Jennifer Preston

Jennifer Preston, a veteran journalist and independent philanthropic advisor, joined the Lab for Journalism Funding in 2022.  

She previously spent almost two decades as a reporter, senior editor, newsroom executive and social media pioneer at The New York Times. In 2014, she left the Times to take on the role of Vice President at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in Miami, where she helped shift Knight’s strategic priorities to address the crisis in local news. 

During her tenure, she managed Knight’s multi-million dollar portfolio that fueled the explosive growth in nonprofit journalism and the digital transformation of local newsrooms. Knight’s investments helped launch NewsMatch, Table Stakes, Report for America and the American Journalism Project and focused on helping local funders and news providers strengthen their communities with sustainable, inclusive and equitable solutions. 

In 2022, she created the Accelerate Philanthropy for Journalism project while a senior fellow at the Shorenstein Center for Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. The project provides strategic guidance to Press Forward chapters, private foundations, community foundations and local funders on how to apply best practices in sustainability, equity and inclusion and journalism ethics to produce transformational change. In 2023, she led and commissioned the first comprehensive research on the growing role of philanthropy in journalism with NORC, the Lenfest Institute and Media Impact Funders.