Articles by

Knight Foundation

  • Article

    Akron program director seeking to help engage Akron in its future

    Published May 17, 2011 by

    Jennifer Thomas, Knight Foundation Akron program director, at the Andrew Jackson House in Akron. (Phil Masturzo/Akron Beacon Journal) On the heels of news that Knight will support Northeast Ohio's Cascade Village with a $1.7 million grant to Community Builders, Akron Beacon-Journal Reporter Betty Lin Fisher profiles Knight's Akron Program Director Jennifer Thomas. In the interview, Thomas said her Akron strategy is ''to develop, attract and engage the next generation of talent to bring expertise and perspective to the civic and economic challenges we'll face in the transformation.''  The ''next generation'' doesn't necessarily mean young people.  She said, "we need leaders who are as tech savvy as they are strategic. This is not just about young people. It's not age specific to me." "It's definitely not just the 20-somethings, but they are a part of it. As we develop Akron into an engaged community, then they'll want to be here." Contact Jennifer Thomas with your ideas for engaging Akron.
  • Article

    Chairman Rob Briggs Featured as ‘Difference Maker’ for Akron

    Published May 16, 2011 by

    Crain's Cleveland Business magazine features Knight Foundation Chairman Rob Briggs as one of ten "Difference Makers" in its May 16th edition. Reporter Kathy Ames Carr says of Rob: "Throughout his career, Robert Briggs has exhibited a tireless devotion to regionalism and community outreach, and colleagues say his advocacy has been a driving force in improving the region's economic competitiveness" Currently, Briggs is the chairman emeritus and former CEO of Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs LLP. He became a Knight Foundation trustee in June 2002 and was elected chairman in 2010. Rob Briggs At Knight, he has helped the foundation shift toward making grants that have a lasting transformational impact and promote informed and engaged communities. An active member of the Akron community, Briggs is involved with several regional organizations. He is a board member and former co-chair of OneCommunity; a board member and chair of Invent Now Inc. – The National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation; founding chair and current member of the Fund For Our Economic Future, an unprecedented collaboration of more than 80 philanthropists in Northeast Ohio. He also serves on the board of FirstMerit Corp. and those of other for-profit businesses.
  • Press Release

    Macon game wins 2011 FutureEverything Award for creative innovation in art, society and technology

    Published May 11, 2011 by

    Macon Money, a city-wide social game that crosses between the real world and online social media, has won the 2011 FutureEverything Award for outstanding innovation in art, society and technology. Macon Money Executive Producer Kati London of Area/Code, which created the game for Knight Foundation, will be presented with the £10,000 prize at a Gala […]

  • Article

    Tonight: Book launch celebrates impact of Knight Community Information Challenge

    Published May 10, 2011 by

    Paula Ellis By Paula Ellis, VP/Strategic Initiatives Knight Foundation is featured in a new book about how how funders are going beyond grant making to help make transformational change in communities. Do More Than Give: The Six Practices of Donors Who Change the World features the Knight Community Information Challenge, which encourages community and place-based foundations to fund news and information projects. Tonight, Paula Ellis, Knight's vice president for strategic initiatives, will talk about the challenge at the book launch, to be televised at 5:30 p.m. on C-Span Book TV. Ellis will speak about how Knight is working with a network of peers - in this case community and place-based foundations - to help ensure communities are informed and engaged around issues important to them. To help build this network, Knight Foundation has gone beyond traditional grant making to push for catalytic change by: inviting foundation leaders to an annual seminar in Miami to learn about top media trends and issues; holding a media "boot camp" for grantees; offering tech assistance through consultants; and creating an easy-to-use guide for funders on journalism and media grant making. As a result, the number of community and place-based foundations that fund in this area is growing. In a 2010 survey, 46 percent of foundations said their funding in news and information has increased in past three years, and 59 percent said it will increase in the next three years. Learn more about the challenge at www.informationneeds.org. Do More Than Give was written by Leslie Crutchfield, John Kania and Mark Kramer of FSG, a nonprofit consulting firm.