Blueprint: Theories of change, strategies and logic model

As you may know, we have revised our grantmaking strategy to focus on building an informed, news-literate and engaged citizenry through quality content, audience education and protection of press freedoms. To help you understand our program goals and targets, we are sharing a copy of our working evaluation logic model. As with most strategic planning and evaluation tools, our logic model is a work in progress. Later this year, we will unveil a logic model extension that focuses on news literacy. 

We welcome your feedback and thoughts on our working logic model. 


Download the logic model> 

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Listening to You

The Feb. 1 Director’s Notes covered results of our recent Customer Service Survey. Some 128 grantees, former grantees and organizations declined funding participated in the anonymous survey.

The Journalism Program first asked for our customer opinions in 2008 and in response made a number of procedural changes. (Incidentally, we showed incremental improvement in nearly all customer service categories in 2011 when compared with the 2008 results.)

Last month, we shared the findings with other McCormick Foundation programs. After reviewing the results, some of our colleagues plan to launch similar customer service surveys later this year.

We take this “pulse of the customer” stuff very seriously and now will undertake surveys every other year.  The data will become a permanent part of our learning agenda.

Here are some other changes we are making in response to the 2011 survey results:

• We are issuing regular e-newsletters that will include information about the Journalism Program and its grantees. Also, you may have noticed an updated layout for our blog, including the punchier nickname M3 (McCormick Media Matters).
• We will publish our evaluation logic model later this month.
• We are actively soliciting grantees for quotes, interviews, photos, videos and ideas for postings.  Check out our Best of, Brainstorm, Blueprint and Backto You features.
• A year-end recap to explain the realities of funding and chances of success. 
• We will attempt to customize decline letters to better explain why proposals were declined. Some proposals are bad fits. Many others are declined because of limited funds during a highly selective process.  
• We will continue to accept letters of inquiry year-round for grant requests of less than $50,000.  They will be reviewed by staff in February, July and November. Top McCormick management approval is   required before grants can be paid out. We will attempt to release grant checks of $50,000 or less in March, August and December.
• Letters of inquiry for grants of more than $50,000 must be submitted by May 1, 2012. These proposals will be reviewed by our Board of Directors in September and paid out in January of 2013.

The Feb. 15 Director’s Notes will provide details of a new online letter of inquiry and proposal process tied to our grant management process.

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Director's Notes: Update on 2011 Letters of Inquiry

The Journalism Program has finished its initial discussion on the submitted letters of inquiry.

We received more than 150 LOIs by the May 2 deadline.

After the first round of reviews, we have about 60 proposals still in the mix for 2012 grant consideration.

The next step is to determine how each of these potentially fits into our 2011-2013 portfolios. All applicants will be notified about the status of their proposals by May 31.

We are now assessing internally, based on out logic model, to what degree each cluster of proposals helps further our strategic goals. This year, for the first time, we’ll be asking groups to share with the Foundation a logic model for their projected work as part of their full proposal.

Questions going forward for us to address include:

• What changes are we seeking in journalism content, audience and rights?
• How are we influencing that change?
• Are there coalitions, collaborations and partnerships that will us achieve our goals?
• How can we best leverage our resources?
• How can we build successful models and reach scalability of our initiatives?
• What is the balance of quality content, engaged audiences and strong press freedoms that generates maximum impact on news literacy and civic engagement?

We will keep you periodically posted on our progress.

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Director's Notes: May Day! May Day!

The deadline for 2012 grant proposals is going, going, gone (EOB on May 2).

Each year, we typically receive more than 200 proposals requesting about $17 million in funding for various journalism projects.

In 2012, our budget is expected to be less than $6 million. However, prior commitments for 2012 already have eaten $2.2 million of that amount.

Evaluating new proposals is perhaps the most challenging aspect of my job.

I am reminded of a recent Chicago Sun-Times obituary on the passing of one its former staff members. Ruth Dunbar Davee, 99, had a distinguished career as a Sun-Times education writer after earning a doctoral degree in English literature from Northwestern University. When her husband Ken passed away in 1998, she became executive director of the Davee Foundation. 

As a philanthropist, Davee found that giving money away is easy. The hard part, she discovered, was the difficulty of grantmaking and proper stewardship.

And that’s the challenge we face at the McCormick Foundation Journalism Program. 

Next week, we will begin reviewing the latest proposals. Applicants will hear from us by the end of June.

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Director's Notes: April Update

April is the cruelest month, breeding

Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing

Memory and desire, stirring

Dull roots with spring rain.

T.S. Eliot called it “The Waste Land”.

We call April exciting.

