Overcoming doubts and finding value-aligned funders

Join us on Tuesday, May 16 at 11 a.m. PT/2 p.m ET for an intimate conversation with Wendi C. Thomas, founder of MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, and Amethyst Davis, founder of The Harvey World Herald, as they discuss overcoming doubts and finding value-aligned funders to support community-centered journalism that makes a difference. This event is sponsored by The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Black women are starting businesses at the fastest clip of any other racial group. Many of these startup don’t reach their full potential — or fail — in part because they can’t raise the capital to start or sustain their businesses. 

Following George Floyd’s death, and for the first time, Black women entrepreneurs received 1 percent of funding. A year later, even that small gain had dissipated by the end of 2022 as donors returned to their pre-racial reckoning funding behaviors, according to data from Crunchbase. When it comes to journalism funding, the story is no different. Black and Hispanic women founders are considered riskier bets because they differ from the norm that funders are accustomed to. In truth, Black and Latina-led startups fail at a significantly lower rate than other startups, according to Project Diane, which produces research on Black and Latina entrepreneurs.  

My latest report found that nearly 55% of BIPOC founders, like Davis, who answered questions about the health of their organizations indicated that they had cash on hand to sustain operations for three months or fewer.

The National Trust for Local News and Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY’s Center for Community Media had similar findings in their recently released report, stating 53% of surveyed BIPOC-led and serving newsrooms expected to go out of business within five years if current revenue trends continue. 

Six years into confronting her doubts about building a sustainable newsroom, Thomas’ MLK50 has grown into a nine-person staff, its journalists have won numerous awards, and they were recently awarded a $2 million grant from the Ford Foundation.

Davis is at a similar point Thomas was after launching MLK50— teetering on the edge of greatness while facing critically insufficient funding support.

This conversation between Wendi and Amethyst — who are both forging change for their communities and for journalism in general — will bring to light what’s possible for community-focused news media if only they have the same access to philanthropic dollars that their white counterparts have.

We’re bringing these two phenomenal founders together to discuss overcoming doubts and finding value-aligned funders who’ll support their game-changing civic news and information.

I hope you’ll join us for this powerful – and power-shifting – conversation.