1 3 1 411 1 2

1950

Knight Foundation was established with $9,047 inAkron, Ohio, to carry out thework of the Knight MemorialEducation Fund, a college scholarship and loan programthat had been created in 1940 to honor the memory of Charles Landon Knight,father of John S. and James L. Knight.

1954

The first grant to a journalismorganization, the InterAmerican Press Association,supported a scholarship fund.

1965

Clara I. Knight, the Knights’mother, died Nov. 12, bequeathingthe Foundation 180,000 shares of Knight Newspapers stock,then valued at $5.2 million.The bequest was the Foundation’sfirst major infusion of assets.

1966

The board of trustees voted toend the financial aid programfor college students and toreplace it with direct grants toindividual colleges and universi-ties and state associations ofhigher education institutions.On a highly selective basis, theFoundation also began makinggrants to educational and cultural organizations in cities with Knight newspapers.

1969

Congress passed the Tax ReformAct of 1969, which severelyrestricted the business holdingsof foundations and required aminimum payout in grants.

1972

To raise enough cash for the new legislation’s grant payoutrequirements, the Foundationarranged for the sale ofClara Knight’s stock in a secondary offering by KnightNewspapers. The sale raised$21,343,500. The Foundationembarked on an expandedgrants program, continuing its focus on educational and cultural institutions in citieswith Knight newspapers but also adding major journalism organizations and projects to its list of funded groups.

1975

Jack Knight signed his final will,leaving the bulk of his share ofthe newly created Knight-RidderNewspapers Inc. to KnightFoundation. The Foundationopened its first office in Akronwith two full-time employees:Ben Maidenburg, former AkronBeacon Journal executive editor, who served as president,and his secretary, Shirley Follo.

1978

C.C. Gibson, a longtime Akroncivic activist and friend ofJack Knight, replaced an ailingMaidenburg as president.

1980

The board of trustees concludedits first strategic planning exercisewith a key decision to continuethe program of grants focused on journalism and the 11 cities where the original KnightNewspapers were published.The board also voted to expandthe board of trustees by addingone new family member – JimKnight’s daughter, BarbaraToomey – and a member notassociated with either the family or company – bankerGordon Heffern.

1981

John S. Knight died on June 16,leaving the Foundation 6,356,504shares of Knight-Ridder stockthen valued at $241.5 million.James L. Knight succeeded hisbrother as chairman. An intensivefive-year planning effort, guidedby long-time trustee Lee Hills,began to prepare the Foundationfor its much larger asset baseand grant-making program.

1982

The board of trustees voted toextend grant making to all citiesserved by Knight-Ridder Inc.,though the decision was not fullyimplemented until the final settlement of John S. Knight’sestate in 1986.

A $4 million grant endowed the John S. Knight Fellowshipsfor Professional Journalists atStanford University, the first of several continuing educationopportunities for working jour-nalists and news executives thatthe Foundation supported – and in some instances created – atsome of the nation’s major universities.

1986

Knight Foundation became the21st largest foundation in theU.S. with the final transfer offunds from the John S. Knightestate. The bequest totaled$428,144,588.

The Foundation adopted its first statement of purpose,which reaffirmed the two principal emphases: journalismand improving the quality oflife in Knight-Ridder cities.

The board approved a new governance structure thatremained in effect through theend of the century. The newstructure expanded the board of trustees from nine to 13members and incorporated theprinciple of family, companyand independent representationon the board. Work also beganon a comprehensive revision ofthe Articles of Incorporation andCode of Regulations, which theboard approved in 1988.

Lee Hills was elected vice chairman.

1987

The new Journalism Programwas launched with major grantsfor midcareer fellowships atHarvard, Columbia, Stanford,the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology and the Universityof Michigan. At the Universityof Maryland, the Foundationcreated the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism, a program of short courses on specialized subjects for workingjournalists. At the University of Florida and the University of Missouri, grants created five-year experimental programs to recruit, educate and place minority journalists.

1988

Creed Black, publisher of theLexington Herald-Leader, suc-ceeded C.C. Gibson as president.

The board added two newnational program areas – Artsand Culture and Education.

The Foundation established theNewspaper Management Centerat Northwestern University.

1989

The Education Program launched its first initiative,Excellence in UndergraduateEducation. Over the next three years, nearly $10 millionwas provided to 39 privateliberal arts colleges for innovativeprojects that strengthened undergraduate education.

The Knight FoundationCommission on IntercollegiateAthletics was created to studyand recommend a plan of actionto address widespread abuses in college athletics. Co-chairedby former Notre Dame presidentFather Theodore Hesburgh and former University of NorthCarolina president WilliamFriday, the commission producedthree reports that contributed to the momentum for reform,which culminated in the restructuring of the NationalCollegiate Athletic Association(NCAA). The commission disbanded in 1996.

