The Dot Connector Story
Storytelling, systems change, and the futures worth building.
Dot Connector Studio was founded in 2013 by Jessica Clark [link] and Katie Donnelly [link], united by a shared conviction: media shouldn't just inform—it should transform. From the start, the studio focused on strategy, storytelling, and the emerging field of media impact—helping foundations, journalists, and creators understand not just what stories reach audiences, but how those stories change the world.Our first major partnership was Media Impact Funders (MIF), a network of foundations supporting media. For seven years, we spearheaded MIF's Assessing the Impact of Media (AIM) initiative, launched a searchable digital library of impact research, and developed impact evaluation frameworks still in use today. We also led MIF's Media Impact Festival selection process, produced widely-cited case studies on high-impact documentaries, and formalized its Journalism Funders Network into a year-round program.Along the way, we produced research on global journalism funding (with support from the Gates Foundation), conducted a Pittsburgh journalism ecosystem analysis that led to tangible local investment, and tracked fast-moving challenges like misinformation and journalist safety.
Expanding the Mission
As the world shifted, so did our work. In 2020, Dot Connector partnered with the Democracy Fund on Democracy TBD—a scenario-planning project convening diverse thinkers to imagine the future of American democracy. That same year, we produced Reconstructing American News for the Ford Foundation, mapping pathways toward a more inclusive and sustainable media industry.
The studio's work grew increasingly multidisciplinary. We partnered with 8 Bridges Workshop and the National Endowment for the Arts to produce Tech As Art: Supporting Artists Who Use Technology as a Creative Medium—a joint Knight and Ford Foundation-funded field scan that was adopted into university curricula at USC, Stanford, and Barnard. We collaborated with Kamal Sinclair on the Making a New Reality toolkit, equipping practitioners to make emerging media (VR, AR, and social platforms) more diverse and equitable.
We also helped the Internet Society Foundation design the BOLT Grant Program, worked with the Lenfest Institute in designing its Reimagining Philadelphia Journalism Summit, and collaborated with the Guild of Future Architects on Portals to Beautiful Futures—a visionary report imagining life beyond the pandemic, published with support from Omidyar Network.
Embracing Futures
In 2022, Jessica Clark became Futurist-in-Residence at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, exploring the intersection of media and health equity. This deepened the studio's growing commitment to futures thinking—exploring how art, media, and democracy can evolve in more just and imaginative directions.That same year, Evan Walsh [link] joined the team, helping the studio pivot more fully into futuring work and bringing new energy to collaborations with the Pop Culture Collaborative, exploring how digital communities and narrative change strategies can inspire millions to resist toxic forces and build more pluralist societies. Evan and Jessica also collaborated with the Guild of Future Architects on a pilot New/s Incubator.
A decade after its founding, Dot Connector Studio evolved from a media strategy firm into an organization living at the intersection of storytelling, systems change, and imagination, with an emphasis on creating equitable futures. Jessica Clark’s seminal report with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The Futures We Create: Democratizing the Imagination of the Future, was published in 2025.
In 2025, we tragically lost Jessica Clark.
Katie Donnelly, Evan Walsh and the Dot Connector team continue to carry Jessica’s legacy forward through Dot Connector’s next chapter.
Who We've Worked With
Over more than a decade, Dot Connector Studio has had the privilege of partnering with organizations at the forefront of media, democracy, and culture:
Democracy Fund · Ford Foundation · Robert Wood Johnson Foundation · Knight Foundation · National Endowment for the Arts · Media Impact Funders · Pop Culture Collaborative · The Lenfest Institute · Wikimedia Foundation · MIT Open Documentary Lab · Internet Archive · Humanity United · Philadelphia's Magic Gardens