Media Democracy Fund

• People
• 2025 Budgeting and Scoping
• History
• Past Performance
• Funders
• Retention
• 2024 Development and Fundraising Plan
• 2024 Fundraising Goals and Strategies
• Overall 2024 budget and fundraising goal
• Digital Equity and Opportunity Initiative (DEOI)
• Current DEOI funders (grant range $150,000 – $1M)
• Prospects (currently preparing six-figure asks)
• Disinfo Defense League (DDL)
• Current funders (grant range $150,000 – $2M)
• Lapsed funders
• Prospects (currently preparing six-figure asks)
• MDF General (unrestricted support)
• Current funders
• Lapsed funders
• Prospects
• NetGain Partnership
• Current funders
• Lapsed funders
• Prospects

People

Nick Russell - development

Glenda - budget

Amber - fmr ED

2025 Budgeting and Scoping

• All told, we need a development plan that will bring in 2M with 1M allocated to general operating for next year.
• We are pushing general messaging (to the board, to funders, to partners) that indicates we are conducting strategic planning and committing to work based on 
• what we know we can get paid for (development prospecting work that you two are conducting) cross-referenced with 
• what we have capacity to do (the role clarity work we did in Q4 2024)
• cross-referenced with work we know the field wants and needs (NPAG discovery and landscape analysis).
• While we need money, we don't want to chase money or set ourselves up for work we can't actually do.
• MDF has a long standing history of delivering excellence, part of that is avoiding the practice of writing checks that cannot be cashed.

History

• MDF launched in 2006 with a group of seven funding partners, some of whom continue to support our work today.
• Under Amber’s leadership, MDF developed new R&D capabilities, and an ability to incubate new ideas and strategies, utilizing unrestricted, general operating funds.
• We also learned to scale up. This capability has been instrumental to our growth and the creation of new projects over the last six years. We’ve included data visualizations below to illustrate the growth and evolution within MDF’s fundraising program.
• The graph below shows the growth in foundation grants annually between 2017-2023, and the impact of development and acquisition of new projects.

Past Performance

The community of funding partners with whom we work has grown over this time as well.

The table below shows the top five funders – and amounts given – in the past 4 years.

Funders

All Funders

Annie E. Casey Foundation

OSF

Craig Newmark Foundation

OSPC

Democracy Fund

Park Foundation

Democracy Fund Voice

Popplestone Foundation

Ford Foundation

Quixote

Hellman Foundation

Robert W Deutsch Foundation

Henderson Family Foundation

Rockefeller Brothers Fund

Hewlett Foundation

Rockefeller Foundation

Indiv donor/whistleblower support

Siegel Family Endowment

JPB Foundation

Skoll Foundation

Kellogg Foundation

Solidarity Giving

Knight Foundation

Stoneman Family

Luminate Group

Tides Foundation

MacArthur Foundation

Tides Foundation/Healthy Democracies

Marin Community Foundation

Trusted Elections Fund

Nathan Cummings

Wallace Global Fund

New Venture Fund

Warhol Foundation

NextGen Climate America

Way to Rise

Omidyar Network

Wellspring Foundation

Women Donors Network

Funders as of 2023

Ford Foundation- $1,300,000

JPB Foundation - $1,150,000

MacArthur Foundation- $1,100,000

Skoll Foundation- $1,050,000

Democracy Fund- $877,000

Wellspring Foundation- $700,000

Kellogg Foundation-$400,000

Democracy Fund Voice-$350,000

Solidarity Giving-$300,000

Wallace Global Fund-$250,000

Mozilla Foundation-$250,000

Park Foundation-$200,000

OSF-$200,000

Nathan Cummings-$180,000

Tides Foundation/Healthy Democracies-$150,000

Rockefeller Brothers Fund-$150,000

Annie E. Casey Foundation-$150,000

Luminate Group-$84,000

Marin Community Foundation-$50,000

Top Funders Throughout History

Retention

39 unique donors have supported MDF between 2017-2023. The overall community of MDF funding partners (current and lapsed funders) totals nearly 40 entities, demonstrating MDF’s strength in retention.

