January 30, 2019, Julie Zeglen - Generocity
Local nonprofits and funders have been adhering to the trend of collaboration over competition for the sake of increased effectiveness and resource sharing. Media, too.
That’s why a new Lenfest Institute of Journalism fund is supporting collaboration in journalism, nonprofits and beyond: Its Philadelphia Ecosystem Collaboration Fund is giving $150,000 in “planning or prototype grants” of up to $25,000 each to collaborative projects related to information sharing in the region.
Apps, which opened in October, were open to nonprofits, for-profits and individuals, as long as their projects had something to do with local news and the information ecosystem — “things that help people know what’s going on in their communities and live their lives as active, engaged citizens in a democracy,” said Burt Herman, director of innovation programs for the nonprofit institute, which was created in 2016 by the late philanthropist Gerry Lenfest and is the owner of Philadelphia Media Network.