Media Democracy Fund
OVERVIEW: The Media Democracy Fund supports organizations defending people’s freedom of expression and their right to communicate in the digital age.
IP TAKE: This is not an accessible funder. However, it works collaboratively with other non- and for-profit entities to make grants and run fellowship opportunities for journalists and technologists working in digital social justice.
PROFILE: Media Democracy Fund (MDF) is an outgrowth of the media and technology program that Helen Brunner developed for the Albert A. List Foundation. The fund seeks to “bring together diverse voices to design inclusive and responsible solutions, and empower public interest advocates to create an environment where digital technologies and the internet have a long-term, positive impact on society.” Launched in 2006, MDF is not a traditional grantmaker in that it works with NGOs, for-profit companies, philanthropic advisors and individual donors to award grants to journalists and media outlets that “protect the public’s rights in the digital age.” MDF is a project of the New Venture Fund.
Grants for Journalism, Civic and Democracy
MDF’s Funding Priorities include Open Internet Defense, which seeks to prevent “the internet from being controlled and defined by corporate power,” and Digital Equity, which the fund views as a “leveler of society and a prerequisite for racial and economic justice.” The fund also supports Digital Security and Internet Freedom, a movement that works to prevent “online attacks and intimidation of the organizations and individuals on the front lines for social change.” The Disinfo Defense League is another of the fund’s priorities; it “is a real-time, rapid response network designed to disrupt racialized disinformation and voter suppression campaigns deliberately targeting Black, Afro Latinx, and Latinx communities.” Finally, the fund also makes grants through the Unicorn Fund, “an experimental award program that supports under-resourced grassroots leaders who face attacks for expressing their ideas, telling the truth, and taking a stand on the front lines of narrative change.”
Public Interest Technology Fellowships are programs that match technologists with social justice organizations. The largest of these, the Technology Exchange Matching Fund, “creates opportunities for emerging technology leaders around the world to gain experience working with civil society organizations on Internet Freedom issues.” Each fellowship is a “full-time staff position that lasts at least 12 months and provides participants with a salary, benefits, and professional development opportunities.”
Past MDF grantees include the Center for Rural Strategies, which received support for its work increasing the impact of rural organizations working on media and technology policy, and the Media Consortium, which received a grant for its work enhancing media and technology training policy for journalists and strategic planning for the independent news sector.
Important Grant Details:
Because MDF makes grants in collaboration with several other entities, it is difficult to ascertain the scope of its grantmaking. Its average grant size appears to be about $20,000. Many of its grantees are think tanks and policy institutes working in the fund’s areas of interest. MDF does not accept unsolicited grant applications or requests for funding. General inquiries may be addressed to staff members via email.
PEOPLE:
Search for staff contact info and bios in PeopleFinder (paid subscribers only).
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