Lenfest Institute, OpenAI, and Microsoft announce $10 million AI Collaborative and Fellowship Program for US metro news organizations Learn more.
The Lenfest Institute offers grant funding to help local news publishers and journalism professionals develop sustainable solutions for local journalism in service of our communities and democracy.
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The Lenfest Institute funds projects that align with our mission in the Philadelphia News Ecosystem, in Pennsylvania, and across the United States.
In Philadelphia, our grants support three interdependent tiers: Individual media makers, organizations, and ecosystem-wide efforts. We employ an evidence-based approach to our grantmaking and programming utilizing key metrics to determine the efficacy of our efforts.
Nationally, we fund programs that support media ecosystem-building, research and community listening projects, and projects that directly implement lessons from The Lenfest Institute’s Communities of Practice, with a specific emphasis on experimentation.
The Institute’s work is entirely supported by private philanthropy, and these donors help fund the Institute’s investments. A list of current Institute donors is available here.
The following table lists our annual grant commitments by program or project. For more information, please review our Form 990s.
The Beyond Print program helps publishers move away from print-centric revenue models and toward a sustainable digital future. Grants supported experimentation in digital product development, new approaches to audience engagement, and enhanced revenue strategies.
Total grants: $242,000
The Constellation News Leadership Initiative is a comprehensive management development program, providing career coaching and executive leadership resources to Philadelphia-area media professionals of color pursuing senior roles in local news media enterprises.
Total grants: $20,000
A coalition of Philadelphia community and media organizations committed to informing voters and ensuring their voices were central to the 2023 elections for mayor and city council. Grants supported issues-based election coverage and voter engagement events. This program was supported by both The Lenfest Institute for Journalism and The Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund. Visit the links below to learn more about the individual grantees and their projects.
Total grants: $73,000
The Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund provided grants and programs to support the digital transformation, audience development, diversity, and sustainability of hundreds of news organizations, from startups to legacy newspapers and public media. The Fund was a joint venture of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism.
FunTimes Magazine LLC: $100,000
Resolve Philadelphia: $211,500
Temple University: $80,000
WHYY: $5,162.56
WURD Radio, LLC: $105,000
Total grants: $501,662.56
The Lenfest Next Generation Fund supports professional development opportunities for Philadelphia-area emerging journalists, media makers, and journalism students of color.
Total grants: $34,720.21
The Lenfest Institute funds projects across the United States that align with our priorities and mission to support sustainable business models for important local news.
Chronogram Media, Inc.: $25,000
Harvard University: $7,500
Media Impact Funders, Inc.: $75,000
Mississippi Free Press: $1,500
Montclair State University Foundation: $4,500
Total grants: $113,500
As the non-controlling, nonprofit owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Lenfest Institute provides targeted grants that support journalism and civic information, digital marketing and product development, sustainable business models, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. (In addition, $1,017,158 in Spotlight PA grants listed below were given to The Inquirer to support Spotlight PA.)
Digital Transformation: $2 million
Content Strategy, Digital Storytelling, and Data Journalism: $1.5 million
Technology for Audience Growth: $1 million
Investigations Team: $525,000
Audience Brand Development Strategy: $500,000
Community News and Engagement Desk: $500,000
Talent development and experimentation: $250,000
High-Impact Journalism Fund: $187,737.39
Opinion desk: $50,000
Total grants: $6,512,737.39
A community-grounded business accelerator program supporting BIPOC media entrepreneurs through training, one-on-one coaching, and grantmaking. This program was supported by both The Lenfest Institute for Journalism and The Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund.
Each member of the 2023 cohort was eligible for a $15,000 stipend, paid in full upon completion of the program, and the opportunity to apply for additional project or operational support grants. Members of the 2022 cohort were also eligible to participate in a grant matching program.
Stipends: $172,500
Operational support grants: $120,000
Project support grants: $60,000
Matching grants: $71,527
Total grants: $424,027
The Institute supports news organizations and entrepreneurs in the Greater Philadelphia area whose coverage is focused on citywide civic engagement, public accountability journalism, or important public opinion research.
Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists: $50,000
The Philadelphia Tribune: $17,000
WURD Radio LLC: $25,00
Total grants: $92,000
The Philadelphia Local News Sustainability Initiative provides core operating support and capacity-building funding to nonprofit and for-profit local news organizations in the Philadelphia region. Grants will be administered over the course of two years.
Total grants: $2,200,000
The Lenfest Institute is the co-founder of Spotlight PA, a nonprofit investigative newsroom covering Pennsylvania state government. We support Spotlight PA’s mission of holding powerful private and public forces across Pennsylvania — especially governments, businesses, and special interests — to account through urgent and compelling investigative journalism. Spotlight PA provides its news for free to more than 100 other news organizations across the commonwealth. Some of Spotlight PA’s 2023 grants were disbursed through The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Total grants: $6,306,911.42
Total grants: $107,000
A coalition of Philadelphia community and media organizations committed to informing voters and ensuring their voices are central to the 2023 elections for mayor and city council. Grants supported issues-based election coverage and voter engagement events. This program was supported by both The Lenfest Institute and the Knight-Lenfest Fund.
Total grants: $1,491,100
The Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund provides grants and programs to support the digital transformation, audience development, diversity, and sustainability of hundreds of news organizations, from startups to legacy newspapers and public media. The Fund is a joint venture of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism.
