The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is based in Miami, Florida, and supports journalism, arts and culture, and community development. Founded in 1950, it invests in the 26 cities and towns where the Knight brothers once published newspapers, as well as in national work connected to its program areas.
Key facts about John S and James L Knight Foundation
In short: John S and James L Knight Foundation gave $147.7M across 513 grants in 2024 (avg $288K), top state Florida. 47% of 2024 grantees were new. Source: 2024 IRS Form 990-PF.
- EIN
- 65-0464177
- Latest 990 filing
- Form 990-PF, 2024
- Annual giving (2024)
- $147,682,903
- Grants made (2024)
- 513
- Average grant
- $287,881
- Median grant
- $85,300
- New grantees (estimate)
- 47% first-time grantees (192 of 411, 2024)
- Total assets
- $2,533,415,674
- Primary geography
- Florida (27% of itemized 2024 grant dollars)
- Accepts unsolicited proposals
- No
- How to apply
- Knight says it does not accept unsolicited requests during its pause of the Letter of Inquiry process; it anticipates unveiling a refreshed process in spring 2025. Full details ↓
Data from IRS Form 990-PF, 2024; updated September 2026. New grantees are estimated by matching recipient names across years (methodology). Application details from Grantable's research on the foundation's public materials; confirm on its website before applying.
Financial Overview
From 2024 IRS Form 990-PF · View filing
Total Assets
$2.5B
+0.0% YoY
Annual Giving
$147.7M
+22.9% YoY
Grant Count
513
+23.3% YoY
Avg Grant Size
$288K
-0.3% YoY
Under IRS private-foundation payout rules, John S and James L Knight Foundation reported a distributable amount of $122.7M for 2024 — the minimum it must pay out in qualifying distributions.
Is John S and James L Knight Foundation open to new grantees?
47%
first-time grantees, 2024
In 2024, 192 of 411 grantees (47%) were first-time recipients. First grants averaged $102K; repeat grants $585K. How we count
Medians: $24K first-time, $250K repeat.
- 45% of 2024 grantees were also funded in 2023. Method
- In 2024 it paid out 146% of its IRS minimum distribution (the 5% rule). Method
Estimate from itemized grant lists in IRS Form 990-PF filings (2020–2024). Recipient names are matched across years, so a renamed or misspelled grantee can look new; grants to individuals are left out. Methodology.
Mission & Focus Areas
The foundation’s mission is to “ignite in every person the power to shape thriving communities.” Its four program areas are Journalism, Community Impact, Arts, and Information & Society. Its strategic focus areas—information ecosystems, economic mobility, and cultural vibrancy—can intersect across its grantmaking.
The foundation supports local journalism and community-driven efforts, as well as arts and cultural work. Examples of grantees’ own stated missions illustrate the range of organizations it funds: Civic News Company says it provides deep local coverage to increase public understanding of and participation in civic issues; the American Journalism Project describes itself as a venture philanthropy organization that supports local news organizations; and the Miami Foundation describes itself as a community foundation that connects people to knowledge, mobilizes them to action, and addresses challenges through collaboration.
Grantmaking
In filing year 2024, Knight reported 513 grants totaling $147,682,903. Grants ranged from $2,500 to $5 million, with a median of $85,300.
Review Cycle
, and selection criteria. Its general evaluation considerations include alignment with strategic priorities, a clear theory of change and measurable outcomes, community relevance and impact, organizational capacity, and innovation or field-building value.
How to Apply
. It may issue open calls for specific objectives; when it does, it posts eligibility, deadlines, and selection criteria. Its general evaluation considerations include alignment with strategic priorities, a clear theory of change and measurable outcomes, community relevance and impact, organizational capacity, and innovation or field-building value.
Open Grants
3 open opportunities from John S and James L Knight Foundation
Knight Foundation: Arts Grant Program - Knight Art + Tech Expansion Fund
John S and James L Knight Foundation
Amount
Up to US $100,000
Deadline
Rolling / Open
Knight Foundation: Community & National Initiatives
John S and James L Knight Foundation
Amount
Varies
Deadline
Rolling / Open
Knight Foundation: Journalism Grant Program
John S and James L Knight Foundation
Amount
Varies
Deadline
Rolling / Open
Ready to take the next step with John S and James L Knight Foundation?
