Rachel White will lead the organisation’s relationships with a range of philanthropic partners, building on the Guardian’s longstanding work in this area, and identifying new opportunities to increase the impact of its journalism around the world.
White joins from New America where she is Senior Vice President and Director of New America Live, and leads development and strategic partnership efforts with private foundations, individuals, corporations, academia, media, and government. Prior to joining New America, White worked for the World Wildlife Fund where she played a lead role in securing funding for their Living Planet Campaign. She is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
White's appointment further underlines GNM’s increased presence in the United States and its desire to build global partnerships with the pre-eminent institutions based there. The philanthropy team, based both in the US and UK, will work to support the growth of Guardian reporting of areas such as international development, human rights and climate change. The Guardian has a strong track record in working with organisations including the Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation to create impactful, independent journalism exploring important global issues.
According to the publishers, the Guardian has a unique ownership structure and set of values, which underlines its independence, tradition of liberal journalism and editorial integrity, and its ultimate owner, The Scott Trust exists solely to safeguard Guardian journalism in perpetuity. The philanthropy team will continue to contribute to this mission, working with partners and reporters to integrate transparent foundation funding as part of the Guardian’s overall business model.
White will report to Tony Danker, International Director, GNM, and will work closely with the Guardian’s editorial and commercial leadership teams based in London and New York.
Tony Danker, International Director, Guardian News & Media, said: “As the Guardian’s reach and impact grows around the world, we are constantly seeking new partnerships to support and grow independent journalism. Rachel joins us at a time when the potential for groundbreaking journalism on key global questions has never been greater.”
Rachel White said: “The Guardian has demonstrated the incredible impact of its journalism time and again, and the potential to amplify and extend that impact even further is huge. I’m thrilled to be joining at this exciting time and look forward to working to grow the reach of our extraordinary journalism around the world.”
In the last 12 months, the Guardian has grown its global traffic by 24%, reaching 105 million monthly unique browsers (ABC Digital Audit, July 2014), over a quarter of which are based in the US. Editorially, the Guardian has won numerous global awards for its reporting of the NSA revelations, culminating with the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. The Guardian also recently launched Guardian Membership, a scheme that enables readers to directly support the Guardian’s independent and pioneering journalism, says the Guardian.
