Who doesn’t like innovation? In fact, this message was made possible by the revolutionary inventions that many of us are so dependent on these days: electricity, computers, email … internet!
Knight Foundation is well-known for its embrace of risk and innovation. From its challenge grants to pursuing new media technologies, it shows other foundations the rewards of supporting those groups and ideas that are not the usual suspects.
But as noted in our latest Philamplify assessment, “John S. and James L. Knight Foundation: Can It Look Beyond #ShinyBrightObjects and Do More to Promote Equity?” innovation without a targeted benefit can be problematic.
Here are a number of our findings:
- Knight does not have clearly articulated goals and strategies, nor does it explicitly state a commitment to equity, leaving many of its constituents guessing about its intended impact.
- More than a quarter of Knight’s grant dollars are intended to support marginalized communities, but this number has been declining over time.
- Constituents’ perspectives of the foundation as a partner vary greatly, from glowing to frustrated.
Knight collaborates extensively and has had notable impact on many arts and culture, urban planning and revitalization efforts around the country. And it is helping journalism survive in the digital age. But it can do more to boost its impact.
We urge Knight Foundation to:
- Keep embracing risk and innovation, especially through its challenge grants.
- Have explicit goals and strategies for each program area and explain how innovation will lead to long-term systemic change.
- Make an explicit commitment to increase grantmaking that benefits and engages marginalized communities, and describe how Knight seeks to advance racial and other forms of equity.
- Communicate clearly to grantees and applicants about how and when the foundation uses general operating support, capacity building and multi-year funding to achieve impact.
Read about our full findings and recommendations now.
What do you think of our findings and recommendations? Agree or disagree, and comment on the report. Also, don’t forget to take our latest poll and share which foundation you think we should Philamplify next. Remember, you can do all these anonymously!
Together, we can provide foundations with the feedback they need to help make this world a better place for all.
Aaron Dorfman is executive director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). Follow @NCRP on Twitter and join the #Philamplify conversation.
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