Community and place-based foundations are playing a growing role in addressing their community information needs. They see their funding of information and media as helping them make an impact on the issues they care about, tied to their philanthropic leadership and likely to increase in the future. These were the key findings from our recently […]
Article · February 14, 2012 by Mayur Patel
By Ellen Martin Third in a series on “Opportunities for Leadership: Meeting Community Information Needs.” Read Day 1 and Day 2. July, 2008: The Star-Ledger in Newark, New Jersey announced it would force the early retirement of 25 percent of its staff – many of them experienced reporters – to avoid selling the paper. “They […]
Article · September 14, 2011 by Mayur Patel
By Ellen Martin Second in a series on “Opportunities for Leadership: Meeting Community Information Needs.” Read Day 1 here. Read the full report here. Last spring, a group of 100 people gathered at a public regional planning forum in Oakland, Calif., trying to figure out how the area could best absorb the 2 million people expected to […]
Article · September 14, 2011 by Mayur Patel
Crossposted from the Council on Philanthropy’s blog. What does a foundation do when pollution poses an immediate health threat to the community – and the nonprofits there to help aren’t connected to each other? Consider what’s happened in the Greater Buffalo area, a passageway for 20 percent of the world’s fresh water supply – and […]
Article · September 13, 2011 by Mayur Patel
We recently completed an assessment of the early Knight News Challenge winners (2007 and 2008), taking a closer look at the outcomes they’ve achieved in their targeted communities, their challenges, progress and influence on the field of media and journalism. We’ve displayed the report highlights in an infographic and a SlideShare presentation that we built in […]
Article · August 9, 2011 by Mayur Patel
Today, the president of Serbia announced the arrest of one of the world’s most wanted fugitives Ratko Mladic – a general accused of masterminding a 1995 massacre. Prosecutors from The Hague, where the general will be tried, frequently visit a new digital archive in Serbia that is unlocking some of the country’s long-guarded secrets. Records from […]
Article · May 25, 2011 by Mayur Patel
In 2008, Knight Foundation launched the Knight Arts Challenge in Miami, a five-year, $40 million initiative to support the most innovative and transformational arts ideas in South Florida. Since then, 78 grants have been awarded to a range of projects, everything from live concerts to ballet, film festivals and opera performances. In November, we’ll announce […]
Article · May 19, 2011 by Mayur Patel
Mayur Patel For centuries, humans have used games to learn survival and social skills through play. According to the Institute of Play, chess was used to teach strategy, and in his 1938 book “Playing Man,” Dutch Historian Johan Huizinga posited that play was necessary in the generation of culture. It’s no surprise then that theorists […]
Article · May 10, 2011 by Mayur Patel
Mayur Patel In 2007, we launched the Knight News Challenge as a five-year $25m contest to support innovative digital experiments to transform the way communities gather, share and produce local news. The backdrop to the contest was the disruption happening in journalism, with the news industry in great flux. Since then, we have funded over […]
Article · April 18, 2011 by Mayur Patel
Arthur Goyette knows the value of good neighbors. While his wife Betty was battling cancer, they brought countless meals to the Goyette home. When the neighbors learned that Betty had always wanted to ride in a convertible, they surprised the family with a loaned Chrysler Sebring. The couple drove down the block with the top […]
Article · April 6, 2011 by Mayur Patel
Mayur Patel A new study provides some interesting, and surprising, data about how residents feel about the availability of information in their communities. As it turns out, when governments share more information, their transparency may have a cascading effect, offering a civic payoff for the entire community. The study, released by the Pew Research Center, […]
Article · March 1, 2011 by Mayur Patel