The news media conference season is in full swing, spring journalism classes are running at full tilt and the Journalism Program’s deadline for letters of inquiry is fast approaching. Click here to learn how to apply.

Some of our recent highlights include:

• Hosting the McCormick Foundation High School Media Awards, which recognizes the best in student journalism in the Chicago area. The April 15 luncheon at the Chicago Cultural Center honored 12 schools in 24 categories. Lane Tech College Prep High School won the most awards, while Mike Stanton of Whitney Young Magnet High School was named High School Journalist of the Year. For the first time in the event’s 19-year history, two principals were acknowledged for their leadership in protecting and defending press freedoms. The Scholastic Press Association of Chicago, which is based at Roosevelt University, coordinated the event. For a complete set of winners, click here.

• A new International Center for Journalists course that is equipping a corps of U.S. Spanish-speaking journalists with skills needed to be multimedia trainers in their newsrooms. Participating journalists represent such prominent news organizations at NPR, CNN, CBS News, Univision, Telemundo, the Sun-Sentinel of Florida and Hoy of Chicago. Click here to learn more about “Lideres Digitales: Creating a New Generation of Spanish-Language Multimedia Trainers.” Click here for more information.

• Attending a ‘two-fer” in San Diego, the annual conferences of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the Inter American Press Association. These piggy-backed events focused on innovation, leadership and press freedoms. ASNE’s annual survey of newsroom employment showed a very slim increase in jobs after three years of downturns. However, the percentage of minorities in newsroom slipped nearly a half a point to 12.8 percent. IAPA also awarded the MF Journalism Program a spiffy plaque for 16 years of funding in support of the Chapultepec Project, which promotes and defends press freedoms in the Americas.

• The Berkeley-based Center for Investigative Reporting hosted a management and sustainability workshop for more than 30 journalists, many of them members of the Investigative News Network. The MF-funded event allowed these superb journalists to concentrate on the more mundane back-shop issues that may determine the fates of their fledgling news organizations. Click here to learn more. Maggie Mulvihill, co-director of the New England Center for Investigative Reporting at Boston University emailed me that not-for-profit watchdog reporting “is truly a movement that has much potential for public good. It is heartening to know that McCormick has put some money behind the INN effort.”

• Supporting the Chicago Community Trust’s “Community News Matters” project. The funders announced that 31 journalists and news organizations would receive a total of $110,000 to purse reporting on important issues impacting low-income neighborhoods in Chicago.

• Hosting Manal S. El Moteay of the Cairo-based Media-Arts for Development. The Egyptian youth media trainer is visiting Chicago student journalism organizations and colleges to give a first-hand account of the political revolution that will forever reshape her country. Manal also is sharing her vision for an ambitious youth media center project offering scholarships, internship, leadership programs and media arts training for tens of thousands of Egyptian students. She and a colleague also are speaking at Columbia College (6 p.m. on April 20 in Room 219, 33 E. Wacker). Click here to view their work.

• Piloting an American Press Institute career development and branding workshop for independent journalists. The April 8 training at Northwestern University focused on how an authentic and relevant personal brand gives journalists a competitive edge in the employment and freelance marketplace.

• Finally, kudos to grantee Intersections South Los Angeles, which recently received four-star treatment in a Columbia Journalism Review feature story. The nonprofit news site, headed by University of Southern California journalism professor Willa Seidenberg, is a charter member of the MF-funded Youth Media Los Angeles Collaborative.

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How to Apply

Letter of Inquiry (LOI) due by May 2, 2011

1. Before submitting a full proposal, the organization should fill out an application cover sheet and compose a two- to three-page letter of inquiry. Please keep within the page count limit.
2. The letter should outline the following: the program’s nature, purpose, need, proposed timeline and cost. It should also address the qualifications of the organization and how the program fits into the Journalism Program’s strategy.
3. E-mail your cover sheet and letter of inquiry to the attention of Aaron Smith, Administrative Officer, at asmith@mccormickfoundation.org. You will receive an e-mail confirming that your letter has been received.
4. The staff will review your proposal by June 10, 2011. We will either send you a decline letter or be touch with questions or requests for additional information. If your project is selected to be considered for funding, we will request a full proposal. Proposal components are outlined below.

Full Proposal (invitation only), due June 30, 2011

If your organization is invited to submit a full proposal, you will be asked to prepare a project narrative using the subheads below. In some instances, this information will elaborate on wording in the LOI. Please format your Word document using Times New Roman, 12 point font, single spaced. When possible, please use bullet points to break up complex program descriptions.


Program

• Describe your program in detail.
• Include clearly stated goals and objectives.
• Include a project activities timeline.
• If your program involves a partner or partners, describe why you have chosen them.

