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• 1. What is Knight's National Program?
  Knight's National Program supports innovative opportunities and initiatives at the national level that relate directly or indirectly to Knight’s work in its communities. The National Program welcomes proposals from U.S.-based organizations committed to high standards of planning, evaluation and communication. For more: National Program.  The director of the program is Damian Thorman.
• 2. What is the most common reason a letter of inquiry is rejected by the Journalism Program?

  Thinking that an idea is new, when, in reality, many others, including our current grantees, are already doing it.

  That's why it's important to review our current journalism grants to see if a proposed project duplicates or is similar to what we already fund. We try to give grants to those projects that could create a lasting, visible change in the way news flows and journalism is done, ones that offer smart investment opportunities because of their innovations and ones that can be self-supporting.

• 3. How can I contact an individual at Knight Foundation?
  • Call (305) 908-2600 to speak with our operator.
  • Send e-mail to webmaster Robertson Adams via web@knightfoundation.org if you don't know a Knight staff member's e-mail address and the webmaster will forward your communication to your party.
  • Send postal mail to John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, 200 South Biscayne Blvd., Suite 3300, Miami, FL 33131-2349
• 4. Can an individual or an organization outside of the U.S. apply for a grant?
  Yes. It's especially encouraged as part of the Knight News Challenge. For general journalism inquiries, Knight routinely awards grants to nonprofit journalism organizations located in the United States. But exceptions can be made. 
• 5. How often can an organization apply for a grant?

  There are no restrictions on how often an organization may apply for a grant . 

• 6. My organization received a past journalism grant from Knight Foundation. Can we apply again for funding?

  Yes, you may submit a Letter of Inquiry for a new grant. If the LOI is to expand a previous project, the requirements of the previous grant must be completed, including the final grant report.
  

• 7. What if I have an urgent request?
  Online Letters of Inquiry are accepted, and reviewed, year round, which accommodates an urgent inquiry. But even an inquiry we like can take from six to eight weeks to approve.
• 8. What happens after I submit a Letter of inquiry?
  Letters of Inquiry are reviewed and evaluated by the journalism program staff within about a week of receipt. Applicants will receive an e-mail that either invites the submission of a full application, or explains that we are not interested at this time. 
• 9. Who decides whether a grant should be made?
  Knight Foundation’s president and trustees approve grants based on information provided by grantees and recommendations from foundation staff and advisory committees.
• 10. What journalism ideas have the best chance of getting funded?

  Innovative projects that help lead journalists into the 21st century.

  See our current journalism grants . We love new ideas that solve a problem, create lasting, visible change and can be copied by others. For the Knight News Challenge, we're looking for digital innovation and new forms of news in the public interest for specific geographical communities.
  
  

• 11. Where can I download the Knight Foundation logo?
  Go to our resources page.
• 12. Where can I get a photo of a member of Knight's staff?
  Go to our photo downloads page .
• 13. How can we obtain additional information?
  • Our web site offers information about Knight Foundation’s history, communities, programs, grant making, publications and current news. The foundation also publishes an annual report, a monthly e-newsletter , and occasional publications reporting on evaluation of our programs and issues we care about. To receive these materials or request other information, send an e-mail to publications@knightfoundation.org or contact us by telephone at (305) 908-2677.
• 14. What are the foundation's deadlines?
  We review letters of inquiry on an ongoing basis. We schedule completed proposals for the appropriate quarterly board agenda. The grant development and review process takes at least six months.
• 15. How can I "apply" for a grant?
  Organizations interested in applying for a grant should contact the program director from one of our three programs:

  • Journalism Program
  • Communities Program
  • National Program and New Initiatives
• 16. Can organizations outside of Knight communities apply for a grant?
  Our Journalism Program is international in scope. However, Knight only awards grants to nonprofit journalism institutions located in the United States. In our Communities Program, we will seek to work with local and national organizations capable of helping our communities achieve their priority outcomes.

