The News Literacy Project (NLP) has announced a $10 million commitment from Melanie and Richard Lundquist. 

The largest gift in NLP’s history will enable the organization to implement its four-year strategic plan to mobilize news literacy practitioners—educators, students, and the public—to better navigate today’s fraught information landscape and push back against mis- and disinformation. During the 2021-22 school year alone, educators using NLP content, training, and programs reached an estimated 2.4 million students. Its primary educational tool is the Checkology virtual classroom, which is a free online platform with 18 engaging, authoritative lessons that focus on such subjects as discerning news from other kinds of content, understanding bias, and identifying misinformation and conspiratorial thinking. 

“From COVID to January 6 to climate change, the misinformation crisis facing our country is an urgent threat. Because of its proliferation, democracy is circling the drain,” said Melanie Lundquist, who signed the Giving Pledge with her husband in 2018. “I spent considerable time researching which organizations had the best resources available to prepare our young people to protect themselves against the tsunami of false and harmful content they come across online daily. It was clear that the News Literacy Project has the best tools for educators to use to develop critical-thinking skills in students that will enable them to win this fight.” 

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Choreograph)