Global Media Philanthropy: What Funders Need to Know About Data, Trends and Pressing Issues Facing the Field

"Around the globe, philanthropy plays a crucial role in supporting a variety of diverse media-related initiatives, including strengthening media institutions, improving democratic processes, raising awareness and advocacy through public service radio campaigns addressing health issues, ensuring equitable access to communication technologies, and protecting freedom of expression."

This report, produced by Media Impact Funders, highlights some of the trends, challenges, and opportunities in the global media funding environment. It is designed to provide interested funders with a starting point for understanding the core issues in the field of global media funding in order to support the development of improved donor strategies, enable greater coordination, and help build opportunities for potential partnerships.

This report features quantitative data from the media philanthropy data map through 2015 (based on data gathered from the Foundation Maps for Media Funding reporting tool). The map is free to use and available on the Media Impact Funders website. In addition, the report draws a survey of leading organisations engaged in funding media-related projects around the world, analyses of existing literature and reports, and interviews with experts across a range of media funding issues.

The report is divided into the following five sections:

Section I: What the media data map can tell us about global media funding
To obtain a useful starting point to understand the global media funding landscape, the researchers categorised available data on media funding into five broad categories, which are: media content and platforms; telecommunications infrastructure; media applications and tools; media access and policy; and journalism, news, and information. The amount of funding for each category is given, as well as a list of the 15 top foundations and their funding contributions. Overall, the media data map shows that media funding itself has grown significantly since 2009. Nearly all of this increase is attributed to increases in the media content and platforms category, which includes grants for: television, cable, video, film, website, or radio production; mobile media; training and programming; and/or educational programmes related to the media. The data also showed that North American foundations dominate the funding arena compared to European foundations.

Section II: A comparative review of journalism funding in Europe and Africa
The report takes a closer look at funding patterns, opportunities, and challenges for journalism-related work in two very different regions: Europe (the United Kingdom (UK), France, and Germany) and Africa. The research shows, for example, that in the UK, there is a strong tradition of government-supported public service broadcasting. In France, the government supports public broadcasting and print dailies - both directly and with tax breaks. Journalism funding in Germany tends to be less focused on content due to concerns about independence of the press and more focused on journalism education, media literacy, digital rights, and privacy. Across the three countries, the research shows that funders are struggling with issues over how to reconcile philanthropic funding of journalism with general apprehension about media independence, activism, and political campaigning in news.

In Africa, the diversity of country contexts makes it impossible to offer a single view of the entire media ecosystem; however, a few patterns have started to emerge. The research shows that: journalism as a topic receives a very small slice of the overall funding pie for African-based nonprofits, which includes grants from non-African funders, and even smaller slices from locally-based funders; the activities funded are primarily for training and journalism development, journalist networking and sector collaboration, and civic dialogue; and the countries with the most robust journalism funding from external or locally-based funders are South Africa and Kenya.

Section III: Survey responses from funders and intermediaries
The report shares the results of a survey sent to a group of media funders engaged in global grantmaking. The survey was designed to better understand how global media funders are currently thinking about their grantmaking strategies and how the wider media philanthropy space is evolving. It asked about: programmatic and geographic priorities; whether media grants were given from specific portfolios; types of support given; and key issues impacting global media grantmaking. The results show, for example, that challenges include local laws that inhibit donor support for civil society grants and feelings that implementation of democracy oriented projects can endanger local grantees.

A similar survey was also sent to intermediaries, implementation organisations, and media associations that are engaged in research and network-building for the media development sector. Insights here showed, for example, that long-term funding is rare and needed to support sustainable media systems, and that freedom of expression and programmes with an emphasis on web-based media are larger priorities for intermediaries and implementation organisations.

Section IV: Insights from leaders around the world
With so many pressing issues affecting the media funding space and specific regional considerations around grantmaking strategies and priorities, Media Impact Funders turned to experts from the field and asked them to share insights they consider critical for funders to understand. Essay topics include: current challenges facing African and Indian media ecosystems, along with suggestions for solutions; the need for greater collaboration, experimentation, and media development coalition-building to withstand political and social upheaval; the need for greater security awareness and support by funders; and new ways of thinking about public media. For example, Christoph Plate, Director of KAS Media Africa, in his article "I Have Nothing Against Philanthropy" suggests that philanthropic support for journalism does more harm than good. In another article, "Coalition Building as an Approach to Media Development", Nicholas Benequista and Paul Rothman from the Center for International Media Assistance (CIMA) make the case for supporting coalition-building as a strategy to strengthen independent and viable media.

Section V: Conclusion
Based on the research findings, the report shares the following conclusions:

• Both funding and making media are now dangerous in new ways: Foundations, publishers, editors, and journalists across the world are facing not just familiar forms of repression and censorship, but new threats from breaches to digital privacy and a notably uncivil online culture. Funders need to work more systematically to educate and protect themselves and their grantees.
• Power dynamics are skewed in favour of United States (US) funders: The data emphasise US-based funders, who appear to be setting the agenda for foundation support of media worldwide, raising questions about power dynamics between these funders and local foundations and grantees. Improving worldwide data collection and access could help funders understand how non-local funders' priorities match, complement, or possibly undermine funders and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in local communities. In addition, supporting local media efforts, bolstering business model development, and listening to grantees and implementation organisations are key to adjusting the balance of power. As the survey indicates, funders and those on the ground are not always concerned about the same things, and better understanding of local needs is essential for a stronger media ecosystem and improved outcomes for all the issues funders care about.
• Foundations can have an outsized influence on a country's media system: This power can be productive or disruptive depending on the context. On the one hand, funders can support convenings, monitoring, regional partnerships, and even media distribution from outside of countries where anti-democratic leaders repress the media. On the other, foundations can create perverse incentives through supporting initiatives that don't match needs on the ground, or through short-term funding that leaves local organisations stranded.
• The moment is ripe for organising media funders in creative and effective new ways: There are areas for research and sharing of best practices that are relevant in many countries and bear further examination. These include the role that social media plays in public discourse, new business models for news, impact evaluation for public interest media investments, and the need to make a stronger case for media as a legitimate area for philanthropic support. These topics could serve as organising principles for enlarging and engaging a larger network of global media funders. There are also new ways for funders to work together, in multi-stakeholder coalitions, and even in partnership with grantees. The funding environment differs widely from country to country, so it's important not to seek one-size-fits-all solutions.
• Funders need to see the bigger picture: Funders need to understand and support media and media ecosystems in order to advance their work and improve society. New funding approaches and sources highlight the need to gather and analyse data about global media funding and to understand how it fits into the overall global funding picture.
• Better data are needed: The research and literature review highlighted the significant barriers the field faces in truly understanding the reach and scope of global media philanthropy. For Media Impact Funders, developing reliable frameworks of philanthropic data collection is necessary in order to understand how funders are working around the world, as well as the trends, challenges, and opportunities.

For those new to media funding, especially in a global context, the report offers a resources section to provide additional background literature, relevant reports, data, documents, and case studies.