| Type of media grant | Percent of media funders who give |
|---|---|
| General operating grants | 64% |
| Capacity building grants (to help grantees fundraise and develop sustainability) |
57% |
| For coverage of general subjects areas (i.e. environment, health) |
65% |
| For coverage of more specific issues or problems (i.e. fracking or breast cancer) |
59% |
| For particular investigative projects or series of stories on specific problems |
61% |
| To experiment with new forms of storytelling | 60% |
| To adopt new technologies | 57% |
| For a particular type of journalism (i.e. investigative) without specifying topics or projects |
50% |
NONPROFITETHICS-4a: Most media funders give general grants but may also fund more specific projects
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About the Author: Kevin Loker
Senior director, partnerships and development
Kevin Loker is senior director of partnerships and development at the American Press Institute. He grows and stewards external relationships for API, working with foundations, strategic partners and other stakeholders who see the importance of local news in strengthening civic life.
Kevin brings 15 years of experience in the journalism support space to the role, over a decade of which has been at API, where he has contributed to the organization’s research, events, programs and partnerships.
Since joining API in 2013, Kevin has played a role in the evolution of API’s in-person events, known now as API Local News Summits, and research, anchored by the Media Insight Project, originally a collaboration between API and the Associated Press–NORC Center for Public Affairs Research since 2014. The collaboration has expanded to include Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, and the Local News Network at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism.
Kevin has also contributed to research on philanthropic funding in journalism and facilitated programming for funders, journalism support organizations and experts outside of journalism who care about local news and information.
For 2023-2024, Kevin was a Visiting Fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. His project built upon work to reimagine local opinion journalism and philanthropy’s role in the process. His report “Philanthropy and Local Opinion Journalism: A Civic Opportunity” was published in September 2024.
Before API, Kevin worked in digital and membership services for the Online News Association. He is a former contributor to 10,000 Words, a media industry blog. Together with his wife, Laura, he received a 2017 Catholic Press Association Award for an email newsletter for Catholics.
Email Kevin at kevin.loker@pressinstitute.org or connect with him on LinkedIn.