Good Conflict LLC: $10,000 News Catalyst at Klein College of Media and Communication at Temple University: $1,251,000 Professor Andrea Wenzel research at Temple University: $152,000 Scalawag: $50,000 Table Stakes program at The American Press Institute: $1,650,000 The Plug: $195,000 WHYY News and Information Community Exchange 2.0: $614,000
Total grants: $3,922,000
Total grants: $21,250
Aspen Institute Local News Summit: $25,000 LION Publishers – Independent News Sustainability Summit: $25,000 Indigenous Media Freedom Alliance: $6,000 Local Journalism Initiative of Delaware: $43,600 Rebuild Local News: $150,000 Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press: $75,000 The 19th*: $25,000
Total grants: $349,600
As the non-controlling, nonprofit owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Lenfest Institute provides targeted grants that support journalism and civic information, digital marketing and product development, sustainable business models, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. (In addition, $2,543,887 in Spotlight PA grants listed below were given to The Inquirer to support Spotlight PA.)
Digital Subscription Acceleration: $3,000,000 A More Perfect Union: $750,000 Investigations Team: $600,000 Health journalism: $250,000 High-Impact Journalism Fund: $186,183 Opinion desk: $50,000 Travel for foreign news coverage: $20,000
Total grants: $4,856,183
A community-grounded business accelerator program supporting BIPOC media entrepreneurs through training, one-on-one coaching, and grantmaking.
Total grants: $195,000
We support news organizations and entrepreneurs in the Greater Philadelphia area whose coverage is focused on citywide civic engagement, public accountability journalism, or important public opinion research.
CivicStory: $2,500 Code Black Media: $47,300 Technically Media: $40,000 WHYY / Billy Penn: $1,800
Total grants: $93,800
The Lenfest Institute is the co-founder of Spotlight PA, a nonprofit investigative newsroom covering Pennsylvania state government. We support Spotlight PA’s mission of holding powerful private and public forces across Pennsylvania — especially governments, businesses and special interests — to account through urgent and compelling investigative journalism. Spotlight provides its news for free to more than 90 other news organizations across the commonwealth. Most of Spotlight PA’s 2022 grants were disbursed through The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Total grants: $2,543,887
The Constellation News Leadership Initiative is a comprehensive management development program providing career coaching and executive leadership resources to Philadelphia-area media professionals of color pursuing senior roles in local news media enterprises.
Total grants: $82,000
AI for the People $75,000 American Press Institute Beyond Print: $300,000 Independence Public Media Foundation Community Voices Fund: $250,000 The Philadelphia Inquirer: $2,000,000 URL Media: $100,000
Total grants: $2,725,000
Total grants: $21,149
Agenda Watch at Stanford University: $43,200 Auricle Communications: $3,000 FilmScene: $25,000 Local Media Association Lab for Journalism Funding: $60,000 Membership Guide at the Media Development Investment Fund: $58,823 Solutions Journalism Network: $500 The National Trust for Local News: $150,000
Total grants: $290,523
As the non-controlling, nonprofit owner of The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Lenfest Institute provides targeted grants that support journalism and civic information, digital marketing and product development, sustainable business models, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. (An additional $1,131,910 in Spotlight PA grants listed below were given to The Inquirer to support Spotlight PA. An additional $2 million was given to The Inquirer through the Knight-Lenfest Fund as listed above.)
Community News Desk: $600,000 Investigations Team: $600,000 Health journalism: $300,000 High-Impact Journalism Fund: $231,914 A More Perfect Union planning: $125,000 Lenfest Lab Grants: $679,167
Total grants: $2,536,081
Al Día: $150,000 National Association of Hispanic Journalists: $10,000 Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists: $10,000 Research by the Center for Media Engagement at University of Texas – Austin: $336,700 Technically Media: $40,000 The Bryan K. Monroe Scholarship Fund at Temple University: $35,000 WHYY / Billy Penn: $750
Total grants: $582,450
The Lenfest Institute is the co-founder of Spotlight PA, a nonprofit investigative newsroom covering Pennsylvania state government. We support Spotlight PA’s mission of holding powerful private and public forces across Pennsylvania — especially governments, businesses and special interests — to account through urgent and compelling investigative journalism. Spotlight provides its news for free to more than 90 other news organizations across the commonwealth. Spotlight PA’s 2021 grants were disbursed through The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Total grants: $1,391,910
The Lenfest Institute offers a temporary fiscal sponsorship to select for-profit and startup publishers that align with its mission and priorities. Fiscal sponsorships allow them to receive charitable donations as they transition to nonprofit status.
Civic Capital Consulting: $38,650
FunTimes Magazine LLC: $19,000
The Haitian Times: $14,250
Lookout Santa Cruz: $4,500
Santa Cruz Local LLC: $20,150
West Texan Media Group LLC: $29,700
Total: $126,250
AZ Luminaria: $21,500 Civic Capital: $9,500 FunTimes Magazine: $100,000 Lookout Local Santa Cruz: $285,960 National Trust for Local News: $1,765,400 Santa Cruz Local: $160,556
Total: $2,342,916
AZ Luminaria: $147,000 Capital B: $1,313,200 Chronogram: $49,000 Lookout Local Santa Cruz: $102,500 National Trust for Local News: $435,500 Santa Cruz Local: $76,600
Total: $2,123,800
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