Press Forward Minnesota

In January 2025, Press Forward Minnesota donated roughly $520,000 in inaugural grant funding to 13 Minnesota state news organizations with a focus on supporting “news organizations that provide hyperlocal, original reporting to communities across the state, focusing on meeting the needs of communities of color, linguistically diverse communities, low-wealth rural communities, and others not adequately served, reached,​ or represented.” ^{1 3}

Background

Press Forward Minnesota is a “five-year” philanthropic grantmaking initiative created to raise and invest “$10 million dollars” in local news and media organizations around the state. The initiative was founded in 2024 as a state chapter of the national Press Forward network, which itself was created in 2023 to provide up to $500 million in grants to local news groups around the country through 2028. ^{1 2}

The initiative was founded through investing and support from the McKnight Foundation, the Bush Foundation and the Glen Nelson Center at American Public Media Group while also being “housed” within the Minnesota Council on Foundations. ^{4 5  6} By 2024, Press Forward Minnesota reported having raised $6 million.  ^{4 7}

The national Press Forward initiative was launched in 2023 by a coalition of philanthropic donors that included the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Democracy Fund, the Community Foundation for the Land of Lincoln and the Wichita Foundation. ⁴

Grantmaking and Activities

In January 2025, Press Forward Minnesota donated roughly $520,000 in inaugural grant funding to 13 Minnesota state news organizations with a focus on supporting “news organizations that provide hyperlocal, original reporting to communities across the state, focusing on meeting the needs of communities of color, linguistically diverse communities, low-wealth rural communities, and others not adequately served, reached,​ or represented.” ^{1 3}

Also in 2025, Press Forward Minnesota awarded another $1 million through its Civic Health and Community Collaborations grant round, funding two-year partnerships between local news organizations and community-based groups. ⁸ The initiative later started its “Save the Signal Minnesota Fund” to raise $500,000 in “emergency grants” for five local media stations in reaction to local stations losing funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). ⁹ Other funders to the Save the Signal Minnesota Fund included the McKnight Foundation, the John Larsen Foundation, the Ordean Foundation, the Minneapolis Foundation, the Saint Paul and Minnesota Foundation, the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation Fund at the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation, the Bhatt Family Fund at The Minneapolis Foundation, the Mortenson Family Foundation, and Schwab Charitable (later known as Donor Advised Charitable Giving). ⁹

A March 2026 report by Poynter alleged that Press Forward Minnesota had raised roughly $700,000 for local media organizations following an increase in immigration enforcement activities by U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E) agents within the state. This included a $200,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. ¹⁰