Problem

Like any U.S. business, an independent media company in a developing democracy needs capital to strengthen and grow. But too often after paying the bills there is nothing left to invest in the future. A cash injection can provide the financing a news business needs to step up to the next level while remaining independent. MDLF loans help media companies reach new audiences and provide objective news and information to more people.

The Gift

Your gift of $50 can provide 36 people in a transitional country with access to independent news for one year*. MDLF financing helped the journalists who founded elPeriodico, Guatemala’s leading source of investigative journalism, buy back majority ownership of the paper from a large media group, narrowly averting a loss of control. With MDLF’s help, they transformed the daily into a viable, stand-alone company while suffering intimidation through violence, advertising boycotts and threats for exposing government corruption. And because MDLF channels its loans through a revolving pool, as each loan repayment is made, it is recycled and loaned out to other news businesses, so every dollar goes to work again and again. * Figures taken from MDLF’s 2006 Impact Dashboard: 21 million people receive news from MDLF clients from a portfolio of more than $29 million.