Grant details Investigation Grants for Environmental Journalism

Eligibility criteria

Cross-border teams of at least two journalists and/or news outlets can submit a proposal for a journalistic investigation about an issue that concerns the environment — environmental protection, destruction, biodiversity, impact of climate change on the nature, etc.
Only applicants who are legally residing/registered in at least two different countries are permitted to receive funding.
The applicants must be professional journalists or registered media companies.
Personal references and/or links to earlier work are essential.
News outlets must be legal entities officially incorporated at least 12 months prior to the application deadline.
The investigation proposal must concern cross-border environmental investigative journalism on European affairs — in or outside Europe. This means that the investigation has (also) to be of relevance for Europe.
Next to investigations into environmental issues that transcend borders, this grant can also support comparative investigations into local environmental issues and policies between two or more countries, regions or cities.
The result of the investigation must be published by at least two professional news outlets in at least two different countries, one of which must be in Europe. Letters of intent for publication from at least two professional news outlets are required.
Investigative journalism published by professional media in any form is eligible, whether print, online, broadcast or cross-media. Your investigation can be published as newspaper and magazine articles, radio and television documentaries and series, photo-reportages and books, podcasts and journalistic non-fiction books.

Which costs

A grant can cover two types of costs:

1. Working time of the journalists to conduct their investigation.

2. Expenses:

Direct investigation expenses such as travel, visa, accommodation, translation, fixers, access to pay-databases, freedom of information (FOI) requests, legal screening, insurance.

Please note we encourage you to travel less and instead team up with your colleagues in that area. Collaborating with other journalists who already work on the ground, have the know-how and knowledge, can significantly reduce your carbon footprint and save money, as well as your time.

Development and support costs, if they have a clear and direct benefit for the specific investigation:
- Costs covering team members’ participation in trainings and conferences, to gain or strengthen skills needed for the investigation and/or to meet experts and colleagues to discuss their supported research.
- Costs for tools necessary for the investigation (e.g. datasets, satellite imagery, but no hardware).
Production costs are eligible up to €1.000.

The following expenses cannot be covered by our grants:

— overhead (administration, coordinators, managers, financial officers etc.),

— tangible investments: goods such as IT hardware, mobile phones, cameras, or other types of equipment,

— food and beverage,

— per diems.

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

Please read the instructions tab in the budget template carefully.

Mentors

Successful applicants who need support in a specific aspect of the investigation can request a mentor. The mentor is assigned by Journalismfund Europe from its pool of mentors (consisting of experienced investigative journalists from different continents), in consultation with the team.
Mentors are selected based on either the focus of the investigation or the need for competencies in a specific skill. They can e.g. assist with cross-border collaboration, identifying sources, research methods, storytelling, dissemination, project management, etc.
A mentor gives advice, shares knowledge and can act as a sounding board. He or she does not fully participate in the investigation. The maximum amount of mentoring days per project is four.
The mentor is paid by Journalismfund Europe. The applicants do not need to include the mentor in their budget proposal.

Deadlines and timing

For this grant programme there are 20 application rounds scheduled over a period of six years. 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

The jury assesses the applications based on the following criteria:

The investigation focuses on an environmental issue (underreported/of significant scale/new consequences or data is available for the topic),
How novel is the theme or the angle proposed,
Strength of investigative aspects and components,
How plausible it is to verify the investigation hypotheses using the proposed methodology,
Whether the findings would have added value compared to mainstream coverage,
How feasible it is to carry out the investigation as proposed,
Experience of the applicants (including where they are based and have worked, which languages they speak, which issues they had previously worked on),
How strong is the cross-border aspect,
Networking between countries, pooling research capacity and knowledge,
Whether this investigation contributes to journalism's function as watchdog of institutions, policies, money,
How clearly the team identifies their audience and whether a good engagement strategy is proposed,
Quality and rationality of the budget,
Reasonable travel (we advise you to avoid unnecessary flying or travel in general),
Necessity of (co-)funding.

Finally, the jury will also take into consideration the variety within the selection of granted projects for that round. This means the jury will seek diversity between the chosen projects. in terms of:

region (both regarding stories and team members)
topics
methods and approaches
publication forms
team composition

Jury

The applications are assessed by an independent rotating jury of experts in investigative journalism and environmental affairs. 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 for each round determined by Journalismfund Europe.
Both Journalismfund Europe and the jury are bound to strict confidentiality – before, during and after evaluation of the 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 investigations. 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

The grantees and all other persons involved in the project 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.
Every grantee signs an Agreement with Journalismfund Europe that states the mutual arrangements and conditions.
Grants are paid in euro. Respective amounts can be paid out only on the bank accounts of the grantees, not via other money transfer services. Each grantee should receive their part of grant separately on their respective account. Any bank charges for international payments are carried by Journalismfund Europe, except for exchange rates.
Grants are paid in two instalments: the first (2/3) upon signature of the Agreement, the second (1/3) after publication of the project and submission and approval of the financial report and supporting documents.
Any journalistic product that is the result of the supported project explicitly has to mention the support from Journalismfund Europe.
Applicants need to consent with Journalismfund Europe’s general grant rules.