informed & engaged communities |
| Mission | "...promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts..." |
| Website | www |
|
Formerly called
|
Knight Memorial Education Fund |
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is an American non-profit foundation dedicated to fostering “informed and engaged communities” which the foundation believes are “essential for a healthy democracy.” The foundation "supports ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts."
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation began as the Knight Memorial Education Fund in 1940. For its first decade, most contributions came from the Akron Beacon Journal and Miami Herald. It was incorporated as 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 to the Inter American Press Association in Miami.
After Creed Black assumed the presidency in 1988, the foundation's national presence grew. In 1990 the board of trustees voted to relocate the foundation's headquarters from Akron, Ohio, to Miami, Florida.
Funding in 2017 was distributed according to four programs. They are Journalism, Community and National Initiatives, Arts, and Technology Innovation. A fifth program, Learning and Impact, evaluates grant making and performs research in program areas. Each of the programs uses a combination of funding priorities and geographic requirements to select grants, described on the foundation's web site.
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", a consideration for funding eligibility in the Community and Arts Programs.
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 Knight Foundation via local community foundations. In those communities, the local community foundation is the first point of contact for funding:
The foundation endows Knight Chairs who are journalists in tenured positions at universities across the United States. Journalism-technology labs in various universities are also funded by Knight Foundation.
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Wikipedia