Media Development Loan Fund
We are proud to announce MDLF 2.0

We are pleased to introduce MDLF 2.0: a dramatic upgrade to the way we support independent media.

On 1 January 2008, MDLF launched a new Family of Funds. Building on the successes of the past 12 years – and with more than $70 million of low-cost financing already provided – the Family of Funds will enable us to provide even greater support to independent media businesses in emerging democracies.

And that is not all. Also since 1 January 2008, MDLF is financially self-sustainable.

MDLF 2.0 will provide us with more ways to help news businesses, allow us to support a wider range of news media and give us the tools to take media companies further. We hope you will be as excited by the changes as we are.

Family of Funds to provide flexible finance

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The new Family of Funds gives us the flexibility to take on projects, both bigger and smaller, that we previously could not finance.

With each fund – to start, a General Loan Fund, High-Risk Country Fund, High-Risk Project Fund, Affiliates Fund, Equity Fund and Cash-Flow Fund – designed to meet a distinctive media support objective, we can responsibly take on more risky projects and work in more risky countries without exposing regular funders and investors to greater risk. We can also innovate new financial products to meet the changing needs of independent news media and help funders better meet their funding priorities. Read more here.

MDLF becomes operationally self-sustainable

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As of 1 January 2008, MDLF is operationally self-sustainable. By using program-related equity investments, we are now able to cover our operating costs.

Our conservative projections had assumed that we would no longer need financing for operating costs from 2009, but we beat our estimate by a year. Read more here.

Spotlight on the Affiliates Fund

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The Affiliates Fund will provide low-cost financing, backed up by MDLF oversight and training, to locally based and managed loan funds.

Working with partner organisations with extensive local knowledge and expertise, the Affiliates Fund builds on successful pilot projects in Indonesia and Russia and enables us to provide smaller loans than we can manage directly to news outlets that we could not reach on our own. Read more here.

Rethinking MDLF for the next 10 years

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MDLF 2.0 is the product of three years’ work re-examining our structure and operations from top to bottom.

The new model retains MDLF’s highly focused mission, yet also provides a stronger, more stable, more sophisticated platform for achieving that goal. MDLF 2.0 prepares MDLF for its second decade of life. Read more here.

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Updates and Resources

MDLF is an environmentally responsible organisation.

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We offset all air travel and are acting to minimise our carbon emissions.

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Impact Dashboard 2007

Creating change lies at the heart of any social mission. For MDLF, improving the sustainability of independent news businesses is the goal. But how successful are we?

We have published the second annual analysis of the impact of our work: Media Development Impact Dashboard 2007.

By examining changes in key data vital to the commercial sustainability of our clients – sales; numbers of readers, listeners or viewers; and overall financial viability – we get a clear view of the impact our work has on their businesses. And the news is good.

The key findings of the Impact Dashboard 2007 include:
  • In 2006, more than 25 million people in developing democracies got their news from 27 MDLF clients.
  • After five years with MDLF, clients on average had increased their readers, listeners or viewers by 18 percent.
  • In 2006, 27 MDLF clients together generated nearly $124 million in sales compared to $104 million in 2005.
  • After five years with MDLF, clients on average had increased their sales by 361 percent.
  • In 2006, each dollar invested by MDLF leveraged $3.78 in sales by MDLF clients, compared to $2.49 in 1999.
  • For every $10,000 invested in 2006, MDLF supported access to independent news for 7,824 readers, listeners and viewers, compared to 4,328 in 1999.
  • In 2006, based on MDLF’s risk ratings, 18 of 22 clients maintained a level of financial risk considered consistent with long-term sustainability.

Encouragingly, the figures show that media outlets continue to grow at a steady pace, or even speed up, as our relationship progresses, suggesting that the development of client businesses will last.

In terms of overall impact, our portfolio continues to grow, with 4 million more people getting their news from MDLF clients than one year previously and clients together generating $20 million more sales. The continued demand for MDLF loans shows that affordable finance remains a vital area of media support. It is also one to which MDLF remains committed to advancing in ever more effective and progressive ways.

Read the full report here.


Gerald Nagler joins Board

Gerald Nagler has accepted an invitation to join MDLF’s Board of Directors. Based in Stockholm, Sweden, Gerald was founder and executive director – and later chairman – of the Swedish Helsinki Committee for Human Rights. Gerald has worked on human rights issues and on projects to build civil societies in repressive countries in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe for 25 years.