The Media Democracy Fund (MDF) is a newly formed foundation and donor collaborative in support of media reform and media democracy. The fund grew out of research conducted by the Ford Foundation, the Phoebe Haas Charitable Trust, and the Albert A. List Foundation on how to increase philanthropic investment in media policy, and is rooted in the belief that freedom of expression and access to information are necessary elements to civil society and basic human rights. MDF is an active member of Grantmakers in Film and Electronic Media's Media Policy Working Group, which offers a range of excellent resources for donors and grantees.

About Media Democracy

The United States is in the midst of an information and communications crisis; we face a period of immense opportunity and challenge as our government develops the policies and rules that will govern the current media environment and future technologies. While the dense and sometimes complicated landscape of media reform may be difficult to understand, the affects of media policy and corporate consolidation are felt by everyone, every day, whether through television, radio, telephony, the Internet, or print media such as newspapers and magazines. The governmental policies put in place to monitor and regulate these varied media outlets, coupled with an increasingly corporate-controlled media environment, have significant impact in people's lives, determining who has access to knowledge and information and how that knowledge and information is conveyed. The challenges are significant but cannot be ignored--access to the free flow of information and a diversity of perspectives is essential to the pursuits of a pluralistic, just, and democratic society. Responding to these issues poses one of the most important challenges for the philanthropic community in the 21st century.