Geographic Focus
Where this funder awards grants
Knight invests in the 26 communities where the Knight brothers once owned and operated newspapers. The communities listed by the foundation are Aberdeen, Akron, Biloxi, Boulder, Bradenton, Charlotte, Columbia, Columbus (Georgia), Detroit, Duluth, Fort Wayne, Gary, Grand Forks, Lexington, Long Beach, Macon, Miami, Milledgeville, Myrtle Beach, Palm Beach County, Philadelphia, San Jose, St. Paul, State College, Tallahassee, and Wichita.
In 2024, the largest shares of grant dollars by recipient state went to Florida (27%), New York (11%), Washington, D.C. (10%), California (8%), and Michigan (8%). For community grantmaking, Knight says it funds primarily in eight cities with resident program officers; in 18 other communities, it primarily works with community foundation leaders and local advisory committees to identify opportunities.
Grant Distribution by State
Share of 2024 grant dollars across all 513 itemized grants.
States
Cities
Giving Over Time
Total grant dollars and number of grants per year
From 2020 to 2024, annual grant giving ranged from $102.3M (2022) to $147.7M (2024). In 2024 it made 513 grants totaling $147.7M.
Grant Insights
How this funder distributes its grants
Top Recipients
Top 10 recipients in 2024
The largest 2024 recipient was The Miami Foundation ($18.0M across 24 grants). Together the top 10 received $44.7M.
Grant Size Distribution
1,836 grants across all recorded years
The most common grant size was under $50K: 604 grants of 1,836 (33%).
Giving History
Grant recipients and amounts by year
| Recipient | Purpose | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| The Associated Press New York, NY | To support the associated press to ensure state-based, public-service journalism is available in 50 states while ap devises a new local news business strategy to better position it for long-term sustainability. | $5,000,000 |
| Georgetown University Washington, DC | To sustain the institute, which will convene, support and provide accessible, actionable, nonpartisan insights to the stakeholders and institutions that design, operate, study and govern the digital information environment. | $4,000,000 |
| Groundtruth Project Inc Boston, MA | To recruit, hire, train and place reporters from a variety of experiences and backgrounds into local newsrooms, and build durable local revenue streams atop those positions to assure long-term support for community journalism. | $3,000,000 |
| The Miami Foundation Miami, FL | Support the growth, adaptation and diversification of newsmatch in the press forward era, to increase the competency of non-profit publishers seeking earned reader revenue. | $2,859,554 |
| The Miami Foundation Miami, FL | To foster healthy communities by aiding local news publishers in the production of fact-based state and local election reporting, with a focus on swing states in which this coverage will be particularly relevant and useful. | $2,800,000 |
| The Miami Foundation Miami, FL | To help local news organizations poised for statewide growth expand into new markets. | $2,703,000 |
| The Pew Charitable Trusts Philadelphia, PA | To support a five-year, co-branded partnership between knight and grantees subsidiary, the pew research center to study and widely share research on how americans absorb civic information; form beliefs, identities and community; and engage in civic action. | $2,500,000 |
| The Lenfest Institute for Journalism Special Assets Fund of TPF Philadelphia, PA | Create an accelerator supporting technology solutions essential for publishers and journalists to achieve their educational mission and help demonstrate the viability of solutions supporting local publishers' missions by accelerating the market. | $2,249,500 |
| The Miami Foundation Miami, FL | To supplement the elections integrity fund at the miami foundation, which fosters healthy communities by aiding local news publishers in the production of fact-based state and local election reporting, with a focus on swing states. | $2,100,000 |
| American Journalism Project DC, WA | To provide the lead investment in the American journalism project, (AJP) a first-of-its-kind venture philanthropy organization focused on growing and sustaining independent, nonpartisan, local civic news organizations. | $2,000,000 |
Financial History
Multi-year comparison from IRS filings
Amounts below are reported for each filing year.
| Filing year | Assets | Revenue | Expenses | Grants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | $2,533,415,674 | $139,912,312 | $239,590,667 | $147,682,903 |
| 2023 | $2,533,365,916 | $86,858,117 | $222,846,065 | $120,142,770 |
| 2022 | $2,465,124,931 | $66,937,027 | $147,423,086 | $102,293,248 |
The filing type is 990T.
