Knight Foundation announced today its support for Voice of San Diego's new membership program - which includes the perk of a new print and digital magazine - as part of its efforts to support sustainable local news models. As a nonprofit, the organization relies on contributions from individual members, major donors, corporate/community partners and foundations to maintain operations. With this support from Knight, the news organization is crafting a diverse revenue strategy that places greater emphasis on building a community of individual members who see the value in its awarding-winning investigative reporting. Voice of San Diego's CEO Scott Lewis writes about the launch in a piece first published in a member newsletter.

So we're launching a magazine.

That caught a few people off guard, I know. We're the digital news team. That's the point, right? To save all the money spent on print and use that for reporting. Make news more efficient.

Don't worry, the core philosophy that was part of the founding of Voice of San Diego still reigns: Don't build a radio station, don't build a printing press. Use the Internet. All you need is a connection and some software.

But the Internet is so amazing, it even made print possible for us.

Let me explain. Last year, it was an actual face-to-face conversation (and then the Internet) that led me to MagCloud.   

The Connecticut Mirror is a Knight Community Information Challenge Winner for its website which provides news, information and analysis about Connecticut state government and public policy. Donna Jolly, vice president for communications and marketing at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, writes about its progress. Above: the Connecticut State Capitol, photo credit: Flickr user J. Stephen Conn.

I don’t have any children graduating this year. But, I do feel a little like a proud parent. Let’s start at the birth:  On Jan. 25, 2010, Connecticut Mirror, an online news site was launched to provide professional, unbiased news and analysis about state government and politics for residents of the state. The Hartford Foundation was a proud funder, along with Knight Foundation and The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. 

This spring, at the ripe old age of three, the Mirror broadened its efforts from informing the public to also engaging the public. And, we were right there with them. In March, the Mirror, with funding from the Hartford Foundation, hosted a forum on early childhood education. 

Nearly 200 people attended the event, which featured experts who discussed how high-quality early childhood education can have a profound impact on a child’s academic success and on society as a whole. In partnership with the Mirror, the foundation also hosted a pre-forum event with the speakers and key community leaders from the Capital Region.

Photograph © 2012 The Barnes Foundation

It was a star-studded night as the Barnes Foundation opened the doors to it new 93,000-square-foot facility on museum mile in Philadelphia. The building, designed by Tod Williams and Billy Tsien, glowed in the setting sun as 875 patrons descended.  Luminaries included Ellsworth Kelly, caught posing in front of his 40-foot-tall sculpture in the garden entryway. I also saw most of the Sotheby’s contemporary art contingent, including North and South American chair Lisa Dennison and executive vice president Anthony Grant.

Master of ceremonies Brian Williams of NBC News kept the evening moving, even when technical issues got in the way. The crowd was also entertained by a short five-song set from Norah Jones and a rousing gospel moment by a local choir.  But it was more of a see-and-be-seen crowd, as all of Philadelphia and beyond showed up to celebrate the Barnes’ new home. And what a home it is.

I had the good fortune of visiting the Barnes in Merion before it closed and when I entered the identically replicated rooms in the new space, it was an odd feeling of deja vu. The main difference is the new space’s exquisite lighting, designed by Paul Marantz. The use of diffused light bouncing off of silver leaf ceilings gives the work a luminous feel. For the first time, you can see the postimpressionist works in all their glory.