How much funding does Knight Foundation provide?

Knight Foundation awards $5K – $1M+ depending on program.

Who can apply for Knight Foundation grants?

Knight grants are typically restricted to: 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations in the United States Educational institutions (colleges, universities, K–12 schools) Government agencies working in the Knight communities Fiscally sponsored projects with a…

Knight Foundation Grants

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

A national foundation focused on informed and engaged communities — funding journalism, the arts, and the success of cities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers.

Foundation JournalismArts26 communitiesOpen Calls

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Funding Amount

$5K – $1M+ depending on program

Deadline

Open Calls run on rotating schedules

Grant Type

foundation

Overview

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is a national foundation with a distinctive geographic footprint: it funds work in 26 U.S. communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers (including Akron, Charlotte, Detroit, Macon, Miami, Philadelphia, San Jose, St. Paul, and 18 others). Outside those communities, it funds journalism and the arts at a national level.

Knight's funding programs:

Journalism — Knight is the largest U.S. private funder of journalism, supporting press freedom, local news sustainability, public-interest journalism, and digital innovation through outlets like the Knight News Innovation Fellowships, the Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund, and the Knight Election Hub.
Arts — Funding for visual and performing arts organizations in the Knight communities (especially Detroit, Miami, Philadelphia, and St. Paul), plus national programs like the Knight Arts + Tech Fellowship.
Communities — Place-based funding for civic infrastructure, public spaces, and local economic mobility in the 26 Knight communities.
Learning and Impact — Research on the role of informed communities in democracy.
Knight Open Calls — Periodic open competitions on themes like public spaces, trust in news, AI and elections, and the future of cities. Awards typically range from $25K to $500K.

Knight gives away about $140 million per year, with roughly half going through proactive program-officer-led grantmaking and half through Open Calls.

Eligibility

Knight grants are typically restricted to:

501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations in the United States
Educational institutions (colleges, universities, K–12 schools)
Government agencies working in the Knight communities
Fiscally sponsored projects with a qualified fiscal sponsor

Most place-based programs require that the work happens in one of the 26 Knight communities. National journalism and arts programs are open to organizations anywhere in the U.S.

Individual journalists, artists, and researchers are generally not eligible to apply directly — they participate through fellowship programs administered by Knight's grantee partners (like the Tow-Knight Center at CUNY).

How to Apply

Watch knightfoundation.org/apply for open invitations. Knight does not accept unsolicited proposals — every grant flows through either an Open Call or a program-officer-initiated invitation.
For Open Calls — read the call carefully, draft a short Letter of Intent (LOI) by the deadline, and wait for an invitation to submit a full proposal.
For non-Open-Call funding — make yourself visible to program officers. Publish your work, attend Knight-sponsored convenings (Knight Media Forum, Knight Arts + Tech Forum, etc.), and apply to Knight-funded fellowships and accelerators.
Be in a Knight community if you're seeking place-based funding. Outside the 26 cities, focus on Knight's national journalism and arts programs.
Decision timelines vary by program — Open Calls typically run 4–6 months from announcement to award.