| Metric | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Assets | $2,533,415,674 | $2,533,365,916 | $2,465,124,931 |
| Revenue | $139,912,312 | $86,858,117 | $66,937,027 |
| Expenses | $239,590,667 | $222,846,065 | $147,423,086 |
| Qualifying Distributions | $179,620,479 | $153,837,774 | $129,925,405 |
| Net Investment Income | $196,118,547 | $135,478,027 | — |
| Distributable Amount | $122,728,376 | $121,666,845 | $133,060,016 |
Data update history
When this profile's IRS filing data changed on Grantable
- IRS filings on file for fiscal years 2020–2024
Leadership & Key People
Leadership team and compensation from IRS filings
The 2024 filing lists Christopher M. Austen as chairman and trustee effective March 2024, and Frank Borges as chairman and trustee through March 2024. Trustees listed include Martin Baron, Stephanie Bell-Rose, Shona Brown, Adriana M. Cisneros, Austin Clements, Ana-Marie Codina, Ramona Hood, and Susan D. Kronick, who served through March 2024.
John S and James L Knight Foundation is led by Maribel Perez Wadsworth, President & CEO since 2024 (on filings since 2023); 17 of 25 officers listed in 2024 are compensated.
Officers on the 2024 filing
Maribel Perez Wadsworth
President & CEO
President & CEO - Elect → President & CEO, 2024
On filings since 2023
40 hrs/week
$3K (2023) → $876K (2024)
Christopher M. Austen
Chairman & Trustee
Trustee → Chairman & Trustee, 2024
On filings since 2020
2 hrs/week
$45K (2020) → $0 (2024)
Frank Borges
Chairman & Trustee
On filings since 2020
2 hrs/week
No compensation reported
Adriana M. Cisneros
Trustee
On filings since 2020
2 hrs/week
$40K (2020) → $40K (2024)
Christine Amer Mayer
Trustee
On filings since 2020
2 hrs/week
$40K (2020) → $45K (2024)
Austin Clements
Trustee
On filings since 2022
2 hrs/week
$40K (2022) → $40K (2024)
Ramona Hood
Trustee
On filings since 2022
2 hrs/week
$40K (2022) → $40K (2024)
Charles Frank Olson
Trustee
On filings since 2023
2 hrs/week
$40K (2023) → $40K (2024)
Matthew Stephen Stepka
Trustee
On filings since 2023
2 hrs/week
$40K (2023) → $40K (2024)
Michael Marsicano
Trustee
On filings since 2023
2 hrs/week
$40K (2023) → $40K (2024)
Anna Spangler Nelson
Trustee
On filings since 2020
2 hrs/week
No compensation reported
Martin Baron
Trustee
On filings since 2020
2 hrs/week
No compensation reported
Shona Brown
Trustee
On filings since 2020
2 hrs/week
No compensation reported
Stephanie Bell-Rose
Trustee
On filings since 2020
2 hrs/week
No compensation reported
Susan D. Kronick
Trustee
On filings since 2020
2 hrs/week
No compensation reported
Ana-Marie Codina
Trustee
New on the 2024 filing
2 hrs/week
No compensation reported
Jorge Martinez
Vice President & CTO
On filings since 2020
40 hrs/week
$257K (2020) → $288K (2024)
Juan J. Martinez
Vice President, CFO & Treasurer
On filings since 2020
40 hrs/week
$362K (2020) → $396K (2024)
Terese Curiel
Vice President, Administrator & Secretary
On filings since 2020
40 hrs/week
$269K (2020) → $330K (2024)
Victoria Rogers
Vice President & Arts
On filings since 2020
40 hrs/week
$279K (2020) → $324K (2024)
Alejandro De Onis
Vice President, Comms. & Digital Strat.
