KnightBlog | FSG & Knight Report
During the past year the Knight Foundation, the FCC, and various
funders and community players have called upon the philanthropic
sector to address community information needs.
FSG Social Impact Advisors and Knight have released a report on the
current state of funding in this area. Here are some of the report‘s highlights:
— “A majority of responding foundations are funding (50%) or
considering funding (38%) information projects in their communities.”
— “Nearly two thirds of responding foundations expect their funding
to address community information needs to increase in the future.”
— “The majority of funding for information projects is being used to
support awareness campaigns and platforms for civic engagement,
followed by efforts to build the digital and media literacy skills of
community residents to use new information tools.”
— “No foundation cited that information and media projects were too
controversial as the issue preventing them from providing funding in
this area. The three most frequently mentioned reasons for not
addressing community information needs are a lack of funds, relevance
to mission and a lack of exposure to the idea of supporting media and
information projects.”