Organization

• Describe your organization's background, history and mission
• Include the overall goals of the organization.
• List current programs and activities, emphasizing major achievements of the past two years.

Need

• Include a needs statement describing the issue and who the program will serve.
• Describe how your strategy compares with or differs from others in the field.
• Describe how the proposed project will address the identified need.
• What research supports your idea?

Fit

• Describe how your project addresses one of the Journalism Program's three grantmaking initiatives (Content, Audience or Rights).

Impact & Measurement

• Describe your plans for assessing the results and impact of the project. For example, how will your organization track, measure, and monitor progress toward meeting outputs, outcomes, and key milestones during and at the end of the grant period?
• How do you plan to share with others the obstacles you’ve met along the way, the failures encountered, or the best practices and lessons learned from carrying out this initiative?
• Detail how your organization will recognize the McCormick Foundation as a funder of your project or activity.

Project Budget

• Describe any unusual or specific circumstances about the funding request and provide an explanation.
• Describe why the proposed budget is realistic and reasonable in relation to the specific grant results you have identified.
• What is your sustainability strategy?

• Please download and use the attached budgeting form to show your budget for the program for which you're requesting funding. If you are proposing a multiple-year grant, you must provide a projected budget for each requested funding year.

Organizational Budget

• Provide an operating budget for your organization that includes income and expense projections pertaining to the fiscal year in which the project will take place. Feel free to submit in a format that is convenient for you—there is no required form or worksheet.

Funders

• List your top five funders and amount of support for fiscal year 2010.This list should include the name of the corporation/foundation/individual, amount, and purpose of the donations.

Board of Directors

• Provide the most recent list of your Board of Directors.
• Please list their name and job title on the first line, and the principal business or professional affiliation on the second. Please provide this in Word Document format.

Other Required Attachments

• Most recent audited financial report.
• Tax exempt certificate. This signed form certifies the organization's current tax-exempt status. Please download this form to sign.
• IRS tax determination letter / 501(c)(3). We require a copy of the most recent tax determination letter issued to your organization (or your fiscal agent) by the IRS. It should include your federal tax identification number and the date your organization (or fiscal agent) was awarded tax-exempt status. (If this information is not printed on the letter, it should be written in manually at the top or bottom.) This is NOT the state tax exemption certification. We will need all applicable components for the registered 501(c)(3) organization by June 30, 2011. In some instances, where fiscal agents or universities are involved, the intended grantee is not the same as the entity carrying out the proposed initiative. In such cases the foundation needs all the applicable documents for both organizations (i.e. the university’s fundraising foundation and the center/organization applying for funding).

Please contact Aaron Smith (asmith@mccormickfoundation.org) with questions.

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Journalism Grant Deadlines

We accept letters of inquiry (LOIs) from organizations for three types of requests:

Grant request of $50,000 or more:
Requests greater than $50,000 must be approved by Board members at the Journalism Program’s annual board meeting in early September. The deadline for LOIs for more than $50,000 is May 1 or the first business day in May.

Grant requests under $50,000:
LOIs requesting less than $50,000 are accepted on a rolling basis and are reviewed in February, July and November. We accept LOIs for this level throughout the year. It sometimes takes us several weeks to review the many LOIs we receive, so please be patient.

Specialized Reporting Institutes (SRIs):
LOIs for these intensive specialized training conferences for working reporters are reviewed in November by our administrative partner, the Poynter Institute. For application instructions, review the SRI guidelines here. The deadline to apply for 2012 funding has passed, but you can check back in November 2012 to apply for the next round. For more information, email McCormickSRI@poynter.org.

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What We Fund (and Why)

Content, Audience and Rights
The News Literacy emphasis is supported by grantmaking initiatives in Content, Audience and Rights (CAR). Staff research and board guidance agree that the current supply of quality journalists is not the problem. There are enough highly trained and experienced professional journalists, many of them under-employed or working in other professions.

Our refined strategy bolsters an informed citizenry by investing in quality news content and educating people—especially students—to better appreciate the importance of news and protecting journalistic rights. Last year, we announced our intention to fund fewer international projects, general support grants for media trade associations, new business model investments and management training projects. In 2011, our grantmaking strategy includes more Chicago investment and increased support for youth media and news literacy activities.

We recognize the competitive nature of seeking grants to fund journalism projects. In fact, we are able to invest in only a fraction of the interesting requests received each year. In 2010, for instance, we received more than 200 formal letters of inquiry requesting about $17 million in support. Furthermore, with a slightly reduced 2011 budget of $5.5 million, it’s imperative that we find efficiencies and focus on quality implementation and impact of programs.

