The potential of philanthropy to contribute to the development of non-profit news production in Australia is under studied. PIJI has an ongoing program of research into the potential to grow philanthropic support for the not-for-profit journalism sector through addressing regulatory constraints.
Multiple government and regulatory inquiries have examined the financial difficulties facing the news industry over the past decade. A recurring recommendation of these inquiries is to provide incentives for philanthropic giving to the news sector. The comparison is often drawn to the United States, where philanthropy contributes around US$500m every year.
This report, A review of proposals to provide news organisations with access to tax deductible gifts in Australia conducted a review of proposals to government inquiries over the past decade and found that:
Project advisory group:
Despite repeated proposals to provide news media organisations with deductible gift recipient (DGR) status, there had been no study to interrogate the mechanical barriers for funders and news organisations, and the motivational factors that may affect the philanthropic sector’s appetite to fund public interest journalism.
This report, Understanding the role that philanthropy can play in supporting public interest journalism and how to to enable it, draws on a series of interviews conducted with approximately forty stakeholders from news media organisations and philanthropy to provide insights into the motivations and mechanisms that impact philanthropic giving to public interest journalism. It finds that:
This research was conducted with guidance and support from PIJI’s Project Steering Group and its Expert Research Panel by: