Fact Sheet

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of 26 U.S. communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers.

The foundation, headquartered in Miami, was established in 1950. It has always been independent of the Knight brothers’ media enterprise that later became Knight-Ridder. Knight-Ridder was sold to The McClatchy Company in 2006.

Media Innovation

Knight has invested $100 million in four Media Innovation Initiatives: The Knight News Challenge, a $25 million contest rewarding digital innovations that better inform and inspire communities; the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy; the Knight Center of Digital Excellence, a pro bono consulting organization available to Knight communities; and the Knight Community Information Challenge, offering foundations a chance to help meet their community’s information needs.

Journalism

As the nation’s leading journalism funder, our priority is to help lead journalism to its best possible future in the 21st century. Knight has:

• Advanced journalism excellence and freedom of expression worldwide with nearly 1,000 grants totaling more than $400 million since 1950.
• Improved journalism education with permanent programs at more than 25 top universities, including major fellowship programs at Stanford, Michigan and Harvard and 22 Knight Chairs with endowments totaling more than $50 million, and through the Carnegie Knight Initiative for the Future of Journalism Education.
• Helped journalism nonprofits become more self-sufficient by bringing more than $50 million into journalism programs through challenge grant campaigns, and through the Challenge Fund for Journalism partnership.
• Trained more than 100,000 journalists worldwide through a variety of specialized programs, from the Knight International Press Fellowships to NewsUniversity.org, and launched new journalism organizations throughout Latin America through the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.

Communities

We’re committed to strengthening the vitality of the 26 Knight communities – from Aberdeen to Akron and Macon to Miami – where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Knight has:

• Invested more than $639 million across those communities since 1950.
• Developed customized approaches to each community’s greatest opportunity. Examples include challenging South Florida to create and invest in the arts in Miami; joining other public and private investors to begin transforming Philadelphia’s Ben Franklin Parkway into a cultural campus; helping to create an Akron icon with the new Knight addition at the Akron Art Museum.
• Partnered with nonprofits in Akron, Detroit, Duluth, San Jose and Tallahassee to develop innovation-driven economies, investing more than $43.7 million across all communities in economic development.
• Stood by Biloxi, Gulfport and the Mississippi Gulf Coast communities after Hurricane Katrina, providing more than $9 million in well-placed and effective grants to help rebuilding efforts there.

National and Strategic Initiatives

Knight’s National Program supports innovative leaders and entrepreneurial organizations working across communities and disciplines to bring about transformation. Knight has:

• Invested in 169 national grants totaling $110.7 million dollars since its inception in 2001.
• Supported Harvard University, Ashoka and New Profit Inc. to build networks for social innovators and civic leaders.
• Created the New Americans naturalization initiative to increase immigrant participation in civic life.
• Supported systemic approaches to creating more livable and sustainable neighborhoods for urban residents in Knight communities.

The foundation ended 2007 with assets of $2.62 billion, and a grant payout of $122.3 million. Knight Foundation surpassed $1 billion in total grants midway through 2006.

Visit www.knightfoundation.org for more information.

Knight Foundation fact sheet.pdf