About
In the Chicago spirit of collaboration and solidarity, the newly formed Chicago BIPOC Media Coalition -- founded by Sisters in Cinema, Full Spectrum Features, Mezcla Media Collective and OTV | Open Television -- is launching the Chicago BIPOC Media Fund to support general operations and strategic partnerships as a development & management commons. The Fund leverages the strengths of the Coalition, individually and collectively, to catalyze the most innovative investment towards a new media infrastructure that is representative of our country’s diversity.
Media is the dominant art form in the United States and is critical to how we understand ourselves as a culture, but the largest mainstream media companies do not represent the country. It is no coincidence that the years preceding the exponential rise of racism, sexism, nationalism and other forms of hate in the mid-2010s were also years when television series and films were less diverse.
Local media nonprofits are critical to building a sustainable and equitable diverse media system. Yet, in 2020, a number of white-led Chicago media nonprofits were exposed for creating hostile environments for people of color. This revealed how critical it is to support BIPOC-led organizations whose leadership identifies with their constituents and whose artists have found success more quickly and with less trauma.
The Fund has a target fundraising goal of $50 million, where the interest on the fund will support general operations grants to each organization annually. The Fund leverages the strengths of the Coalition, individually and collectively, to catalyze an innovative investment towards a new media infrastructure that is representative of our country’s diversity.
The Fund functions as a collectively run endowment. Only the interest on the endowment will be spent and disbursed as grants to the organizations in the coalition. Organizations will have complete discretion over how funds are spent. Funds will be disbursed as general operating support and program grants, in addition to a full-time staff person trained in development who can manage disbursements and fundraise to keep the endowment growing.
The Fund builds on the general operating support of each organization to support long-term planning, sustainability and growth. Each organization will use this support for different purposes: to grow their staff and capacity, to maintain staff and grow programs, to create their own individual endowments, and more. Each organization is a different size and will receive different amounts based on a percentage of their overall budget. The fundraising goal in year one is to cover up to 50% of each organization's annual budget with the long-term goal being to raise 110% - 125% of annual budgets of each organization.
For more info, contact info@chicagomediacoalition.org