2024 Development and Fundraising Plan

MDF’s target donor is a national funder with a minimum grant capacity of $100,000 - $1M.

We create communities of practice for funders within each program that center funder education, and collaborative contributions to strategy.

MDF’s funder learning opportunities and field convenings are well known and appreciated, and our thought leadership within select program areas have driven engagement as well.

These elements are built on top of a simple prospect research, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship program that centers fundraising best practices:

• Maintaining an active pipeline of 30-50 new funding prospects across the organization
• Tracking quarterly solicitations and funds received
• Ensuring touch points with a minimum of 12 donors/month
• Mixing stewardship and cultivation opportunities, including 1:1 and group meetings, digital communication, and in person events
• Submitting proposals and reports on time, with minimum error rate.

2024 Fundraising Goals and Strategies

Overall 2024 budget and fundraising goal

Digital Equity and Opportunity Initiative (DEOI)

Current DEOI funders (grant range $150,000 – $1M)

Annie E. Casey Foundation

Democracy Fund

Ford Foundation

JPB Foundation

Kellogg Foundation

MacArthur Foundation

Prospects (currently preparing six-figure asks)

Kellogg Foundation (state-level partner investments)

Carnegie Corporation of New York

Raikes Foundation

Kapor Center

DEOI was approved for an 18 month term by the MDF steering committee in spring 2023 and the project established an initial fundraising goal of $2 to $4 million over this period. DEOI was launched with $2.2 million from initiating funders and the project raised a total of $2.6 million in 2023. Most importantly, DEOI has provided an on-ramp for funders entirely new to digital equity work and to the tech and society sector more broadly, and has been particularly successful engaging democracy funders aligned with our understanding of broadband as digital civic infrastructure.

There is a narrow path to closing out DEOI’s fundraising goals in 2024, and much of this work will take place Q1/2. Tactics include:

• Renewals/upgrades with select current funding partners, such as JPB Foundation
• One-on-one engagement with key prospects (team currently continuing cultivation of 32 active prospects. Four are closing)
• Email appeals
• Op-eds and thought leadership
• Gathering credentialing information (including civic outcomes)
• Major donor briefing early Q2, possibly adjacent to FCCP conference where a session proposal is pending.

Disinfo Defense League (DDL)

Current funders (grant range $150,000 – $2M)

Democracy Fund

Hellman Foundation

JPB Foundation

MacArthur Foundation

Marin Community Foundation

Popplestone Foundation

Skoll Foundation

Solidarity Giving

Tides Healthy Democracy Fund

Wellspring

Lapsed funders

Craig Newmark Foundation

Ford Foundation

Henderson Family Foundation

Open Society Policy Center (c4)

Rockefeller Foundation

Stoneman Foundation

Trusted Elections Fund

Way to Rise

Women Donors Network

Prospects (currently preparing six-figure asks)

Tides Healthy Democracy Fund

Haas Jr. Fund

DDL funding is bolstered by significant multi-year grants from Hellman Foundation; JPB Foundation; Popplestone Foundation; Skoll Foundation; and MacArthur Foundation, placing the project in a strong financial position ahead of the 2024 election.

DDL has identified an additional $1,500,000 in election-year activities and our fundraising strategy is focused on deepening work with current donors, re-engagement of lapsed donors (those that supported the project in 2020 and the 2022 election cycle), and outreach to new prospects. Tactics include:

• Renewals/upgrades with select current funding partners

(Tides Healthy Democracy Fund is preparing to close)

• One-on-one engagement with lapsed funders
• Email appeals
• Funder-only webinars

MDF General (unrestricted support)

Current funders

Ford Foundation ($350,000 2024 renewal requested)

Kellogg Foundation ($150,000 2024 committed)

Nathan Cummings Foundation ($180,000 2024 committed)

Park Foundation ($200,000 annual 2024 renewal)

Rockefeller Brothers Fund ($75,000 2024 annual renewal)

Wallace Global Fund ($250,000 2024 renewal requested)

Lapsed funders

Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts ($75,000)

Open Society Foundations ($300,000)

Robert W. Deutsch Foundation ($100,000)

Siegel Family Endowment ($50,000)

Quixote Foundation ($250,000 foundation closed/spent down)

Hewlett Foundation ($800,000 one-time grant for Open Internet Defense)

• *In each of these cases, lapse was driven by shift in strategic direction at the foundation.

