This study evolved from ideas generated at the 1987 Chicago conference, "The Media and Philanthropy," which was co-developed by Stephen Silha, one of this study's authors. Research questions were framed with the assistance of the board members of several local not-for-profit and professional associations: The Institute for Creative Development, a Seattle-based, nonpartisan, leadership development think tank; the Northwest Development Officers Association; the Washington state chapter of the National Society of Fund Raising Executives; the Pacific Northwest Grantmakers Forum; and the Minority Executive Directors Coalition. A wide spectrum of experts in journalism, information technologies, corporate philanthropy and not-for-profit management offered key insights.

The Gilmore Research Group of Seattle conducted focus groups to ascertain the views of local journalists and the organizations for which they work, not-for-profit executives and volunteers. In all, representatives of more than 30 Puget Sound region not-for-profit organizations of all sizes participated. Collectively, these organizations employed 4,500 people and had 21,750 volunteers and operating budgets totalling more than $475 million. Additionally, the heads of seven public, corporate and private foundations met in a focus group. Their foundations dispersed more than $4.3 million to some 700 community sector organizations in the year before the focus group convened. News editors, reporters and producers convened in three media focus groups of 10 to 12 participants each. An informal focus group comprised of the developers, advocates and watchdogs of the emerging communications technologies was conducted as well.

A series of in-depth interviews with more than 150 individuals who are active locally and nationally, in philanthropy, journalism, new technologies and civic practices followed. Locally, these follow up interviews ensured the perspectives of newspeople in every major print and television outlet in the region were included in this study. The works of leading publications, authors and researchers were studied. The study's authors also attended relevant local and national conferences and workshops on topics related to this theme. They also carried out, through individual consulting projects, work that enabled them to learn more about efforts including civic journalism and libraries in cyberspace. This report represents a synthesizes key findings.