H I S T O R Y A T A G L A N C E

CharlesLandon Knight

Clara Irene Knight

Clara Knight (Mrs. Charles

Landon Knight)

Early members ofKnight Foundation's

board included Lee Hills, far left;

Jim Knight, center;Blake McDowell,

second from right

Knight Newspapers go public, 1969.

Left to right: Alvah H.Chapman,

James L. Knight, a Knight

Newspaper trader, Lee Hills,

John S. Knight

C.C. Gibson

Jim Knight's family.Left to right:

son-in-law Reed Toomey,daughter Marilyn North,

daughter Marjorie Crane,Jim Knight,

wife Mary Ann Knight, daughter Barbara Toomey,and daughter Beverly Olson

Knight Foundationtrustees, 1986.

Alvah Chapman,Barbara Toomey,

Henry King Stanford,C.C. Gibson,

Gordon Heffern,standing; Lee Hills,

James L. Knight,seated

Lee Hills

Creed C. Black

LeRoy Walker, president of the

United States Olympic Committee,

was a member of theKnight Foundation

Commission on Intercollegiate

Athletics

Excellence inUndergratuate

in Education conference, 1993.

Henry KingStanford and Cornel West

James L. Knight, John F. Kennedy,

John S. Knight at IAPA gathering

in MiamiNov. 18,1963

Ben Maidenburg, left,with Jack Knight on

Knight’s 85th birthday

John S. Knight at Underwood

typewriter

Lee Hills signs agreement with

Stanford PresidentDonald Kennedy

renaming the John S. Knight

Fellowship Program. C.C. Gibson is in background with

Albert Hastorf

The JournalismProgram made

grants to enhance minority

recruiting and retention programs

John S. Knight,James L. Knight

outside of the new Miami Herald building

J O H N S . A N D J A M E S L . K N I G H T F O U N D A T I O N 1 9 9 9 A N N U A L R E P O R T J O H N S . A N D J A M E S L . K N I G H T F O U N D A T I O N1 9 9 9 A N N U A L R E P O R T

H I S T O R Y A T A G L A N C E

1 5 1 7 1 8

1999

The Foundation established the Knight Center for SpecializedJournalism at the University of Southern California as awestern counterpart to its well-respected predecessor at the University of Maryland.

The Foundation launched anin-depth, two-year CommunityIndicators Project to acquiremore comprehensive informationabout cities covered in theCommunity Initiatives Program.The purpose: to lay the groundwork for more focusedgrant making.

1998

Hodding Carter III, longtimenewspaper and television jour-nalist, succeeded Creed Black as president. Black continued to serve on the board.

The board approved a policy fixing the 26 cities at the time ofJames L. Knight’s death in 1991 as the geographic focus of theCommunity Initiatives Program.

1997

In a search for solutions to the gun- and gang-drivennational epidemic that left nocity, community or schoolimmune from outbreaks ofviolence by and against youth,the Foundation launched theInitiative to Promote YouthDevelopment and Prevent Youth Violence. The initiativewas structured to first engagelocal communities in developingcomprehensive strategic plans to address youth violence and,secondly, to support implemen-tation of local plans.

1996

W. Gerald Austen, M.D., suc-ceeded Lee Hills as chairman.Hills remained on the board.

1995

The Arts and Culture Programlaunched two national initia-tives. The first, the “Magic ofMusic” Symphony OrchestraInitiative, sought symphonyorchestras willing to engage their entire organizations inexperiments designed to generatea greater sense of excitementabout the concertgoing experience and a more vitalrelationship between artists and audiences. The second,the Museum Loan Network,was a collection-sharing program created in partnershipwith The Pew Charitable Trusts and administered at the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology.

1994

The Knight FoundationImmunization Initiative – thefirst to encompass all 26 cities in the Community InitiativesProgram – provided fundingover the next two years forparental education and publicinformation activities with the goal of improving immu-nization rates of children 2 years old and younger.

The Foundation incorporated in the state of Florida.

Supported by the Foundation,the American Society ofNewspaper Editors created theInstitute for JournalismExcellence, a program placingjournalism professors in summerjobs at newspapers across thecountry. It was the first ofseveral Foundation-supportedprojects designed to strengthenties between the newsroom and the classroom.

1993

The Foundation became the John S. and James L. KnightFoundation on Jan. 1.

The Knight International PressFellowships were established toenable U.S. journalists and news executives to serve as temporary resources for the pressin emerging democracies. Theprogram was an outgrowth ofthe Foundation’s longstandingsupport for the efforts of U.S.-based journalism organizations,such as the World Press FreedomCommittee and the InterAmerican Press Association,which addressed challenges to a free press through public information and professionaleducation activities.