Prospects

Kellogg Foundation (upgrade)

We have listed amounts from current funders above given the board’s interest in reviewing the status of our unrestricted funding. Funders who provide unrestricted general operating support to MDF know our work best. Transitions at foundations like Open Society Foundations and Ford Foundation have affected MDF, but we have been successful in both stabilizing unrestricted funding and beginning to grow it with the acquisition of Kellogg Foundation as a new core funding partner. While MDF has enjoyed success in raising support for many of its projects, each of these projects, and others, grew out of investments in the organization’s core R&D portfolio. Funders providing unrestricted support value MDF’s role as a catalyst and know that supporting MDF’s core operation bolsters existing activities within DEOI, DDL, and NetGain while fueling our capacity for innovation, including work on Tech Exchange, digital equity, Web3/crypto harms, AI, and other activities within the R&D portfolio that are supported entirely with unrestricted funds.

The Board of Advisors work on strategy should guide MDF’s efforts to affirm value-add and near-term priorities for use of our unrestricted funds, including priority setting for 2024. For 2024, fundraising for core-support should center MDF’s need for deep strategic planning work ahead of 2025, and appeals to legacy funders who understand MDF’s role as a catalyst. Coming out of this planning work, MDF should develop an intentional plan to increase unrestricted funding that may include the following tactics:

• Core support renewals/upgrades with current funding partners
• Spin out project fundraising strategy for ongoing work, such as Tech Exchange, Future Tech and mature R&D projects
• Conversion of top sub-project funders to core support, or mixed-capital investments
• One-on-one engagement with key prospects
• Email appeals (primarily through quarterly updates and annual reports)
• Op-eds and thought leadership
• Major donor briefings.

NetGain Partnership

Current funders

Democracy Fund

Ford Foundation

Knight Foundation

Luminate Group

MacArthur Foundation

Mozilla Foundation

Skoll Foundation

Wallace Global Fund

Wellspring

Lapsed funders

Open Society Foundations

Prospects

N/A

Since 2018, MDF has served as the strategic and management partner to the NetGain Partnership, a philanthropic collaboration that seeks to advance the public interest in the digital age. NetGain Partners include the Ford Foundation, Knight Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Mozilla Foundation, the Omidyar Group, Open Society Foundations, Skoll Foundation, Wallace Global Fund, and Wellspring Philanthropic Fund. Each partner contributes $250,000 annually toward the NetGain pooled fund, housed at MDF, as well as $250,000 toward grantmaking within their foundations that is aligned with NetGain’s priorities. MDF manages the proposal and reporting processes for all grants to the NetGain pooled fund.

Currently, the inclusion of new partners to NetGain is subject to approval by NetGain Presidents. MDF conducts information interviews with foundations interested in learning more about NetGain but does not actively fundraise on behalf of the partnership. Changes to MDF’s scope of work with NetGain are subject to approval by MDF’s Board of Advisors.

