Applications for the Membership in News Fund are now open to media houses from Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia. The Fund is a $400,000 initiative to catalyse membership efforts in newsrooms worldwide implemented by Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF) and the Membership Puzzle Project (MPP), team and funded by Luminate Group.
The Fund will support membership development projects in select countries in Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa and Asia (the U.S. and Western Europe are exempted). MDIF’s participation in the Membership in News Fund allows for an expanded list of countries that are eligible to apply. The full list of eligible countries online here.
The MPP launched the first iteration of the Membership in News Fund in 2018 with $700,000 fund which supported 23 membership experiments in 13 countries giving grants of between $10,000 and $60,000 each. Recipients of the grant received funding, targeted coaching, and an opportunity to join a global community of practice built around membership.
The total amount available for 2020 is $400,000 from which a maximum award of $40,000 will be given to grantees per proposal. Applicants will be asked to propose a commensurate grant amount with the cost of implementing their proposal. Based on the fund’s size and the level of venture support that MDIF and MPP intend to provide to selected proposals, they anticipate selecting no more than 15 proposals.
Registrations of interest will be opened until November 6, 2020, at 5 p.m. ET. Notifications to formally apply will be sent by November 13 to successful applicants. The entire selection process will conclude before the end of 2020, with funding and support to be disbursed in January 2021. Interested media houses can register interest here,
A proposal could be a good fit for the Membership in News Fund if:
- Membership is part of the organization’s sustainability strategy. A media house may ask community members for money, but also encourage supporters to participate meaningfully in making the site work and making its journalism better. In other words, even if revenue generation is a critical component of such proposal, applications that are a pure fundraising play are not a good fit.
- An organization is operationally ready to pursue a membership strategy. If a proposal is selected, the applicant should be prepared to begin work on its proposal in early 2021. MPP sunsets in August 2021, and it is looking to support projects that can make meaningful progress in a six-month time window. In other words, an applicant should be able to say “yes” – or see a pathway to being able to say “yes” – to MPP’s nine questions to ask itself before pursuing a membership strategy.
- The organization has experience working alongside community members, or the applicant is enthusiastic about bringing this way of working to its organization.
- The applicant is excited about the prospect of joining a global community of practice and research effort. Applicants should understand that doing so requires a high level of transparency about what’s working and what isn’t, plus a willingness to share that with the journalism industry. (See the Membership Guide to understand MPP’s practical research style better.)
Founded in 2017, the Membership Puzzle Project collects what is already known about making membership work for journalism by seeking out the people who have deep experience with membership models (including members themselves). It researches all the ways that community members can contribute, not just their money, but their knowledge and expertise.
The MPP funds innovative membership models that are being tested at news sites as part of a global experiment to identify best practices for sustaining independent journalism in the 21st Century and also synthesises the key membership lessons learned by journalism organizations around the world.
The Media Development Investment Fund is a not-for-profit investment fund based in New York, United States which provides debt and equity financing supported by technical assistance to independent media companies in countries where access to free and independent media is under threat. With more than $105 million assets under management, since 1996 MDIF has invested more than $230 million in 120 independent media businesses in 42 countries. Its investments help independent media around the world provide the news, information and debate that people need to build free, thriving societies.
Luminate is a global philanthropic organisation focused on empowering people and institutions to work together to build just and fair societies. It supports innovative and courageous organisations and entrepreneurs around the world, and advocates for the policies and actions that will drive change across four impact areas: Civic Empowerment, Data & Digital Rights, Financial Transparency, and Independent Media. Luminate works with its partners to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to participate in and to shape the issues affecting their societies, and to make those in positions of power more responsive and accountable. Luminate was established in 2018 by philanthropists Pierre and Pam Omidyar. The organisation was founded by The Omidyar Group.
