What We Fund

Knight Foundation supports the development of engaged, inclusive and equitable communities toward a more effective democracy in the 26 cities where the Knight brothers owned and operated newspapers. An engaged community is one where people participate in civic affairs, are attached to the place where they live and are invested in their community’s future.

As social investors, we spot and advance community trends, act as early adopters of ideas and support the individuals and spaces that shape our cities’ futures.

Our investments to promote more engaged communities include:

Downtown and Neighborhood Revitalization: Making an area more livable, attractive and economically vibrant by improving, developing and restoring downtowns and neighborhoods.
Public Spaces: Connecting people to the places where they live by supporting the programming, design and construction of inclusive and equitable public spaces.
Economic Opportunity: Attracting and retaining residents by advancing inclusive pathways to jobs and entrepreneurship.
“Smart Cities” as Responsive Cities: Helping cities make decisions that are more responsive to residents as digital technology reshapes our lives and shifts the ways in which communities are informed and engaged.

Where we work

We fund primarily in eight cities where the foundation has resident program officers, including Akron, where our founders started Knight Newspapers, and Miami, where their business was eventually headquartered. We invest through grantmaking directly from our endowment and from endowed donor-advised funds (DAF) at local community foundations in the Knight communities.

In the 18 cities where our foundation does not have a program director living in the community, we primarily work with community foundation leaders and local advisory committees to identify investment opportunities that support engaged, inclusive and equitable communities. Learn more about the Community Foundations program. 

Learn more about our work in each of the communities where Knight has offices. In these cities, Knight program directors are your first point of contact:

Akron, Ohio, Charlotte, North Carolina, Detroit, Macon, Georgia, Miami, Philadelphia, San Jose, California, St. Paul, Minnesota

Knight also works in 18 additional communities in partnership with local community foundations. In these cities, ask your local community foundation about the local Knight donor-advised fund:

Aberdeen, South Dakota; Biloxi, Mississippi; Boulder, Colorado; Bradenton, Florida; Columbia, South Carolina; Columbus, Georgia; Duluth, Minnesota; Ft. Wayne, Indiana; Gary, Indiana; Grand Forks, North Dakota; Lexington, Kentucky; Long Beach, California; Milledgeville, Georgia; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Palm Beach County, Florida; State College, Pennsylvania; Tallahassee, Florida; Wichita, Kansas.