History
From 1907 to 1933, Charles Landon Knight published the Akron Beacon Journal. One of his practices was helping out financially strapped college students with their tuition. Following their father’s death, John S. and James L. Knight created the Knight Memorial Education Fund in 1940 to continue the mission of helping poor Akron college students pay for college. The Akron Beacon Journal also kicked in some money to the education fund.
In December 1950, Knight Foundation was created with $9,047 transferred from that education fund. Knight Foundation incorporated in the state of Ohio with the goal of carrying out the work of the education fund. At its start, the foundation funded education, social services, cultural organizations and some journalism related causes.
In its first decade, the foundation’s money came from contributions from the Akron Beacon Journal and the Miami Herald, as well as personal gifts by John and James Knight. Other Knight newspapers also contributed in the early 1960s, this led to a limited number of grants to those cities. Despite several family ties, the foundation was legally independent from Knight-owned newspapers.
Newspaper contributions to the foundation stopped five years later, when Clara I. Knight, the Knights’ mother, who died 12 November 1965, left her inheritance of 180,000 shares of Knight stock, then valued at $5.2 million, to the foundation.
Two years later, in 1974, Knight Newspapers merged with Ridder Publications to create Knight-Ridder Inc., at the time the largest newspaper company in the country. Lee Hills, former president of Knight Newspapers, became Knight-Ridder chairman and CEO. Hills, a foundation trustee since 1960, was the first person outside the family to head Knight Newspapers.
In April 1975, John Knight signed his final will, leaving the bulk of his Knight-Ridder shares to Knight Foundation. The foundation opened its first office in Akron with two full-time employees: President Ben Maidenburg, former Akron Beacon Journal executive editor and his secretary, Shirley Follo. More than a year after taking the reins, Maidenburg fell ill.
The foundation’s headquarters moved from Akron to Miami in 1990. At that time, the foundation’s portfolio was valued at $522 million and staff had grown to 14 employees.
On 5 February 1991, James Knight died, leaving a bulk of his estate, $200 million, to the foundation. Hills succeeded as chairman of the board.
Knight-Ridder newspapers and the foundation held ties to 26 U.S. cities and in 1998, the foundation’s board of trustees voted to permanently fund these 26 cities, independent from where Knight-Ridder bought or sold their newspaper business in the future.
Across the 26 cities, the foundation deployed program directors to oversee funding initiatives. Also, each city has a Knight Community Advisory Committee, a group made up of local residents, which offer funding suggestions for their city.
Read more about this topic: John S. And James L. Knight Foundation
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