An Inside Look at the Knight Foundation Under Maribel Pérez Wadsworth

Maribel Pérez Wadsworth. Credit: Knight Foundation In February, nearly 1,200 journalists, funders, academics and policymakers gathered in Miami for the Knight Foundation's Knight Media Forum 2026 to discuss the future of media, technology and the arts. While participants have become accustomed to navigating ongoing challenges such as strengthening local news ecosystems and building arts organizations' financial sustainability, this year's proceedings came with an increased sense of anxiety. Nonprofit leaders continue to grapple with the cascading impacts of federal funding cuts and the Trump administration's attacks on freedom of speech by targeting student protestors, lawyers, the press — as well as progressive grantmakers and nonprofits. Meanwhile, attendees from the wider media world recognized that despite its potential to streamline outlets' operations, artificial intelligence, if left unchecked, could exacerbate the trust deficit across the body politic by propagating misinformation. Maribel Pérez Wadsworth, who became the Knight Foundation's president and CEO in January 2024 after succeeding longtime leader Alberto Ibargüen, acknowledged this fraught backdrop in her opening remarks. 'In times of uncertainty and unease, occasions when we come together as a community take on even greater importance,' she said, before affirming Knight's unwavering commitment to the First Amendment. 'For us, for everyone in this room, the First Amendment is the promise that power in this country rests with the people. That we always retain our rights to speak, to publish, to gather, to protest, to worship.' Then, the tenor of her speech shifted. 'That promise is under attack,' Pérez Wadsworth said, noting that 'peaceful observers and protesters have been pepper sprayed, beaten, arrested, and, yes, killed.' Referring to the administration's public media funding cuts, she said, 'Listeners opened their wallets and gave in historic amounts,' and that 'after arts organizations spoke up, Congress fully funded the NEA.' Pérez Wadsworth didn't mention the president by name, but her speech was nonetheless striking, since many legacy foundation leaders have been reluctant to criticize, even obliquely, an administration whose rhetoric is diametrically opposed to their values and whose policies directly harm their grantees. Despite the fact that this administration's antidemocratic bent is endangering the free society that all nonprofit funders exist within and depend upon, perhaps they are (justifiably) worried that they'd raise the ire of federal agencies with an ever-growing post-2025 track record of targeting progressive nonprofit organizations. Pérez Wadsworth had no such qualms, and calling out the administration's policies is just one of many ways she's made an imprint on the Knight Foundation during her tenure so far. She's working closely to gauge the needs of the foundation's galaxy of stakeholders, has advocated what she calls 'speedier philanthropy' to help organizations absorb federal funding cuts, and has consistently exuded a refreshing sense of dogged optimism in her public remarks. 'I have a front-row seat to watch people stepping up in the communities they call home and working to make change,' she said in an email to Inside Philanthropy. 'Even at a time of significant challenges for our country, I'm inspired by the creativity and determination people bring to solving them.' Tackling the erosion of trust Pérez Wadsworth came to Knight after an extensive career in the media world. Starting as an editorial assistant with the Associated Press in 1994, she eventually transitioned to Gannett's corporate team, where she led the company's digital transformation. As president of the USA Today Network and later as publisher of USA Today, she oversaw a team of more than 4,000 journalists in more than 200 communities. Under her leadership, Gannett newsrooms were recognized with five Pulitzer Prizes. Upon assuming her position at Knight, Pérez Wadsworth said she sought to 'preserve everything that makes Knight great, accelerate our grantmaking to respond to urgent needs, to double down on our commitment to local journalism, the arts and community development, and to empower the local visionary leaders.' Pérez Wadsworth's first few months were largely spent visiting with the Knight team and its partners, grantees, and leaders in places where the foundation had a charitable footprint. 'I needed to understand their work and their ambitions, as well as begin to discern what was needed from the Knight Foundation in this next chapter,' she said. 'Where could we add the greatest value toward the cause of shared progress?' The hundreds of individuals Pérez Wadsworth spoke with encouraged Knight to move faster to address threats that, in some cases, had existential stakes. Pérez Wadsworth was also informed by her own experiences in navigating technological change in the media world and grappling with deepening political divisions. Among 'the most concerning trends' she has witnessed is the continued erosion of trust among the citizenry. 