On filings since 2022
40 hrs/week
$186K (2022) → $269K (2024)
Ashley Zohn
Vice President, Learning & Impact
On filings since 2022
40 hrs/week
$271K (2022) → $312K (2024)
James M. Brady
Vice President & Journalism
On filings since 2022
40 hrs/week
$295K (2022) → $319K (2024)
Kelly Jin
Vice President, Communities & Nat'l
On filings since 2022
40 hrs/week
$317K (2022) → $352K (2024)
Roshell Rinkins
Vice President, Grant Administrator & Cdeio
On filings since 2022
40 hrs/week
$257K (2022) → $231K (2024)
Former officers (10)
- Former: Alberto Ibarguen (2020–2023) — President & CEO
- Former: Beverly Knight Olson (2020–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Ray Rodriguez (2020–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Ana-Marie Codina Barlick (2022–2023) — Trustee
- Former: Jennifer Preston (2020–2022) — Former Vice President & Journalism
- Former: John Palfrey (2020–2022) — Trustee
- Former: William H. Considine (2020–2022) — Trustee
- Former: Heidi Barker (2022) — Former Vice President, Comms. & Cdeio
- Former: Andrew Sherry (2020) — Vice President & Communications
- Former: Samsher Gill (2020) — Senior Vice President & Cpo
Data from IRS Form 990 filings, 2020–2024. "On filings since" is the earliest filing we hold that lists the person; hours are average hours per week as reported.
Compensation Overview
From 2024 IRS filing
The highest reported compensation on the 2024 filing was $876K, to Maribel Perez Wadsworth (President & CEO). 17 officers or directors reported compensation on that filing.
Contact
Mailing address: 2850 Tigertail Avenue Ste 600, Miami, FL 33133
Phone: (305) 908-2600
Website: https://knightfoundation.org
Frequently asked questions about John S and James L Knight Foundation
How much does John S and James L Knight Foundation give each year?
John S and James L Knight Foundation gave $147.7M across 513 grants in 2024, according to its 2024 IRS Form 990-PF. In 2023 it gave $120.1M across 416 grants.
What is John S and James L Knight Foundation's typical grant size?
John S and James L Knight Foundation's median grant in 2024 was $85,300, and its average grant was $287,881, across 513 grants on its 2024 IRS Form 990-PF. Organizations receiving their first grant from John S and James L Knight Foundation that year got $102K on average.
Where does John S and James L Knight Foundation give grants?
John S and James L Knight Foundation's top state is Florida, with 27% of the grant dollars itemized on its 2024 IRS Form 990-PF. The next largest states were New York (11%) and District of Columbia (10%). The most frequent recipient cities were Miami, FL (106 grants), New York, NY (35 grants), Washington, DC (31 grants) and Charlotte, NC (23 grants).
Does John S and James L Knight Foundation give general operating support?
Yes: 25% of John S and James L Knight Foundation's 2024 grants with a stated purpose (126 of 513) were for general or operating support, per its 2024 IRS Form 990-PF.
Who are John S and James L Knight Foundation's largest grantees?
John S and James L Knight Foundation's largest 2024 grantees include The Miami Foundation ($17,951,682 across 24 grants), The Associated Press ($5,000,000) and Georgetown University ($4,840,000 across 2 grants), according to its 2024 IRS Form 990-PF. Together they received 19% of its itemized 2024 grant dollars.
How large is John S and James L Knight Foundation?
John S and James L Knight Foundation reported $2.5B in total assets on its 2024 IRS Form 990-PF. It paid out $179.6M in qualifying distributions that year, against a required minimum of $122.7M (roughly 5% of its investment assets).
What does John S and James L Knight Foundation fund?
The foundation’s mission is to “ignite in every person the power to shape thriving communities.” Its four program areas are Journalism, Community Impact, Arts, and Information & Society. See mission & focus areas ↑
How do I apply for a grant from John S and James L Knight Foundation?
Knight says it does not accept unsolicited requests during its pause of the Letter of Inquiry process; it anticipates unveiling a refreshed process in spring 2025. Eligibility and process details are in the grantmaking section of this profile. See how to apply ↑
What is John S and James L Knight Foundation's EIN?
John S and James L Knight Foundation's EIN (Employer Identification Number) is 65-0464177. IRS Form 990 filing data is available on this page for 2020–2024.
Does John S and James L Knight Foundation accept unsolicited proposals?
No, according to Grantable's research on the foundation's published guidelines. See how to apply ↑
Data last updated September 2026. Sourced from IRS Form 990-PF filings. Research dossier generated September 2026.
Here's the math on researching John S and James L Knight Foundation by hand.
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