Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF) is a nonprofit investment fund that provides “debt and equity financing” to media companies in war-torn regions and countries with authoritarian governments. ¹ MDIF aligns itself with the United Nations’ “Agenda 30” sustainable development goals. ² It has received money from billionaire George Soros’s Open Society Foundations in the past.

Background

Media Development Investment Fund was founded in 1995 as the “Media Development Loan Fund” by Serbian journalist Sasa Vucinic and U.S. correspondent Stuart Auerbach. In 1999, the organization made its first equity investment in small Slovakian newspaper SME. It later began providing equity support, loan guarantees, and startup capital. It changed its name to Media Development Investment Fund in 2013, to reflect that the organization provides more technical services than just loans. By 2020, MDIF had been responsible for more than $250 million in loans and other investment schemes taken on by small media groups. ³

MDIF is based in New York City ⁴ but also has a location in Prague, Czech Republic. ⁵

Activities

Media Development Investment Fund categorizes its clients according to what type of fund they receive. It has a General Fund, which is its original “evergreen” fund, responsible for giving $100 million in debt to media ventures in 40 countries; an Emerging Media Opportunity Fund, a $12.9 million private equity fund that provides capital to early-to-mid stage media companies in emerging markets in countries such as India, Brazil and Indonesia; MDIF Media Finance I, a “blended-value loan fund” that gives loans to media companies in OECD-DAC countries including Malawi, Serbia, Ukraine, and India; and MDIF Ventures, which invests in beginner companies with “positive social impact” using a $3.8 million seed fund that is not open to investors. ⁶

As of June 2022, MDIF had given $248 million in loans and equity investments, $36.4 million in technical assistance grants, $46.2 million in interest, dividends and capital gains, and had collected $78.3 million in recovered principal invested. ⁷ It has invested in 143 clients in 46 countries. Some of its clients as of October 2022 included Agora (Poland), Capital Radio (Malawi), Colab (Brazil), Daily Maverick (South Africa), El Faro (El Salvador), El Mostrador (Chile), GK (Ecuador), Gram Vaani (India), LIGA (Ukraine), Melitopolskie Vedomosti (Ukraine), OK Radio (Serbia), Red/Accion (Argentina), and Volume (South Africa). ⁸

Funding

MDIF has received funding from the Craig Newmark Foundation ($100,000 in 2017), ⁹ the Pulsera Project (2018), ¹⁰ and the Harold and Marilyn Melcher Foundation ($1,000 in 2020). ¹¹

MDIF is funded by the Adessium Foundation, Fritt Ord Foundation, King Baudouin Foundation, Open Society Foundations, the Reva & David Logan Foundation, Wyncote Foundation. Its investors include Arjuna Capital, Bank Vontobel, Calvert Impact Capital, Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU), New Island Capital, and the Open Society Foundations-related South Eastern Development Foundation (SEDF). ¹²

Leadership

MDIF was founded by Serbian journalist Sasa Vucinic and U.S. correspondent Stuart Auerbach. Auerbach died in 2003. Vucinic worked as managing director from 1995 to 2011. ¹³ As of 2022, Richard Atterbury was the organization’s board chair. ¹⁴

1.  “About.” Media Development Investment Fund. Accessed October 2, 2022. https://www.mdif.org/about/.
2. “Media and Agenda 2030.” Media Development Investment Fund, September 19, 2022. Accessed October 2, 2022. https://www.mdif.org/media-and-agenda-2030/.
3. “Our Story.” Media Development Investment Fund. Accessed October 2, 2022. https://www.mdif.org/about/mission/our-story/.
4. “About.” Media Development Investment Fund. Accessed October 2, 2022. https://www.mdif.org/about/.
5. “About.” Media Development Investment Fund. Accessed October 2, 2022. https://www.mdif.org/about/.
6. “Funds.” Media Development Investment Fund. Accessed October 2, 2022. https://www.mdif.org/about/funds/.
7. “Track Record.” Media Development Investment Fund. Accessed October 2, 2022. https://www.mdif.org/impact/track-record/.
8. “A selection of companies we currently work with.” Media Development Investment Fund. Accessed October 2, 2022. https://www.mdif.org/portfolio/companies/.
9.  Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Craig Newmark Foundation. 2017. Part XV, grants and contributions. Accessed October 2, 2022.
10. ^[1] Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Pulsera Project. 2018. Part III, 4a. Accessed October 2, 2022.
11. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Harold and Marilyn Melcher Foundation. 2020. Part XV, grants and contributions. Accessed October 2, 2022.
12. “Funders and Investors.” Media Development Investment Fund. Accessed October 2, 2022. https://www.mdif.org/about/funders-and-investors/.
13. “Our Story.” Media Development Investment Fund. Accessed October 2, 2022. https://www.mdif.org/about/mission/our-story/.
14. “Board.” Media Development Investment Fund. Accessed October 2, 2022. https://www.mdif.org/about/board/.