1992

The Foundation committed $10 million to the recovery andrebuilding of Dade County afterHurricane Andrew devastatedportions of the region on Aug.24. The commitment reaffirmeda practice of support for com-munity recovery that the boardhad begun during the 1980safter major natural disasters.Such support escalated duringthe 1990s as the Foundationresponded with major grants for Grand Forks, N.D., after the Red River flood and subsequent fires destroyed much of its downtown in 1997

The Foundation committed $1 million to the National Trustfor Historic Preservation tolaunch the Community InitiatedDevelopment Program, ademonstration project using historic preservation to revitalizecommercial districts in Detroit,Miami and Philadelphia.

1991

James L. Knight died on Feb. 5,leaving the bulk of his estate tothe Foundation. His bequesteventually totaled $200 million.Lee Hills succeeded him aschairman.

The Foundation undertook ayear-long strategic planningeffort. One of the first outcomesincluded a five-year, $10 millioninitiative to bolster communityfoundations in Knight cities.

The Cities Program wasrenamed the CommunityInitiatives Program to reflect a more proactive posture ingrant making.

The Education Program refocused its emphasis from higher education to collaborations between collegesand universities and K-12schools to improve educationfrom kindergarten through college and beyond.

1990

The Foundation became afounding partner in the NationalCommunity DevelopmentInitiative (NCDI), the largestphilanthropic collaboration inU.S. history. NCDI engaged the public, private and nonprofitsectors in partnerships thatenabled local community development corporations toincrease their capacity for providing housing, social servicesand economic stimulators inselected neighborhoods of morethan 20 cities.

The Knight Chair in Journalismprogram was established tostrengthen journalism educationat the undergraduate level,primarily at the nation’s best journalism schools. Over thenext 10 years, nearly $20 mil-lion endowed 14 chairs at 12major journalism schools as well as at Duke University andWashington and Lee University.

The Presidential LeadershipGrants, an outgrowth of theExcellence in UndergraduateEducation initiative, werelaunched to provide unsolicited,unrestricted grants to small,private liberal arts colleges,many of them schools servingspecial populations, in recogni-tion of the creativity and prom-ise of their leadership.

The Foundation moved itsheadquarters from Akron toMiami and expanded its stafffrom eight to 14.

More than 125 liberal arts educators gathered for a three-day dissemination conference in Columbia, Md., focused onthe successes and challenges ofthe projects funded through theExcellence in UndergraduateEducation initiative. The conference was the Foundation’sfirst large-scale effort to connectgrantees with each other to share ideas, strategies and experiences, to learn from eachother and to disseminate whatthey had learned to a broaderfield. Such dissemination activities subsequently becamean integral part of initiatives in all of the Foundation’s programming and led to addi-tional “community of learners”workshops as well as publica-tions focused on the lessons that the Foundation’s granteeshad learned through hands-onexperiences.

A $1 million grant enabled the Kentucky Collaborative forTeaching and Learning to undertake a large-scale, statewideexpansion of Different Ways ofKnowing, a promising school-reform initiative developed by the Los Angeles-based Galef Institute. The support was the first of several majorKnight Foundation grants made over the next five years for comprehensive, community-wide initiatives designed tobroaden and deepen the impact of school reform in thegeographic areas of interest to the Foundation.

1 6

Knight Foundation became thechief supporter of a national collaborative of 160 colleges and universities engaged instrategic planning activities toadapt to the dramatic and rapid financial, technologicaland philosophical transforma-tions taking place on their campuses. Administered by theInstitute for Research on HigherEducation at the University of Pennsylvania, the Knight Higher Education Collaborativehas helped participants remainmission-centered while becoming“market smart.”

Knight Foundation committed

$10 million to help South

Dade Countyrebuild after

Hurricane Andrew

Former PresidentJimmy Carter

at Miami Habitat for Humanity

work site

ImmunizationInitiative poster

Lee Hills Hallgroundbreaking at

University ofMissouri School of

Journalism, 1993

'Magic of Music' Symphony

Initiative performance

from 1998 by LouisianaPhilharmonic

with video screen in background

Creed Black chats with

Hodding Carter III and his wife, Patt Derian,

at Knight Foundation offices

Teach forAmerica recruit

Jerry Petrusinstructs an

eighth grader in a Brooklyn

classroom

James L. Knight

Knight Foundation’sVice President

and Chief ProgramOfficer Jim Spaniolo

helps a Kids Voting participant

Charlotte teacher Deborah Camp

acquired NationalBoard for

Professional Teaching Standards

certification

2000

Longtime trustee Lee Hills,adviser to the Knight brothers,died Feb 3.

Trustees visit a Detroit

redevelopmentproject during

a1993 board meeting

W. Gerald Austen, M.D.

The first Knight Chair in Journalism

professors pose with Del Brinkman,

Journalism Program director,seated

Lee Hills

J O H N S . A N D J A M E S L . K N I G H T F O U N D A T I O N 1 9 9 9 A N N U A L R E P O R T J O H N S . A N D J A M E S L . K N I G H T F O U N D A T I O N1 9 9 9 A N N U A L R E P O R T