AP and partners get grant to boost coverage of nonprofits

NEW YORK – The Associated Press announced Thursday the start of a joint venture with The Chronicle of Philanthropy and The Conversation that will expand their coverage of philanthropies and charities and the impact these groups have on society.

The venture, to be funded by a three-year, $3.6 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., aims to increase public awareness and understanding of non-profit organizations and the people who work for them.

Aside from covering major news and trends in charitable giving, journalists in this partnership will explore the power that philanthropies have to shape public opinion and policy, explain the ways nonprofits and volunteers try to solve problems and examine their impact.

The grant will enable the three partners to hire additional staff to cover philanthropic news.

AP will distribute content from The Chronicle of Philanthropy, which publishes a website and a monthly print magazine, adding to the content the AP distributes from The Conversation, an independent, non-profit publisher of commentary and analysis across a wide range of topics.

Each organization will retain complete editorial control over its own content.

“This collaboration will give AP the ability to provide deep reporting about philanthropy to our customers around the world,” AP Vice-President and Managing Editor Brian Carovillano said.”

The venture is being formed at a critical time for nonprofits, particularly local groups that are in financial trouble, said Stacy Palmer, editor at The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

“It is essential that donors, voters, policymakers, and others understand what can be done to ensure everything from cultural organizations to social service groups to educational organizations stay strong at a time of social distancing and recession,” Palmer said.

Through the grant, The Chronicle of Philanthropy will also sponsor a fellowship program that will annually give three local journalism organizations an opportunity to create in-depth reporting projects about non-profit and philanthropic topics in their regions. The Chronicle of Philanthropy will also develop relationships with other news organizations to increase coverage of nonprofits and foundations.

Additionally, The Conversation will facilitate a series of educational events aimed at increasing public awareness of how philanthropy works and affects society.

The Associated Press is an independent global news organization dedicated to factual reporting. Founded in 1846, AP today remains the most trusted source of fast, accurate, unbiased news in all formats and the essential provider of the technology and services vital to the news business. More than half the world’s population sees AP journalism every day.