Impact
Since mid-2020, Journalism Funding Partners (JFP) has been at the forefront of supporting and managing over $7 million in grants to empower new and expanded local journalism coverage. Our commitment to nurturing and strengthening journalism has resulted in impactful partnerships and significant achievements.
Recent Highlights:
Environmental Reporting: A partnership with multiple foundations has helped fund environmental reporters across the Southeast.
Freedom Forum: A partnership with Freedom Forum to support two First Amendment Reporters in Tennessee and Florida.
USA Today: A partnership to help provide funds for a mental health & caregiving reporter. at Florida Today.
The Ten News: A partnership to engage community support in their 2024 Support News for Kids Giving Campaign.
URL Media: A partnership with the Borealis Philanthropy to support coverage of Racial Equity/Justice in New York City neighborhoods.
Chips Quinn: Started by Freedom Forum, JFP now runs the Chips Quinn Program for Diversity in Journalism.
The Middle: A partnership to help produce a weekly, non-partisan, live national call-in radio show through community support.
Tangle News: A partnership to grow production of this newsroom through community support.
Univision 40: A partnership to Improve coverage of climate-change for Spanish-speaking North Carolinians.
Economic Growth
JFP has experienced steady economic growth since its founding in 2019, and this growth is only expected to increase as JFP finishes the 2024 year as it continues to increase the depth, diversity and sustainability of local journalism.
9X Growth
JFP has seen a growth of 9x in contributions and grants it receives since 2020.
20+ Added
JFP grew from supporting one climate reporter in 2021, to now supporting over 20 reporters.
$5.43M
Over $5.43m of contributions and grants were disbursed to 40+ local newsrooms in 2023 and 2024.
"As Chair of the board, I could not be more proud of the continuing growth of JFP. With the enormous support from our board, donors and media partners, our positive impact on communities is unlimited."
Orage Quarles III, Chairman
What Success Looks Like
E&P Podcast Feature
E&P 2023 Victor K. McElheny Award
This award-winning series about North Carolina’s unregulated poultry industry was made possible through the hard work of a team of reporters, editors, graphic artists and photographers at The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer. One team member, climate reporter Adam Wagner, is funded through JFP. This project includes 15 stories with 130 total sources ranging from academics, farmers, neighbors and scientists. The "Big Poultry" series received the 2023 Victor K. McElheny Award, as well as three other prestigious national awards.
JFP Executive Director, Rusty Coats along with N&O Climate Reporter Adam Wagner and The Tennessean’s First Amendment Reporter Angele Latham were featured on E&P’s podcast, “E&P Reports” - hosted by Mike Blinder. Both reporters got to speak on their respective reporting highlights such as Wagner being a part of the team that won the Victor K. McElheny Award for local and regional science journalism from his “Big Poultry” series. Latham talked more on the national attention she has been getting involving first amendment reporting being done in Tennessee and run through the different stories she got to work on.
Fresno State Podcast Feature
On the third episode of their podcast, JFP’s Executive Director appears as a guest to talk about how the JFP serves as a matchmaker of sorts between funders and news organizations. Coats speaks with Betsy Hays, a professor at Fresno State. While speaking about his background and how he found himself in the journalism world, the conversation centers around the model that JFP works with for assisting newsrooms through leveraging philanthropic support. The result? more jobs for journalists and it's a model that's working.
By The Numbers
30+
Community Giving Campaigns
50+
Newsrooms funded
20+
Foundations worked with
Learn More of Our Impact
View our 2023 Impact Report to know more about what strives JFP continues to make each year.