That’s why we’re putting stronger emphasis on performance measurement in 2011-2012 and adding rigor to existing evaluation work to provide a pathway for the Journalism Program going forward. We’re also coordinating and funding more field-building collaborations and partnerships to maximize the impact of our work.

For more information on our program strategy, please visit the Journalism Program Strategy page of the McCormick Foundation website.

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Resources for Journalists

The McCormick Foundation's grantees and partners offers several opportunities for journalism training and professional development. Check out the opportunities below:

Apply for a training fellowship to attend one of the 2011 McCormick-Poynter Specialized Reporting Institutes below. Ethnic media and Chicago-area journalists are encouraged to apply.

• The effects of the economic crisis on families April 4-5, 2011- The Suburban Newspapers of America Foundation and AP Managing Editors Foundation held this April training in Chicago. Check out resources from the workshop, posted on Poynter's NewsUniversity page.

• Track the impact of stimulus funds on communities May 10-12, 2011- The New England Center for Investigative Reporting at Boston University held a workshop to help reporters track the impact of stimulus funds on their communities; click here for resources from the workshop.

• Reporting the census June 16-17, 2011- Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication will hold a June training on reporting the census. More information coming soon.

• Covering the crisis in funding public pensions June 1-3, 2011-The Society of American Business Editors and Writers will hold this June training in Phoenix. Registration for this workshop has closed, but check out Poynter's News University resources page in the coming weeks for workshop resources.

• Political polling June 17-18, 2011- American University's School of Communications will host this June workshop. More information coming soon.

• Islam in the Bible Belt August 21-23, 2011 Middle Tennessee State University's School of Journalism will hold this August workshop. For more information and to apply, click here.

Other fellowship and grant opportunities:

• George Polk Grants For Investigative Journalism- The George Polk Awards grants are given to experienced reporters from newspapers, radio or television to pursue specific investigative projects. The intent is to provide short-term relief to journalists and also to promote investigative articles on the Web.
• 2011 Dart Center Ochberg Fellowships- a unique seminar program for mid-career journalists who want to deepen their knowledge of emotional trauma and improve coverage of violence, conflict and tragedy. Application deadline, July 27, 2011. Click here to apply.

  
  

Awards:

• It’s time to highlight your innovative online work. J-Lab’s annual contest rewards the process of journalism as much as the end result, with a grand prize of $10,000 and special distinction awards totaling $6,000. Applications are now open. Deadline: June 6. Click here for more information and to apply.

Also, check out these resources and interesting research:

New Media Toolkit- An online toolkit with tutorials and resources for nonprofits and others to learn to use social media and digital media tools.

Chicago is the World- ethnic media project led by journalist Steve Franklin at the Community Media Workshop.

OurChinatown -This Asian American Journalists Association’s Executive Leadership Program project is led by a unique multidisciplinary team, which includes experts in community development, online editorial and digital production.

Paper and Database Trails -This slideshow from IRE (Investigative Reporters and Editors) explains how to get useful public documents and data.

Web for Watchdogs -Also from IRE, this slideshow explains how to be a "smarter searcher" on the Internet.

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2012 Request for Proposals

Planning to apply for a grant? Our 2012 request for proposals guidelines are now up on our website. Thanks to your feedback, we've included more details on deadlines and proposal components. We look forward to hearing from you! View the 2012 Request for Proposals.

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McCormick Media Matters Revamped

Check out our new look and find new resources about grantmaking at McCormick Journalism.

You may have noticed a few changes on the McCormick Media Matters blog in the past weeks. Thanks to your feedback, we’ve been working to update our blog to better communicate our program’s priorities and goals. Here are some new sections and stories you’ll see:

·     Program Strategy: In this section, you’ll find explainers on our program’s strategies and priorities to help you better understand McCormick Journalism before applying for a grant. You’ll also see occasional updates from Journalism Program Director Clark Bell, in his  “Director’s Notes” series, where he reflects upon pertinent journalism news and program happenings.

·     Deadlines: Here, you’ll find information about our processes, our deadlines, our fall board meetings and notable MF dates to clarify the grantmaking process. 

·     Spotlight: We will recognize exceptional work being done by our grantees and use creative means (i.e. maps, photo slide shows) to share what we’re seeing in the field.  We’ve also added an up-to-date resource section for teachers, students and journalists, to highlight opportunities, professional development, internship, upcoming events, etc.

·     Who We Are: Here, you’ll find relevant articles on the research, events and projects that the Journalism Program staff has its eyes on. You’ll also get a sneak peak into the culture of the McCormick Foundation and its journalism roots. 

We hope you like our new approach and welcome your feedback, comments and suggestions. And remember, you can also find additional program information on our Facebook and Twitter. 

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