European Cross-border Grants FAQ

Basically, you need a good idea for an investigation, a cross-border team of at least two journalists and or independent media outlets, and at least two letters of intent from European professional news outlets (from which at least one based in the EU) who are willing to publish the result of your investigation.

You can read how to start from there in the grant details.

No. The result of your journalistic investigation can be published by a professional media outlet in any language.

However, it is required to submit your full project application in English. English is the common language of our international jury, and all jury members need to be able to assess all applications on the same basis.

Preferably European countries. At least 80% of the requested budget should go to journalists/media from EU countries.

Check out our tip page How to find a teammate.

Yes. A team can consist of two types of applicants:

• Freelance journalists (natural persons);
• News outlets (legal entities). This means that journalists in the team who are an employee of a news outlet do not need to be listed as an individual applicant: they fall under the news outlet they work for.

If a grant is awarded to the project, the grant money will be allocated to the different applicants (i.e. the freelance journalists and/or news outlets) according to the submitted budget.

No. Media companies may also apply.

A grant can cover two types of costs:

1. Working time of the journalists to conduct their investigation (please note: working time will need to be substantiated with a timesheet)
2. Expenses:

• We allow what directly supports the investigation such as travel for reporting, visa, accommodation, translation, fixers, access to pay-databases, freedom of information (FOI) requests, legal screening, insurance, etc., ...

• Following expenses cannot be covered by the grants: overhead, office costs, investments goods (such as IT hardware, mobile phones, cameras, …), production costs (e.g. web design, illustrations, …), food and beverage, per diems, and content distribution.

• We also strongly discourage travel organised only for collaborators to coordinate the logistics and editorial focus of the project, which can all happen using virtual meeting tools. Travel should be limited to pursuing reporting work in the field. We take carbon emissions reduction seriously and see cross-border collaboration as a means to empower local journalists to work on stories in their own countries.

• All costs should arise during the project period and after the signing of the grant agreement with Journalismfund Europe.

The grant can only cover costs for research, not for production.

Applications must include a budget calculation according to the budget template.

It is perfectly understandable to ask. We get this question a lot...

However, there is no clear answer. The amounts vary per project and depend on the duration of the investigation, the number of team members, and the necessary expenses.

We want to stress that you should initially plan a convincing project proposal, assess the necessary tools and resources you will need to conduct your investigation, and only then draft a realistic budget to fund your project. Jury members will consider your project proposal if you submit a good quality and realistic budget plan. This is one of the criteria assessments the jury will look for in awarding you grant money. Therefore, it is NOT a good idea to inflate your budget.

In practice, grants could vary from e.g. €2,000 for smaller investigations to €14,000 or even more for very large investigations that involve newsrooms in many countries, require a lot of research and expenses, data access, legal screening, etc., and yield a large series of publications.

You can find an overview of the supported stories here.

Applicants are usually informed about the jury decision around 40 days after the application deadline.

In 2024 and 2025 Journalismfund Europe's European Cross-border Grants programme is funded by 2 foundations and the European Commission:

• The European Commission
• Limelight Foundation
• Veronica Stichting

All formal agreements between Journalismfund Europe and its donors stipulate independence and no editorial interference. (Representatives from) donors can never be part of the juries that award the grants. Journalismfund Europe does not take money from donors that don’t agree with these terms.

We adopted an Ethical Funding Policy to ensure that Journalismfund Europe properly manages its priorities and projects with appropriate independence from its funders. This Policy also aims at providing transparency regarding the identity of Journalismfund Europe’s sources of funding to avoid any suspicion of inappropriate influence or conflicts of interest concerning Journalismfund Europe’s activities.

Journalismfund Europe’s financial records are reviewed annually by an independent auditor. You can find all funding information and financial documents here.

All formal agreements between Journalismfund Europe and its donors stipulate independence and no editorial interference. (Representatives from) donors can never be part of the juries that award the grants. Journalismfund Europe does not take money from donors that don’t agree with these terms.

We adopted an Ethical Funding Policy to ensure that Journalismfund Europe properly manages its priorities and projects with appropriate independence from its funders. This Policy also aims at providing transparency regarding the identity of Journalismfund Europe’s sources of funding to avoid any suspicion of inappropriate influence or conflicts of interest concerning Journalismfund Europe’s activities.

Journalismfund Europe’s financial records are reviewed annually by an independent auditor. You can find all funding information and financial documents here.

You are welcome to publish your investigation in part or in its entirety on your own platform or blog. We request, however, two letters of intent (LOI) for publication from professional independent news outlets in two different countries, that will be independent from your own platform.

Journalismfund Europe strives for the highest standards for data protection and security. Read about our privacy and data protection measures here.

Journalismfund Europe vzw is a Belgium based independent non‐profit intermediairy established by citizens with the purpose of promoting independent investigative journalism.

Check the general FAQ about our organisation.

Let us walk you through your application to increase your chances of getting funded.

Register to speak with our project coordinator. Click here to view the calendar.

Or click the button below!