  • Journalism Program : The Journalism Program is international in scope and awards grants to nonprofit institutions throughout the United States.
  • Communities Program : In our Knight Community Partners Program, we will seek to work with local organizations capable of helping our communities realize their priority outcomes.
  • National and New Initiatives : Must benefit at least one of the Knight Communities.
• 17. Who are the Knight brothers and what is their connection to journalism?
  • John S. ("Jack") Knight and James L. ("Jim") Knight founded the Knight Newspapers. The company merged with Ridder Publications and became Knight-Ridder Newspapers in 1974, which until 2006 was Knight Ridder Inc. John S. Knight died in 1981 and James L. Knight died in 1991. Knight Ridder Inc. was purchased by the McClatchy Co.
  • The foundation is their legacy to communities where they had newspaper operations up through 1991 and to the profession of journalism worldwide.
  • Knight Foundation is and always has been private and independent of Knight Ridder.
• 18. Are there programs Knight Foundation doesn’t fund?
  Yes. Here’s a list of programs Knight prefers not to fund:

  1. Requests for support of fund-raising events
  2. Requests to cover operating deficits
  3. Charities operated by service clubs
  4. Activities that are normally the responsibility of government. (The Foundation will, in selective cases, join with units of government in supporting special projects.)
  5. Medical research; organizations or projects whose mission is to prevent, eradicate and/or alleviate the effects of a specific disease; requests from hospitals (unless they are for community-wide capital campaigns with a stated goal and beginning and ending dates or for specific projects that meet Foundation goals.)
  6. Activities to propagate a religious faith or restricted to one religion or denomination; support of political candidates; memorials.
  7. International programs and organizations, except U.S.-based organizations supporting a free press around the world.
  8. A second request for a capital campaign for which the Foundation previously approved a grant.
  9. Conferences; group travel; honoraria for distinguished guests — except in initiatives of the Foundation in all three cases.
  10. Scholarships for individuals.
• 19. How do we get to the foundation?
  Directions to Knight Foundation are here.
• 20. How do Knight Foundation programs operate?
  Our priorities are to strengthen our signature Journalism Program; to deepen our commitment to our communities through the Knight Community Partners Program; and to work with national organizations located outside our communities through the National and New Inititatives Program.
• 21. What is Knight Foundation’s policy about controversial grants or grants to organizations where controversy is likely to follow?
  • Knight Foundation occasionally supports organizations which publish or broadcast controversial or unpopular content, including translated news broadcasts from overseas. It supports these organizations and their mission for one basic reason: We believe the American people deserve the opportunity to hear, see and understand the news and views coming from all sides of complex international stories.
  • Knight and its nonprofit partners do not subscribe to the accuracy or ideology of any news source nor do we guarantee its accuracy.
• 22. When and how does an applicant find out if a grant has been made?
  All applicants will be notified by mail of the foundation’s final decision regarding their proposal. We discourage phone calls from applicants regarding the status of a query or proposal.
• 23. Are there journalism projects Knight Foundation doesn’t fund?
  Yes. We don't fund journalism scholarships or tuition for individuals. We don't fund ongoing support for an individual media outlet. We don't fund  individual school media, because we already fund www.highschooljournalism.org, a scholastic journalism site that offers lesson plans, including a national radio curriculum; advice from pros; information on partnership grants with professional newspapers and television and radio stations; and the free hosting of online newspapers for any U.S. elementary, middle or high school. We don't usually fund content, including individual documentaries, because it's simply not possible to fund all the world's content, and except for journalism about journalism, we don't have the staff expertise to judge all possible documentary candidates. We also don't fund fellowships, except for the ones in our current portfolio. Instead, we are now funding programs that use digital media to reach thousands of journalists. That said, we'll break our own rules if someone has a really big new idea.
• 24. Is Knight the only foundation that supports journalism? Are there other media funders?

  Yes, there are many funders that support journalism directly and others that fund open society, civic engagement and education, which includes journalism. Every one is different. You must look at the web sites and follow their own directions for contacting them.

  These foundations include Ford Foundation ( http://fordfound.org ), Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation (www.journalismfoundation.org ), McCormick Tribune Foundation ( www.mccormicktribune.org ), Scripps Howard Foundation (http://foundation.scripps.com/foundation ), Gannett Foundation ( www.gannettfoundation.org) , Hearst Foundation (http://hearstfdn.org ) and Open Society Institute . ( http://www.soros.org )