Three Things for the week of November 23, 2020
Three items from journalism, media and the nonprofit sector worth noting.
Foundations Have Increased Giving and Loosened Restrictions Since Pandemic
The urgency to address the crises of COVID-19 and the long-standing structural inequities and racism has increased the call for the funders to act with more immediacy and increased funding to address the unprecedented challenges of 2020.
The Center for Effective Philanthropy turned to foundation leaders for answers to these pressing questions. As Foundations Respond to Crisis: A Moment of Transformation? shows, foundation leaders are reevaluating and making significant changes to their practices in 2020 — including loosening or eliminating grant restrictions, increasing their spending levels, and placing a newfound emphasis on listening to grantees and the communities they serve.
This study is the first in a series of three reports CEP will release examining the extent to which foundations have changed their practices to meet the unprecedented challenges of 2020. The second report in the series will focus on how foundations are reckoning with racism and supporting communities — Black, Latino, Native American, immigrant, low-income, and people with disabilities — hit hardest by the pandemic; the third will look at how they are being more flexible and responsive.
UT’s The Center for Media Engagement: News Distrust Among Black Americans is a Fixable Problem
The University of Texas’ Center for Media Engagement asked Black Americans how news organizations could better cover their communities to help bridge the divide between them and the media. The research reveals the a number of approaches that journalists can take to help bridge the divide between the media and Black communities. This includes:
Find “Black Joy”: Intentionally cover positive stories about Black people and communities, rather than focusing coverage on police brutality or protests.
Provide a More Complete Story: Develop more sources in Black communities and tell stories that include their points of view, rather than overly rely on official government sources.
Diversify Blackness: Don’t treat one neighborhood or community as “Black people.” Instead, realize that Black people live throughout your coverage area and that their needs and beliefs are not all the same.
Explore Your Own Unconscious Biases: Think about the decisions you make about what stories to cover and how you cover those stories, even if it makes you uncomfortable.
Hire Black Journalists: Make a real commitment to hiring diverse staff at all levels.
Connect with Black Communities: Build trust by finding ways to make connections in Black communities before big news happens. Consider getting involved in local causes or community events
The study identified four main issues regarding the perceptions that Black Americans have of the news media. These range from not being trusted storytellers to the fact that most journalists aren’t well known in Black communities.
In addition, many participants in the survey felt coverage of their communities lacked context and was one-sided and incomplete.
Finally, there was a stark disconnect between Black Americans’ expectations — how they felt the media should cover their communities — compared with their evaluations — how they believed the media actually does cover their communities.
The full report is available here.
As volunteer numbers plummet and demand for services skyrockets in the pandemic, nonprofits are struggling to provide services.
Fidelity Charitable recently found that volunteering was down by two-thirds across the board. The Volunteer Match website found that nearly half of volunteer opportunities had been canceled, down from 93 percent in March. Some groups are looking for increased donations to pay for the labor that volunteers used to provide, which one estimate valued at $27.20 an hour. Others are searching for safer ways to use volunteers, many of whom are in the older, high-risk category for Covid. A guide-dog training charity in Portland asked some to take their dogs home temporarily and to absorb the costs of their care, while a women’s shelter in Tucson, Ariz., is having its kitchen volunteers do as much cooking at home as possible.