'I've been surprised and concerned to see the ease with which motivations are questioned, misinformation takes hold, and progress is stymied by skepticism,' she said. 'We must all recommit to strengthening social connection — proximity is the enemy of cynicism.' Encouraging philanthropy to 'move at the speed of news' In her first weeks on the job at Knight, in a February 2024 Miami Herald op-ed, Pérez Wadsworth laid out what was, in effect, a philanthropic manifesto, stating that 'to preserve our democracy, philanthropy must learn to move at the speed of news.' That phrase encapsulates the belief, at Knight and other key journalism funders, that a democracy is only as strong as citizens' ability to access local news outlets that build trust, foster civic engagement, and keep tabs on public officials. 'Local journalism is at the heart of the Knight legacy, and it is hard to overstate the severity of the local news crisis right now,' she told me. Over two years after her op-ed, the jury is still out as to whether funders writ large are sufficiently heeding the call to deploy money faster. While funders understandably want to allocate grant dollars as thoughtfully as possible, Pérez Wadsworth argues that 'speedier philanthropy does not mean sacrificing rigor or making ill-informed decisions. It means removing unnecessary delays, streamlining processes, being prepared to act when the need is clear, and recognizing that the true value of support often depends on when it arrives.' Pérez Wadsworth cited a handful of examples of 'speedier philanthropy' in action. Knight is an anchor funder for Press Forward, the national philanthropy-backed initiative that aims to revitalize local news ecosystems. As part of its commitment there, the foundation disbursed $200,000 in emergency seed funding to Press Forward Minnesota to help local newsrooms after Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Operation Metro Surge began sending agents to the Twin Cities. After Hurricane Helene made landfall in the Southeast in September 2024, Knight approved more than $75,000 for the North Carolina Local News Workshop to help newsrooms provide information to affected communities. As another example, the Public Media Bridge Fund, which was backed by a $10 million commitment from Knight, mobilized $36.5 million in a few weeks last year to offset funding cuts to public media. All told, the fund has now raised more than $80 million from more than 1,500 donors and has helped 186 stations continue their operations. 'The Bridge Fund was one example of the power of collaborative philanthropy,' Pérez Wadsworth said. 'When foundations align around a shared challenge, leverage their expertise and act with urgency, they can deliver support at the scale communities need.' Ramping up funding for journalism organizations Knight, of course, is one of philanthropy's most reliable funders of journalism, and of local news in particular. That support has dramatically expanded in recent years. In September 2023, the foundation announced a $150 million commitment to Press Forward, doubling its journalism investments to $300 million over five years. 'In fact,' Pérez Wadsworth said, 'We've invested a total of $300 million to support journalism in the last three years alone.' The initiative now has 48 chapters in 35 states. 'Our ambition is to reach all 50 states, and we see the lasting legacy of Press Forward in the grassroots momentum taking hold in communities across the country.' Other large investments to support the journalism field include $25 million to the American Journalism Project, $25 million to the Associated Press Fund for Journalism, $20 million to Report for America, and $10.5 million to start the Knight Center for the Future of News at Arizona State University, as well as numerous smaller grants to other organizations. 'The vast majority of our dollars committed are in aligned funding, and we felt it important to move those dollars into the field rapidly,' Pérez Wadsworth said. 'We did this to match the urgency of the moment while giving grantees the space to focus on the work rather than fundraising, and to quickly learn what's working, what's ready to scale, and where Knight and other funders might consider additional investments.' At least one nonprofit journalism professional has argued that Knight got ahead of itself and allocated funding too rapidly in the early months of Pérez Wadsworth's tenure. In an October 2024 piece on his Second Rough Draft Substack, former ProPublica President Richard J. Tofel reported that Knight grantees told him it was pausing 'most new journalism grantmaking through at least the middle of next year.' When asked by Tofel about its 'decision to slow down funding,' he wrote that Knight responded by saying that 'there was no decision made to 'slow down' funding. Rather, we dramatically accelerated funding in Year One of Press Forward, per our desire to move 'at the speed of news.' We felt it was important to get significant money out the door early in Press Forward's five-year run so that we had the time necessary to assess the impact of those grants and fill in gaps.' As for reports that organizations were waiting an inordinate amount of time between grant approval and actually receiving funding, Tofel records Knight as saying, 'We dramatically increased our grantmaking this year. Our operational capacity didn't expand to match that,' and noting that it was focused on optimizing its internal processes to address the issue. 