RHF has awarded funding to The Philanthropist Journal to support five Black and Indigenous early-career writing fellows in collaboration with five independent, local journalism outlets across the country.
The writers will have their work published in both The Journal and the partner outlet.
“We’re excited to see how this approach supports the learning and development for the fellow, builds stronger connections with publications and our readership, and brings new voices and content – all while supporting the critical role that local journalism plays in communities across Canada,” says Leslie Wright, executive director of the Agora Foundation and editor-in-chief of The Philanthropist Journal. “We believe good journalism matters more now than ever – and the profession needs a diversity of early-stage journalists from across Canada who see themselves in this field helping to rebuild trust through fair and comprehensive reporting.”
We believe good journalism matters more now than ever – and the profession needs a diversity of early-stage journalists from across Canada who see themselves in this field.
Leslie Wright, Agora Foundation/The Philanthropist Journal
The Rideau Hall Foundation has been doing more in the local media field in the past couple of years “because we believe having a healthy media ecosystem leads to strong communities,” says president and CEO Teresa Marques. “We are trying to help people connect to their communities, and we are trying to find a way to strengthen our democracy and find social cohesion in this country,” she says. “Over the last couple of years, it has become very clear to us that having strong local media is critical at the intersection of all those priorities.”
We are trying to find a way to strengthen our democracy and find social cohesion in this country.
Teresa Marques, Rideau Hall Foundation
One of the independent outlets in the program is The Local, a Toronto non-profit that has made its name with deep reporting on usually ignored issues from the further reaches of the GTA. Tai Huynh, the founder and editor-in-chief of The Local, has already gone through the application process and received 15 applications. “Hopefully, there’s a gem in there,” he says.
Other partners include IndigiNews (British Columbia), The Independent (Newfoundland and Labrador), and a collaboration with Island Press Limited, the University of King’s College School of Journalism, and the Nova Scotia Community College Radio Television Journalism program. The fifth partner will be announced soon.
The Local also does a summer paid fellowship, which allows it to brings on three to four reporters from underrepresented communities. They have the opportunity to learn from mentors in the field on topics ranging from how to craft a freedom-of-information request to how to analyze data. They are expected to produce a major piece by the end of their term. Huynh has not always been able to raise the funds for the program. He was pleased to partner with The Philanthropist Journal because the funding was already attached. “The Philanthropist has always been a trusted partner,” he says.
The Philanthropist Journal, a publication of the Agora Foundation, is an online journal for those interested and engaged in the charitable and non-profit sector in Canada that has been publishing articles written by and for the sector since 1972. For the past several years, The Philanthropist Journal has been making the case that healthy news ecosystems are critical to the well-being of our communities, planet, democracy, and philanthropy.
This will be our second fellowship offering at The Journal, building on the success and learning from our pilot in 2023/2024, funded by the Workforce Funder Collaborative. What makes this fellowship different from the last is that we will collaborate with local journalism outlets. Our focus and priority for the fellowship, like our pilot project, will continue to be Black and Indigenous journalists. National data released in January 2025 by the Canadian Association of Journalists on the racial and gender breakdown of newsrooms staff shows that 77% of journalists identify as white, 3.5% identify as Indigenous, and 19.5% identify as a visible minority.
