Impact

Photo: Katadata/ Karyawan Katadata

Investing for impact

MDIF provides affordable debt and equity financing to independent media in a range of countries where access to free and independent news and information is under threat. For more than 25 years, we have invested capital and advisory services to help scores of media organisations build robust businesses, strong enough to hold governments to account, expose corruption and provide a platform for debate.

$298.4m
total financing

148 clients
in 47 countries

$148.2m current assets under management

Impact on clients

Working with MDIF has a positive impact on client businesses. It helps news organisations build audiences and revenues, supporting their overall financial viability.

Impact on clients chart

After five years of working with MDIF, media increased their revenues by an average of 205% and their reach by an average of 190%.

Social impact

MDIF invests in independent media as a way of helping people build free, thriving societies. With a combined audience of 262 million people, MDIF-supported news businesses made a positive impact on their communities, including in these three areas:

Exposing corruption and holding those in power to account

Providing reliable information on social issues, like the environment, gender, ethnicity and LGBT

Supporting democratic participation and improving voter knowledge during elections

Our approach to impact tracking

MDIF

Does MDIF’s financing and technical assistance improve client sustainability?

Impact level 1
Client

Do MDIF’s clients have a positive impact on their societies?

Impact level 2
Society

Impact assessment is a critical part of our work, and we continuously work to refine and improve it in response to the sweeping changes in the media sector and changing best practices in impact measurement. We have developed a rigorous and streamlined process of tracking the impact of our financing and technical assistance, from its direct impact on client viability to how our clients drive change in their societies. Our approach includes both numerical and narrative data, as well as detailed longitudinal analysis and contemporaneous examples.

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