'Over the past two years, Knight has improved our grantmaking administration platform to remove friction and standardized how we work across every program area,' read a statement from a Knight representative asked about Tofel's piece for this story. 'This has resulted in meaningful progress in how we deliver funding. Under Maribel's leadership, the foundation has dramatically reduced the average time from grant approval to agreement execution, meaning dollars get out of the door faster and grantees have an overall smoother, more predictable experience.' The new Knight Cities Challenge and defending the First Amendment Another big development during Pérez Wadsworth's tenure is Knight's recommitment to place-based giving. In 2015, the first Knight Cities Challenge funded 99 projects over three years. The challenge disbursed grants to organizations focused on economic development, constructing bike paths and green spaces, and giving the public a voice in local decision-making processes. Many funded projects continue to serve their communities today, including CivicLex, an education organization which helps residents in Lexington, Kentucky, engage with their local government. Earlier this year, Knight relaunched the challenge, committing $10 million over two planned cohorts of recipients across three years, with up to $5 million available in the first round. The challenge will support projects with grants of up to $200,000 in 26 communities across the country. Knight received more than 3,000 applications and will announce the recipients this fall. 'We know that the Knight Cities Challenge benefits both Knight and the communities we serve,' Pérez Wadsworth said. 'Through the program, we are able to engage directly with emerging civic leaders, strengthen local news and information, create pathways to economic opportunity and cultivate connection through arts, culture and the places that bring people together.' All of which brings us back to Pérez Wadsworth's Knight Media Forum speech. 'I knew we could be an influential voice in critical current debates that speak to our long-held values, such as advocating for the First Amendment,' she told me, noting that since 2000, Knight has invested more than $400 million to support the First Amendment and free expression across its work in journalism, arts and community-building. 'At a time when the First Amendment is being challenged, it's important to protect it. That's not a political stance; it's a principled one,' she said. In 2025, Knight joined other funders in signing a public declaration in defense of their right to give as they choose under a reading of the First Amendment that treats donations as a form of constitutionally protected expression. That fall, after President Donald Trump pledged to crack down on progressive groups, Knight, along with numerous other funders, condemned 'acts of political violence — from the recent murder of Charlie Kirk to the murder of Speaker Emeritus Melissa Hortman of Minnesota,' while criticizing the administration's campaign to silence and criminalize those with whom it disagrees. Fast-forward to late August. Rumblings continue that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the IRS could seek to revoke the tax-exempt status of progressive nonprofits such as the Open Society Foundations and the Southern Poverty Law Center, which was indicted by the Department of Justice on federal fraud and money laundering charges related to its past use of paid informants. The bottom line here is that Knight and other high-profile funders committed to protecting First Amendment rights are digging in as the administration continues to ratchet up attacks on groups and individuals it doesn't agree with. It's also important to stress that Knight's concerns about the abrogation of First Amendment rights aren't limited to the administration's crackdown on progressive charities and funders. According to a recent survey of more than 25,000 people across the U.S., conducted by Knight and the market research firm SSRS, only about half of respondents feel confident in their ability to express their political views on social media, create art, or peacefully protest without fear of government reprisal. Knight will be publishing new research later this year exploring how Americans experience the First Amendment. 'We intend to support what we see every day in our work: When people engage with their communities, they feel greater agency, more optimism and a stronger sense that they can shape the places they call home,' Pérez Wadsworth said. 'They feel more free.'