Four stages of MDF fundraising strategies (to date):

Founding (2004-2008):

• MDF was founded by Helen Brunner with a seed grant from the spend-down of the Albert A. List Foundation, which enabled a couple of years of fundraising resulting in ten funding partners in 2006
• Almost no one was funding in this area at the time, and fundraising meant selling the concept of the importance of technology policy to funders across a variety of issue areas – art, media, journalism
• Strongly based on personal relationships, funder education, and a compelling narrative about getting in on the ground floor of a major new thing. MDF annual meeting was one of only a very few places where funders could discuss tech policy issues at all
• Funding was entirely gen op
• Core lessons:
• MDF reinvention will depend on personal relationships and will require a clear and compelling narrative
• Properly realigning fundraising under the new vision may take a couple of years of concerted work

Early years (2009-2012):

• Increased stability caused by Ford and OSF committing more substantial regular grants, plus the Quixote Foundation (a small family foundation that really believed in the work)
• Low/no attrition of the funders that stuck around past the first year
• “One room schoolhouse” dynamic where bigger funders now started to have more spaces to discuss this work, but MDF meetings and events still remained important for them while being the primary/only place for smaller foundations to engage
• MDF organized fairly regular site visits and funder delegations to grantees, field conferences, etc.
• Funding continued to be primarily gen op, with some smaller projects
• Core lessons:
• The stability of regular gen op grants enables longer term strategy and risk taking that can position MDF as a thought leader and thus bring in more money
• Providing spaces (in both a physical and intellectual sense) for discussion and collaboration can be valuable for MDF as an organization and for the wider philanthropic field
• Funder delegations are an effective way of engaging both longstanding and prospective funders more directly with the work

Campaigning Years (2012-2016):

• Similar funding dynamic to the early years, supplemented by MDF beginning to fundraise using “sub-funds” like the Open Internet Defense Fund (net neutrality), copyright reform, surveillance & privacy, digital equity, digital security, etc. This strategy notably boosted MDF’s overall budget and also led to some stable gen op funders, but the percentage of gen op funding went down as foundations began to be able to selectively invest in the issues that were closer to their own core interests
• Ford, OSF & MDF were the three core funders of the space
• Some corporate funding/partnerships accepted, but were fundamentally extractive and fizzled quickly and unproductively
• Lots of funder education and organizing around our issues, in addition to direct fundraising
• Core lessons:
• Fundraising around discrete projects can be very effective, but carries the risk of raiding gen op funds
• Funder organizing and education can not only help fundraise but also directly serve our mission
• Corporate funding is a dead end for the work we want to do

Trump & NetGain Years (2017-2024):

• Significant rise in MDF’s overall budget numbers, as MDF’s projects garnered attention in their own right (most notably DDL, DEOI, and NetGain for the past several years). MDF pursued some funder-driven project grants that bore a resemblance to consultant contracts – Unicorn Fund, NetGain projects (even before the operational partnership)
• But this was accompanied by notable attrition among the original/ funders, and notable decrease in gen op funding in both percentages and dollars. There are a variety of reasons for this, for example:
• Quixote Foundation finished spending down, though donated its residual investment portfolio to MDF in a way that equated to a threeish year grant
• Andy Warhol Foundation decided we were no longer sufficiently focused on the rights and needs of visual artists online
• Robert W. Deutsch Foundation decided our work didn’t have enough to do with Baltimore
• Nathan Cummings Foundation underwent repeated major personnel changes and strategic shifts
• Wallace Global Fund is shifting personnel and strategy as they approach the final years of their spend-down
• The relationship with the Ford Foundation became tightly wrapped up with NetGain, as well as project based investments; they also moved to a two-year grant cycle without substantially boosting the overall amount, effectively halving our gen op grant
• OSF has been undergoing major personnel and strategic changes for years, with seemingly no end in sight
• Fundamentally, the fundraising efforts that previously went toward MDF general were redirected toward NetGain. As Amber would often put it, we brought our best ideas there first
• Some new gen op funders have joined (Kellogg, Tides), but not enough to replace the ones who have left
• MDF stopped holding its annual meetings shortly before the pandemic, and did not resume them afterward
• Core lessons:
• While project-based fundraising can continue to be an engine, gen op fundraising needs to be a priority for long term organizational health
• MDF’s needs must be prioritized over the desires of funders or potential funders
• Chasing a higher budget bottom line isn’t worthwhile if it comes at the expense of an overburdened staff and strategic flexibility