Catalysing private capital: Financing the future of public interest media

New capital, new actors and new models are urgently needed to sustain public interest media. The actions that are most needed are not about saving the journalism industry as we now know it. They’re about working in new ways, understanding and articulating the value of journalism in new ways, and creating new media ventures that contribute to better societies that help marginalised people and communities solve their most severe problems.

This report, Catalysing Private Capital: Financing the future of public interest media, draws into focus the potential of innovative financial instruments to support sustainable, independent journalism and build healthy information ecosystems.

At IMS, we see an urgent need for evidence-based action. First, IMS is part of the steering committee for the Media Viability Manifesto where, along with other networks such as the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN), Philea Philanthropy Europe Association and Impact Investors, we are trying to self-organise and exchange on possibilities.

In December, we launched Where is the money? A global perspective on forms of funding, financing and investment for public interest media offering cross regional perspectives on sources of capital.

We then published the Entrepreneurial Journalism Playbook putting into focus strategies that media can deploy on the ground to attract investments.

This latest report, Catalysing Private Capital: Financing the future of public interest media, draws on expert interviews and case studies, It assesses both the demand side – how to build investable media enterprises – and the supply side – which financing tools are best suited to different political and economic contexts.

Key takeaways from the report

While many public interest media organisations – particularly those operating in low and middle income countries – lack the size and scale to move beyond grant-based funding, exploring options for private capital is essential for building long-term resilience and scalability in the journalism sector.

Private capital seeks repayable models and expects a financial return – even if sub-market. As such, it is more strictly performance-based than philanthropic funding, requiring more structured governance and clear financial and impact metrics.

Mission-focused private capital brings a different value proposition to the media sector. When structured according to an impact ethos and in ways that reduce risk, such as through blended finance, private capital can complement philanthropy by backing investable media enterprises ready to scale or to transition from full grant dependence.

Shifting from a grant-based funding ecosystem to one that catalyses mission-driven private capital requires not only new financing models, but a fundamentally different configuration of stakeholders.

In addition to capital providers, incubators and accelerators are critical to an impact investing ecosystem.

Private capital can be deployed through a diverse range of financial instruments, each offering advantages and trade-offs.

Media development needs more investment products tailored to the unique challenges of the sector

Our recommendations:

— Build a stronger pipeline of investable media enterprises.

— Create vehicles for concessional capital that balance risk and reward effectively.

— Deploy design-stage funding to create new media financing and investment products.

— Incentivise fund managers focused on public interest news media.

— Catalyse investment in “media adjacent” sectors especially technology and services.

— Develop common standards for measuring the impact of public interest media.

— Create regional investor support facilities.

— Facilitate private capital exits.

Donor funding as catalytic capital

At IMS, we are turning our attention to how we can develop bottom-up approaches to unlock local capital in key markets. Across the IMS network, local sources of philanthropy, and private, community and government capital have emerged in many markets. We sense an urgent need to convert localised aspirations for new funding, financing and investments into practical realities. Leveraging IMS’ trust-based partnerships, we are committed to nurturing activities at local, regional and national level in markets where it makes sense to do so.

To achieve this, we are keen to rethink the role of grant funding. Traditional donors and foundations can play an important role in catalysing innovative finance vehicles by absorbing upfront costs and underwriting the design phase of new products. In the media sector – where market failures, political risk and uncertain revenue models often deter private investment – this approach can be particularly effective. We are risk willing and can work with other actors to explore workable solutions. Donor and philanthropic capital often act as catalysts. By providing first-loss capital, credit enhancement or guarantees, we may be able to help derisk investments and attract hesitant investors. We want to be catalytic and build on our existing pilots.

Certainly, we are concerned that there remain systemic shortfalls in the necessary supply of capital for “the missing middle”: we know there are some media that are too small and in such broken economies that they will always need grant funding, and others that are doing well that can have clear growth trajectories of relevance to traditional investors such as North Base Media and the Media Development Investment Fund. But more needs to be done.

We see the demand for new relationships with private, public, government and community capital bubbling up from the grassroots. IMS plays a key role as an enabler in the trust building needed to bring multidisciplinary work together. We enable the dialogue and convening between local banks, government, communities, media and business communities. We want to learn about the systems and modalities that work of relevance to many civil society sectors: we need new conversations that restore self-reliance and laying the foundation for durable solutions against a localisation agenda. Creating the necessary firewalls between local capital sources and the media.

We also want to build on our decades of experience with capacity development in business viability. Media are often micro and small enterprises that can contribute to economic growth, revitalise local economies and local livelihoods. Databases like Project Oasis Global that we support are helping track the management split and the revenue diversification of public interest media – this is exactly the data we need.

Catalysing Private Capital

The report is a timely contribution to charting options for the way forward. Authored by Heather Gilberds and Jakub Parusinski. IMS extends its sincere thanks to the Center for International Media Assistance and the Center for International Private Enterprise – especially Jeff Lightfoot – for their invaluable support in driving the research, convenings and thought leadership behind this initiative. Their pioneering work on Unlocking Private Capital in Central and Eastern Europe contributed critical insights and helped catalyse new actors and fresh ideas. We are also grateful to Aakif Merchant, who provided critical expertise and research for this report, and Media Development Investment Fund and Sasa Vucinic for their expertise and guidance throughout the project. Finally, we thank the many experts who collaborated closely with the principal authors. Their time, insights and commitment were essential to shaping the direction and impact of this work