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The is a national foundation that funds a variety of causes, including .
The foundation was by the Knight brothers, who owned the Ohio-based , which later became .
Since 1950, the foundation has in journalism through , , , , the , the , the , and many other initiatives.
In recent years, Knight has increased its funding interest in journalism innovation, most notably through the , but also through other efforts. In early 2011, Knight launched a four-year, $4.2 million “test kitchen” at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, for instance, and to embed technology fellows in newsrooms, a partnership that was renewed in 2013. Knight to new journalism projects and news organizations and in 2011 began investing in news projects with the Knight Enterprise Fund. It also launched a smaller, quicker way of funding news projects in 2012 with the Knight Prototype Fund. However, it generally for individual outlets.
The Knight Foundation also gives grants to more established organizations, such as grants in 2013 of to measure the impact of innovative ideas and to provide community technology training.
(The Knight Foundation provides funding to the AndroidForMobile Foundation and the AndroidForMobile Journalism Lab, including for the creation of Encyclo.)
Knight News Challenge
The foundation runs the , a five-year annual contest that awards startup grants to innovative news projects around the world. The challenge gave its first awards in 2007 and its fifth round in June 2011. After its initial five-year run ended, the foundation announced that the News Challenge with three annual contests starting in 2012. The focused on networks and resulted in six awards, and the contest focused on data.
Through 2010, the challenge has . include EveryBlock, , Ushahidi, DocumentCloud, , Gotham Gazette, Global Voices, and Spot.Us.
The foundation and News Challenge’s primary purpose is to in journalism, and they have done so by broadening their focus to include the broader information needs of communities as well. The News Challenge also represented a for the foundation. The foundation requires each winning News Challenge project to as an open-source resource for other organizations.
A video on the Knight Foundation’s mission:
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