How can we frame issues of race, class, and priviledge to advance our philanthropic work?

Media shapes opinion. But how do you prove it? Are there metrics that can correlate media funding and change? Media and media-related organizations have the power to raise awareness, advance public policy, and change people’s lives.

Hear from Ted Smith of the Electronics TakeBack Coalition and FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathon Adelstein.

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Listen to GFEM’s April 29 briefing on the state of the media field and learn about opportunities for funders to effect sustainable social change through media grantmaking. The issues of marketing and childhood obesity, MTV and HIV/AIDS, once and future methods of media distribution and civic engagement and other topics are discussed. Each clip is followed by audience Q&A.

Three segments featuring 1) author Jeff Chester and Media Policy Working Group’s Lynn Stern; 2) Kaiser Family Foundation’s Kimberly Dasher; and 3) Simon Kilmurry of P.O.V., Debra Zimmerman of Women Make Movies, and Act Now Production’s David Steuer.

 

Hear the April 28 discussion featuring the Barbara Ehrenreich, best-selling author of Nickel and Dimed and Bait and Switch; Roger Weisberg, Emmy award winning filmmaker of Waging a Living; Wyatt Closs, of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and Simon Kilmurry, Executive Producer of the PBS series P.O.V.

Co-sponsored by Grantmakers for Children, Youth and Families, Funders Committee for Civic Participation, Grantmakers Concerned about Immigrants and Refugees and the Neighborhood Funders Group, this lively panel brings together four very different voices to discuss how earning a “living wage” can move people out of poverty.

Featuring Representative Edward Markey, Denice Zeck and Sui Lang Panoke of American Forum

Audio of GFEM's funder delegation dinner at the Memphis Marriott Downtown on January 13, 2007 features guest speakers Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet; and Denice Zeck and Sui Lang Panoke of American Forum (AF). In his opening remarks, Rep. Markey recounts last summer's national outpouring of support for Net Neutrality, which culminated in 700,000 signed petitions and rallies in 25 cities nationwide that brought this critical issue to the attention of Congress. Denise Zeck, AF's Executive Director describes how AF will "get women's voices in the media" through the development of its new initiative, National Women's Editorial Forum. Sui Lang Panoke, a Master of Public Administration candidate at American University, shares her first hand account of the Women's Editorial Forum's impact with the publication in the Washington Post of her Op-Ed piece on expanding access to higher education.

Building on the Past - Harnessing the Future
On September 16, 2007, GFEM held a media conference in San Francisco as part of our commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of the Council on Foundations Film & Video Festival. This day-long event offered an opportunity to underscore how deeply rooted foundation-funded media are in the history of social change and showcased new thinking on how to effectively navigate and influence our current media-saturated environment. The conference covered media content, policy, and infrastructure.