Giving Compass' Take:

• A new report came out saying that there are major disparities in funding for diversity and inclusion efforts in media and journalism. 

• How can philanthropists make diversity and inclusion work as funding priority? Why isn't money going into these efforts when there are proven benefits to diversity in the workplace? 

• Read about how journalists can strengthen collaboration with donors.

Journalism has long struggled to reflect the diversity of the communities it serves, and over the past decade, most efforts to support diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in news outlets have been unsuccessful in creating meaningful change within the stories, sources, and staff of newsrooms across the United States.

New research released today by Democracy Fund traces half a decade of philanthropic investment in organizations, programming, and research aimed at increasing DEI in journalism.

Recent research by the Shorenstein Center at Harvard and Northeastern University found that there is simply not enough philanthropic dollars flowing into journalism to make up for the gaps in what has been lost from legacy newsrooms.

Amongst the funding that does exist there are troubling gaps and disparities. Our report provides a deeper look at one of those gaps, showing that there are even fewer dollars are going to DEI efforts within the industry.

Here are a few interesting takeaways, according to data as of February 2018:

  • From 2009 to 2015, there were 1,105 grants totaling $105.6 million from 274 funders to 294 recipients pertaining to either racial and ethnic groups, women and girls, or LGBTQI populations.
  • Funding has declined in these areas overall, both in terms of dollar value by $1.3 million and total number of grants by 18.
  • When it comes to funding that serves racial and ethnic groups, relatively few dollars go towards financial sustainability compared to programming and project-specific funding.
  • There has been significantly less investment in gender-related news and staffing compared to racial and ethnic groups.
  • Funding serving LGBTQI populations in journalism remains extremely limited.

But tight budgets alone cannot explain the persistent gap in employment opportunities between minorities and their white counterparts seeking jobs in journalism. Nor does it excuse the historic leadership failure of legacy outlets to fulfill their promise to diversify their ranks.

Read the full article about lack of philanthropic support for diversity in journalism by Lea Trusty at Medium