The Poynter Institute for Media Studies
Stpetersburg, FL · EIN 59-1630423. Reported 42 grants totalling $1,087,565 to 31 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.
Does this grantmaker accept applications?
Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.
Three things in the filing do bear on it:
- What kind of organization it is. For The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, the IRS classifies it under education rather than as a grantmaker (NTEE B400) -- it is an operating charity that also makes grants.
- How spread out its giving is. 31 distinct organizations, with 16% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
- How much its list changes. 43% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% private foundations manage. A list that turns over this much is one a newcomer can realistically join.
How big are its grants?
The median reported grant is $13,770. Half of what it reported fell between $9,250 and $45,000; the smallest was $5,750 and the largest $100,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.
Every organization it funded
This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.
| Organization | Location | Total received | Grants | Years funded | Last |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USA Today | Milwaukee, WI | $171,741 | 6 | 3 | 2024 |
| Wcij Inc | Madison, WI | $110,000 | 2 | 1 | 2024 |
| University of Washington | Seattle, WA | $99,708 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Reuters News & Media Inc | New York, NY | $97,000 | 2 | 2 | 2022 |
| Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia, PA | $50,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Fakenetai Co Skydeck | Berkeley, CA | $49,500 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| NR8 LLC | San Diego, CA | $46,667 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Poynter Institute for Media Studies Inc | St Petersburg, FL | $45,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Univision Communications | Teaneck, NJ | $45,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Univision Communications Inc | Teaneck, NJ | $45,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Factchequeado | Carmichael, CA | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Factly Media & Research | Prosper, TX | $40,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| News Detective | Deerfield, IL | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Wp Company LLC Dba Washington Post | Washington, DC | $25,000 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Iu Office of Research Admin | Bloominton, IN | $20,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Reporters Without Borders Incorporated | Washington, DC | $20,000 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Pacificbasin Communications LLC | Honolulu, HI | $18,500 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Michigan Environmental Council | Lansing, MI | $15,000 | 2 | 2 | 2024 |
| Rainbow Push Coalition | San Francisco, CA | $15,000 | 1 | 1 | 2022 |
| Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | Milwaukee, WI | $12,541 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Check Your Fact | Washington, DC | $12,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Snopes Media Group Inc | Dover, DE | $12,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Lee Ent Dba Missoulian Newspa | Missoula, MT | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Racine County Eye LLC | Racine, WI | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Richland Times LLC | Mansfield, OH | $10,000 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin | Madison, WI | $9,658 | 1 | 1 | 2021 |
| Daily Journal | Fargo, ND | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| Daily Journal | Fargo, ND | $7,500 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| American University | Washington, DC | $5,750 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Underscore Media Collaboration | Portland, OR | $5,750 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
| Wtvj-Tv NBC6 South Florida | Miramar, FL | $5,750 | 1 | 1 | 2024 |
6 of 31 (19%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.
What the money was for
Taken verbatim from the purpose column of its filings, largest first. This is the closest thing to a statement of what it funds, in its own words.
- USA Today
IFCN Global Fact Check Fund - University of Washington
FACT CHECKING INNOVATION INNITIATIVE ROUND 2 - NR8 LLC
FACT CHECKING INNOVATION INITIATIVE ROUND 2 - Politifact
CLIMATE MISINFORMATION GRANT - Factchequeado
IFCN Spread The Facts 2024 - Wp Company LLC Dba Washington Post
FACT-CHECKING DEVELOPMENTAL GRANT
What kind of organizations it funds
By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 8 of 31 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.
Giving by year
| Tax year | Grants reported | Total | Median grant |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 6 | $198,879 | $35,833 |
| 2022 | 6 | $252,854 | $46,750 |
| 2023 | 7 | $111,791 | $10,000 |
| 2024 | 23 | $524,041 | $10,000 |
Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.
Where its money goes
29% of its giving went to organizations in Wisconsin. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.
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Funders that support the same organizations
These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available that two funders have overlapping priorities -- and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.
How to approach this grantmaker
- Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
- Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $13,770 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
- Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in Wisconsin.
- Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.
Related guides
Where these numbers come from
Everything above is taken from The Poynter Institute for Media Studies's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.
On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 1 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 22 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.
Address of record on the latest return: 801 3RD Street S, Stpetersburg, FL, 33701.
EIN 59-1630423 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this
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