Letter From the CEO Dear Friends, Since our organization’s founding, First Look Institute has emerged to serve a constituency that is active, engaged, and hungry for truth — which isn’t readily accessible in today’s media landscape. We expose injustice through our reporting, support diverse and innovative journalists and filmmakers, and defend reporters, whistleblowers, and others who cannot defend themselves. The year 2020 held a mirror to society, making painfully clear the disparities that persist. The election, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the pursuit of racial justice defined a year in which many lives and livelihoods, particularly those of marginalized communities, were at risk. In 2020 our teams were mobilized by a spirit of collective action, emboldened in our mission to support at-risk groups and unyielding in our dedication to creating powerful impact. FLI is home to The Intercept, which produces fearless, adversarial journalism that holds the powerful to account; Field of Vision, a groundbreaking, filmmaker-driven documentary unit committed to elevating historically underrepresented voices; and the Press Freedom Defense Fund, which champions journalists and whistleblowers who face press freedom restrictions, providing financial and legal support when a substantial public interest is at stake. Thanks to the support of our donors, FLI continued to deliver on its mission and act on some of the most urgent needs of our time. Our teams raced to meet the moment, shining a light on social injustice and political corruption, and protecting the most vulnerable members of the journalistic and documentary communities, all while working remotely due to the pandemic. FLI also demonstrated its dedication to equity and empowerment through the news we report, the films we support, and the communities we serve. The Intercept’s “BlueLeaks” series exposed law enforcement’s internal attitudes and operations on issues as wide-ranging as the “Defund the Police” movement and the George Floyd protests to eco-activists. The Intercept’s reporting chronicled the ongoing “War on Immigrants” and exposed the abuses of employer power that resulted in workers’ deaths and revealed who was profiting from the pandemic. Field of Vision supported a myriad of filmmakers exploring contemporary global issues, such as the Academy Award-winning “American Factory,” which examined the struggles and revitalization of a working-class U.S. community with investments from a high-tech Chinese company, and “MLK/FBI,” a documentary that sourced declassified files on the U.S. government’s surveillance and harassment of Martin Luther King Jr. The Press Freedom Defense Fund (PFDF) developed Lawyers for Reporters, a new project in partnership with the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice, in which we deepened our commitment to provide pro bono legal services to local and community-based news organizations. The project supports newsroom operations from their inception through development to ultimate sustainability. It provides top-tier legal advice from an array of leading firms to make crucial resources accessible for free to news organizations that need them the most. PFDF also partnered with the National Press Photographers Association to institute the Legal Advocacy Initiative that defended reporters who were arrested or injured while covering protests and other activities related to the killing of Black citizens. Along with this important work, FLI went even deeper by providing vital relief efforts and funds to a diverse community of journalists, whistleblowers, and filmmakers during this time of extreme economic disruption. Both the Journalist Emergency Relief Program and the Documentary Freelancer Relief Fund provided financial support to help those whose incomes were impacted because of the pandemic. We were honored to distribute more than $895,000 to bolster individuals in need of legal backing or funds to simply support themselves and their families. Pierre Omidyar provided the initial funds to launch FLI, and today we are a nonprofit supported by the generosity of individuals and institutions that value freedom of the press and courageous, diverse storytellers. We are profoundly grateful to Pierre for his continued generosity, our 70,000 individual members, and supporters including the Ford Foundation, the James D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Miami Foundation, the Bay and Paul Foundations, the Democracy Fund, and the Redford Center. Despite the challenges of this extraordinary year, 2020 proved to be our greatest year of individual membership growth yet. As we continue to pursue our mission, we thank you for your dedication to our shared values. We invite you to connect with our community as we ask the hard questions, dive deep into issues, and ensure that the public gets the information it needs to live in a just, democratic society in which everyone can flourish. Michael Bloom Chief Executive Officer