Grant details Enabling Services for Environmental Journalism


Eligibility criteria

  • This grant programme is open to legal entities (organisations, companies, …) officially incorporated at least one year before the application deadline of the grant call and with demonstrable expertise in investigative journalism, environmental issues, and/or the development of supporting services.

  • Eligible proposals entail enabling activities and supporting services for environmental investigative journalism in Europe. These can be training and professional development programmes, or other activities, services or tools that enable investigative journalists to upskill with regards to reporting on environmental issues.
  • The project should be clearly defined and limited in time. The grant cannot be used for core funding or for financing permanent operations of an organisation.
  • Individuals (natural persons) cannot apply for this grant.
    If the project is a collaboration between several organisations, one organisation should apply for the Journalismfund Europe grant.

Which costs

Eligible costs for funding:

Personnel and operating costs that meet the following cumulative conditions:

  • directly attributable to the project
  • arise during the project period and after the signing of the grant agreement with Journalismfund Europe
  • necessary for carrying out the project
  • effectively incurred by the grant beneficiary, identified and verifiable
  • not funded by other donors or support programmes

Non-eligible costs for funding:

  • personnel and operating costs not directly attributable to the project
  • internal rental costs (rental to oneself - as owner - of premises or other infrastructure)
  • overhead costs
  • meal costs, food and beverages
  • tangible investment goods (e.g. IT equipment or personal protective equipment)
  • recoverable VAT

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

Please read the instructions tab in the budget template carefully.

Deadlines and timing

  • The average interval between grant calls for this grant programme will be on average four months.
  • The next application deadline will be 9 February 2023. Subscribe to Journalismfund Europe’s newsletter to stay tuned and receive the latest grant opportunity updates.
  • After the application deadline, Journalismfund Europe checks that formalities are in order and may call for more information from applicants. This usually takes one week.
  • After this the applications go to the jury for assessment.
  • Applicants are usually informed about the jury decision around 40 days after the application deadline.

Assessment criteria

  • Track record and relevance of the partners involved
  • Feasibility
  • Complementarity and added value to existing and already supported enabling activities for investigative environmental journalism in Europe
  • Quality and realism of budget plan
  • Necessity of (co-)funding

Finally, the jury will also take into consideration the variety within the global selection of granted projects. This means diversity in terms of:

  • forms
  • topics
  • methods and approaches
  • regions

Jury

  • The applications are assessed by an independent rotating jury of experts. The jury members are chosen by Journalismfund Europe.
  • The jury decides independently about the granting of the submitted project proposals, based on the assessment criteria and the available budget predetermined by Journalismfund Europe.
  • Both Journalismfund Europe and the jury are bound to strict confidentiality about the submitted project proposals.
  • The jury members remain anonymous until they leave the jury. This is to safeguard both the independence of the jury process and the confidentiality of the project proposals. After their mandate is finished, the names of the jury members are made public by Journalismfund Europe.
  • Jury members are bound to Journalismfund Europe's strict conflict of interest policy, which is designed to assure the highest standards in terms of ethical conduct and to ensure the independence and objectivity of decision making.

Grant conditions

  • Every grantee signs an Agreement with Journalismfund Europe that states the mutual arrangements and conditions.
  • The grantees have to endorse the principles of the Global Charter of Ethics for Journalists as well as the national codes of ethics that are in force.
  • Grants are paid in two instalments: the first (2/3) upon signature of the Agreement, the second (1/3) after completion of the project and submission and approval of the financial report and supporting documents.
  • Grants are paid in euro. They are only paid out on the bank account of the granted legal entity. Any bank charges for international payments are carried by Journalismfund Europe, except for exchange rates.
  • All communication about the supported project explicitly has to mention the support from Journalismfund Europe.
  • Applicants need to consent with Journalismfund Europe’s General Grant Rules.
 
Apply here
Earth Investigations Programme