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CINCINNATI, Feb. 17, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Scripps Howard Fund and Scripps Howard Foundation, nonprofit organizations, awarded $9.8 million to community and journalism programs during 2024, a nearly 10% increase from 2023.

The Scripps Howard Fund and Scripps Howard Foundation support communities where The E.W. Scripps Company does business, while their journalism programs and funding reach people across the country. The Fund and Foundation also partner with the Scripps and Howard families to support causes important to them.

"Together with our partners, the Scripps Howard Fund and Scripps Howard Foundation continually find new ways to serve our communities and support the evolving landscape of journalism," said Meredith Delaney, president and CEO of the Scripps Howard Fund and Scripps Howard Foundation. "The impact of our 2024 funding underscores the power of collaboration that drives everything we do – creating opportunities, building brighter futures for young people through reading and fostering a more engaged, informed world."

The Fund's 2024 giving included:

$2.5 million to give back in communities served by The E.W. Scripps Company

• Scripps-owned local television stations and Scripps Networks held 77 fundraising campaigns in 2024 and received nearly 6,500 donations.

• The Fund supported more than 110 charities within Scripps' communities, providing help to those who need it most.

• The Fund, Scripps local stations and Scripps News joined forces to organize fundraisers alongside their coverage for hurricanes Helene and Milton. Viewers across the country answered the call, helping to raise $289,000 for 29 local nonprofits on the frontlines.

$1.6 million to advance journalism education

• During the 71st Scripps Howard Journalism Awards, the Fund awarded $170,000 across 15 categories, recognizing news organizations and journalists for outstanding investigations and storytelling.

• Twenty-one paid interns gained real-world experience working in newsrooms across the country.

• The Scripps Howard Fund provided grants to foster innovation in journalism education through two programs:

  • The Fund partners with the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism to teach college students open-source investigative journalism.

  • The Fund, in partnership with the Adam R. Scripps Foundation, provided a grant to the University of Memphis to create an open-source investigative program at its Institute for Public Service Reporting.

$1.5 million to improve childhood literacy

• The Fund's ninth annual "If You Give a Child a Book …" campaign invested a record-breaking $1.5 million in childhood literacy.

• This year's campaign provided 255,000 new books to 34,000 children at low-income schools across the United States.

• In 2024, Clay County, Kentucky, became the first school district in the country to have all its elementary schools receive support from the "If You Give a Child a Book …" campaign. Nearly 1,700 students across the district's seven elementary schools selected books of their own to start their home libraries during free Scholastic Book Fairs – that's 14,850 books into the hands of children most at risk of falling behind in reading.