2023
Journalism
Edward W. Scripps launched a nationwide newspaper empire in 1878 with a business enterprise that would eventually be synonymous with excellence in print and broadcast journalism.
Today, The E.W. Scripps Company is controlled by members of the fourth through sixth generations of E.W.’s descendants, who also run a collaborative giving effort – the Scripps Family Impact Fund (SFIF). For 2023, those descendants decided to align their joint business and philanthropic interests by using the Impact Fund to benefit the journalism industry at the core of the family’s legacy business.
“The Scripps Family Impact Fund has been wildly successful in its first five years.
To be able to make a difference in a variety of categories, we have innovatively changed our focus areas every year – from children’s services and covid relief, to healthcare and animal welfare. We were thrilled to be able to turn our attention this year to training future journalists who mean so much to our family and its company.”
– Ray Granado, SFIF board secretary
Last winter, the Impact Fund solicited grant applications from nonprofits specializing in journalism education for middle- and high-school students. The Fund’s board selected three finalists, and Scripps family funders allocated grants as follows:
The Indigenous Youth Media Workshop at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, a weeklong summer program teaching the “ins and outs” of broadcasting and journalism to Native American and other high school students, received $616,333.
The Journalistic Learning Initiative of Eugene, Ore., which implements journalism strategies in classrooms to empower student voices and academic success, received $540,333.
The My Hero Project of Laguna Beach, California, which uses stories, art and media to celebrate diverse heroes and empower people of all ages to realize their own potential,
received $536,333.
In 2023, the family's giving was amplified by a grant from another family giving vehicle, The Adam R. Scripps Foundation.
“It was an easy decision for the Adam R. Scripps Foundation, in its inaugural year of distributions, to contribute to the success of the Impact Fund.
Adam was relentlessly supportive of his nieces and nephews, so lending financial support to his family’s collaborative giving is a natural extension of his formidable legacy. His foundation will support the Impact Fund for many years to come.”
– Wesley Scripps, co-chair of the SFIF board
$2,193,000
Total contribution this year