Philanthropic support for journalism in Canada is in its infancy, but evidence to date suggests that even on a modest scale it can propel powerful reporting that makes a difference.

Foundations in Canada are tentatively stepping up with funding to help address the financial and technical disruptions that have undermined the production of civic, investigative and other forms of journalism essential to democracy society.

By our count, at least three dozen Canadian foundations have now funded the activities of media outlets. Support is constrained, however, by two realities. The first is that demand for charitable services is at an all-time high, so there is major competition for scarce philanthropic dollars. The second is that news organizations and organized philanthropy are still relative strangers. For a culture of philanthropic giving to journalism to thrive, the two sides need to become better acquainted.

This need for mutual understanding is the premise behind Funding Journalism, a bilingual series of publications designed to demystify journalism philanthropy in Canada. Inspirit Foundation, in partnership with the Local News Research Project at Toronto Metropolitan University, the Canadian Association of Journalists and Philanthropic Foundations Canada, Canada’s national philanthropic network, created the three resources over the past 18 months.

The series includes a practical Guide for Canadian Philanthropy for foundations interested in supporting journalism. The target audience for the companion document, Guide to Philanthropic Support for Canadian Media, includes leaders at nonprofit and for-profit media organizations who want to explore philanthropy as a revenue source. Both guides build on five case studies of media outlets in Canada that have received foundation support.

Mutual need, mutual benefit

The challenges faced by Canada’s journalism sector mirror global trends. The migration of advertising revenue to tech platforms, the fragmentation of audiences, and layoffs that have hollowed out reporting capacity have all contributed to newsroom closures. Over five hundred local media outlets shut down between 2008 and June 1 2024, while only about half as many launched. Other symptoms of decline include the steady erosion of public trust in media, a pattern of threats to press freedom and uncertainty surrounding the future of funding for the national public broadcaster.

There are also distinct Canadian issues. August 2024 will mark one year since Meta blocked access to news content on Facebook and Instagram in response to the federal government’s Online News Act. Following passage of the act, which requires the big tech companies to compensate news outlets for posting news content on their platforms, Canadian media have seen significant declines in audience engagement.

In 2019, the government also introduced policy changes with direct implications for journalism philanthropy. Most notably, it created a ‘registered journalism organization (RJO)’ designation that allows qualifying media organizations to receive direct funding from charitable foundations and exempts them from income taxes.

To date, however, only 11 journalism organizations have RJO status. And, in our conversations with journalists and grantmaking organizations, it became clear that many of them are either unaware of or have a limited understanding of the new regulations. A key goal of the Funding Journalism series is to demystify these rules and to outline other funding mechanisms foundations can use to work with independent nonprofit and for-profit media organizations.

The guides also point to best practices for protecting editorial independence in funding relationships, realistic approaches for measuring the impact of journalism funding, and the use of philanthropic support to build more diverse newsrooms and expand coverage to include groups and issues that have long been ignored or misrepresented.

Philanthropy is not a silver bullet that will address all of journalism’s financial woes. The commitments by Canadian foundations are still a tiny fraction of what is unfolding south of the border. There is no Canadian equivalent to the $500 million USD PressForward fund for local journalism in the United States or the Media Forward Fund, launched last month by a group of German, Swiss and Austrian funders.

By far the largest charitable contribution to date in Canada is the $50 million CAD donated to La Presse by the Desmarais family in 2018 when the newspaper transitioned to nonprofit status. Most grants from foundations are pocket change by comparison.

There are indications, however, that even the limited commitments to date are paying off big time in terms of advancing the public interest.

The Narwhal and the Toronto Star, for instance, recently won the prestigious Michener Award for Public Service Journalism for coverage that led Ontario Premier Doug Ford to reverse his government’s scandal-plagued approval of housing developments on protected Greenbelt lands surrounding Toronto. The Narwhal receives funding from Canadian environmentally-focused funders, including the Metcalf Foundation and the Echo Foundation.

In British Columbia, IndigiNews, an Indigenous-led newsroom, has been reporting on the provincial government’s now discontinued use of birth alerts, which resulted in a disproportionate number of Indigenous babies taken from their mothers. Their coverage informed a subsequent class action lawsuit on behalf of parents subjected to this practice. The news outlet’s funders include the McConnell Foundation, which supports reconciliation efforts between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, and Inspirit Foundation, which works to advance social inclusion and pluralism.

Journalism philanthropy is not about saving the media industry. As the examples above demonstrate, support for quality journalism helps news organizations serve the public interest. It can also help foundations advance their mandates by equipping people with the information they need to participate in democracy, putting issues on the public agenda, and conveying information that can rewrite dominant narratives and spur action.

Our attempts to introduce journalists to philanthropy and philanthropists to journalism have resulted in dozens of questions and queries. Both sides, it turns out, want to play a part in an evolving story of mutual need and mutual benefit. Let the dollars flow.

Ana Sofía Hibon is a Program Manager at the Inspirit Foundation, a Toronto-based public foundation that supports arts and media to advance an inclusive and pluralist Canada.

April Lindgren is a Professor at the Toronto Metropolitan University School of Journalism, and principal investigator for the Local News Research Project