“Six Lessons on Designing Public Prizes for Impact” looks at how foundations can use contests as a powerful tool to advance their work. The report therefore offers a valuable starting point for foundations and other organizations to leverage the benefits of contests. It outlines Knight Foundation’s history and experiences with hosting challenges across all its program areas—media innovation and journalism, arts and communities. Readers can take advantage of six lessons, along with practical examples and tips, on designing public prizes for impact and running an effective contest. Also included are examples of work with specific grantees. Find out more at www.knightfoundation.org/opencontests.

1. Why Contests
Improve
Philanthropy
Six lessons on designing public prizes for impact
Written by
Mayur Patel, July 2013
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 License

2. Why Contests Improve Philanthropy knightfoundation.org #opencontests 2
Knight Arts
Challenge
Knight
Community
Information
Challenge
2008–PRESENT
Knight News
Challenge
Community
Arts
Journalism
Challenge
PitchIt
Challenge
SXSW Accelerator
Competition:
News-related
technology track
Knight
Neighborhood
Challenge
Apps for
Communities
Challenge
TEDxCity2.0Civic Data
Challenge.
Contests for innovation go back hundreds of years— many have even
changed history. Learning from the best, Knight has supported a wide range
of contests— from media innovation challenges to community building.
Here’s a brief look at our seven year history of contests:
2007–PRESENT
2008–PRESENT
2009–PRESENT 2011
2012–2013
Black Male
Engagement
Challenge
2012–PRESENT
2010–2013
2011–2012
20122012

3. Why Contests Improve Philanthropy knightfoundation.org #opencontests 3
OVER
24,000APPLICANTS
OVER
1080WINNERS
OVER
$112,000,000AWARDED
Knight Community Information Challenge
$39 million
awarded to 104 winners from
over 650 applicants
Knight Neighborhood Challenge
$1.5 million
Awarded to date to 88 winners
from over 190 applicants
Civic Data Challenge
60 applicants
$25,000 awarded
Community Arts Journalism Challenge
230 applicants
$57,500 awarded to three winners
TEDxCity2.0
$10,000
to fund 10 ideas to date
PitchIt Challenge
$225,000
to four winners
Black Male Engagement Challenge
150 applicants
$443,000 awarded to 20 winners
OVER
Knight Arts Challenge
13,300 applicants
$26.8 million awarded to 257 winners
OVER
Knight News Challenge
12,400 applicants
$32.5 million awarded to 97 winners
OVER
SXSW Accelerator Competition –
News-related technology track
700 applicants
OVER
Two winners
Apps for Communities Challenge
$100,000
Awarded to three winners
from over 70 applicants

4. Why Contests Improve Philanthropy knightfoundation.org #opencontests 4
lesson
Contests
bring in new blood, new ideas

5. Why Contests Improve Philanthropy knightfoundation.org #opencontests 5
Useful Tips:
lesson
Keep the entry
process simple
so people not
schooled in how
foundations work
can apply.
Invest in marketing
to help you reach
out widely to your
target community.
Ensure that the contest
review cycle allows
applicants to respond
to market opportunities.
When it comes to
innovation faster is better.
Contests
bring in new blood, new ideas
Tapping the wisdom of the crowd with a contest means
opening a foundation up to new kinds of applicants.

6. Why Contests Improve Philanthropy knightfoundation.org #opencontests 6
lesson
Contests create
Value beyond the winners

7. Why Contests Improve Philanthropy knightfoundation.org #opencontests 7
Useful Tips:
lesson
Contests create
Value beyond the winners
Promote contest
finalists to help
strengthen their
brand and credibility.
Think of marketing
as more than just
a way to attract
new entrants.
Include other funders
in your reviewer pool
to help share the
information collected
from a particular contest.
A good contest is more a megaphone for a cause than
just a funnel for spitting out a handful of winning ideas.

8. Why Contests Improve Philanthropy knightfoundation.org #opencontests 8
lesson
Contests
Help you spot emerging trends

9. Why Contests Improve Philanthropy knightfoundation.org #opencontests 9
Useful Tips:
lesson
Open contests give you a good sense of what people are
thinking about and what’s going on beneath the surface.
Contests
Help you spot emerging trends
Make it one of your
judging panel’s jobs
to identify patterns
in the applicant pool.
Look for trends in
the entries at large
as well as in the
finalists.
Treat your applicants
as problem identifiers
not just solution
providers. Even entries
that don’t offer a feasible
project idea can still
provide useful feedback.

10. Why Contests Improve Philanthropy knightfoundation.org #opencontests 10
lesson
Contests
Will change your routine

11. Why Contests Improve Philanthropy knightfoundation.org #opencontests 11
Useful Tips:
lesson
Contests
Will change your routine
Embrace a contest’s
signaling effect
in broadcasting your
foundation’s focus.
Experiment with an
open brand in using the
web and social media
to draw in and interact
with applicants.
Review your contest
processes frequently
and include successful
practices in your
traditional programs.
Contests help create a “safe zone” for experimentation in a foundation
that, if successful, may spill over onto your regular grant-making.

12. Why Contests Improve Philanthropy knightfoundation.org #opencontests 12
lesson
Contests
Go hand in glove with
existing program strategies

13. Why Contests Improve Philanthropy knightfoundation.org #opencontests 13
Useful Tips:
lesson
Contests
Go hand in glove with
existing program strategies
Piggyback
where appropriate
on community
priorities.
Identify market areas
within your portfolio
that have stalled.
Spotlight leading practices
to help motivate and
influence potential
contest entrants.
Contests represent a different way to tackle a foundation’s
key focus areas.

14. Why Contests Improve Philanthropy knightfoundation.org #opencontests 14
Contests should
Thoughtfully engage the communitylesson

15. Why Contests Improve Philanthropy knightfoundation.org #opencontests 15
Useful Tips:
lesson
Contests should
Thoughtfully engage the community
Set clear expectations
for what it means to
comment or “vote”
on a project so
there’s no confusion
in community
participation.
Use external review
panels to help reach
out to your target
community.
Make it the default
option that applicants
post their entries publicly.
Get the most out of your contest by tapping into the wisdom
of the crowd.