Organize the Internet: MVP's New-Media Strategy Memo

MVP friends,

Fresh off the press: We are proud to share our new-media strategy memo with you.

Memo Overview

In the memo, you’ll find:

• MVP’s five new-media investment lenses.
• The nine principles guiding our new-media grantmaking.
• The three criteria by which we are vetting and assessing potential new-media grantee partners.
• An overview of MVP’s unique added value in the new-media ecosystem.
• Our analysis of the new-media landscape as it stands today.

"New Media" 101

New media is defined as: Means of mass communication using digital technologies such as the internet. For our purposes, “new media” is not the opposite of “legacy media” (The New York Times, CNN, etc.), but the many systems that move information from those and other channels to people’s “For You pages” (FYPs) on platforms like YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, X, Twitch, and more.

Why New Media? Why Now?

To defeat autocracy and shift the trajectory of our country, we need to win hearts and minds en masse by pairing local organizing with new-media engagement. In short, we must organize the internet.

The right currently dominates digital culture by treating online platforms as core organizing terrain — meeting places, not just megaphones. To compete, we need to build infrastructure that meets voters where they truly are: in algorithm-driven, decentralized online communities.

Enjoy the full strategy memo — and consider supporting this critical area of work, whether via MVP or our many partners and allies working to build a new-media ecosystem that moves us toward a nation of dignity, opportunity, and prosperity for all.