John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
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The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is an American private, non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting journalism and supporting the vitality of 26 communities where the Knight Brothers owned newspapers.
It began as the Knight Memorial Education Fund in 1940. For its first decade, most contributions came from the Akron Beacon Journal and Miami Herald.
Following the practices of their father Charles Landon Knight, John S. Knight and James L. Knight gave small grants for journalistic causes.
After Creed Black assumed the presidency in 1988, the foundation's national presence grew. In 1990 the board of trustees voted to relocate the foundation's headquarters from Akron, Ohio to Miami, Florida.
The foundation was renamed the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation on 1 January 1993.
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[edit] Programs
Funding in 2006 was distributed according to three programs. They are the Journalism Program, the Communities Program, and the National Program. Additionally, Knight Foundation has funded programs outside the basic three as in the case of Emergency Grantmaking (Hurricanes Andrew, Mitch, and Katrina; and for the September 11th Attacks).
Each of the three programs uses a set of funding priorities to select grants, described on the foundation's web site.
Communities which had Knight-Ridder Newspapers in them in 1991 at the time of the last founder James L. Knight's death are considered to be the 26 "Knight Communities", a consideration for funding eligibility in its Communities Program.
The 26 Knight Communities are:
Aberdeen, South Dakota
Akron, Ohio
Biloxi, Mississippi
Boulder, Colorado
Bradenton, Florida
Charlotte, North Carolina
Columbia, South Carolina
Columbus, Georgia
Duluth, Minnesota
Detroit, Michigan
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Gary, Indiana
Grand Forks, North Dakota
Lexington, Kentucky
Long Beach, California
Macon, Georgia
Milledgeville, Georgia
Miami, Florida
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
Palm Beach County, Florida
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
State College, Pennsylvania
Saint Paul, Minnesota
San Jose, California
Tallahassee, Florida
Wichita, Kansas
[edit] Leadership
Knight Foundation presidents have been: John S. Knight, Ben Maidenburg, Lee Hills, Creed C. Black, Hodding Carter III (1997-2005) and Alberto Ibargüen (2005-present).
[edit] Grants
In 2005, the Foundation approved about $78 million in grants, and ended 2005 with $2.07 billion in assets. To apply for a grant an organization must be a registered section 501(c)(3) non-profit organization based in the United States.
