(Washington) – The Fund for Investigative Journalism is pleased to announce that The Nicholas B. Ottaway Foundation has awarded $25,000 to support the Fund’s grant-making program for independent investigative reporters.
Started by a family that owned newspapers in the Northeast and on the West Coast, The Nicholas B. Ottaway Foundation supports education, journalism, community arts, public health, and environmental projects.
The Foundation’s journalism program seeks to “improve the quality of journalism in all of its forms and to defend freedom of the press anywhere in the world.”
To that end, the Foundation has also awarded grants to Investigative Reporters and Editors, to state and local investigative reporting websites such as the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting and the Voice of San Diego, and to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
The support from the Nicholas B. Ottaway Foundation will underwrite Fund for Investigative Journalism grants for reporters working for U. S. media, including those undertaking investigations abroad.
“We are deeply grateful for this support and recognition from the Foundation,” said Brant Houston, president of the Fund’s board of directors. “The grant will allow us to help fill the increasing need to aid investigative reporters, especially those pursuing stories overseas.”
For more than forty years the Fund has paid reporting expenses of reporters who have the ideas, sources, and know-how to produce groundbreaking investigative journalism but lack the resources to complete their projects.
In addition to support from The Nicholas B. Ottaway Foundation, the Fund receives foundation support from The Reva & David Logan Foundation, The Gannett Foundation, The Ethics And Excellence in Journalism Foundation, The Herb Block Foundation, The Morton K. and Jane Blaustein Foundation, The Green Park Foundation, The Park Foundation, The Nara Fund, from private family foundations, and from individuals.
One of the Fund for Investigative Journalism’s board members, David Ottaway, also serves on the board of the Nicholas B. Ottaway Foundation.
The John S. and James L. Knight Chair in Investigative and Enterprise Reporting at the Journalism Department in the College of Media at the University of Illinois also supports the Fund. Pro bono legal services are provided by Dykema. Pro bono business advisory services are provided by Leigh Riddick, Associate Professor of Finance at The American University’s Kogod School of Business.
Donations to the Fund can be made online, www.fij.org, or by mail to the Fund for Investigative Journalism, 529 14th Street NW – 13th floor, Washington D.C. 20045.
The Fund for Investigative Journalism is currently accepting proposals for investigations in the United States and abroad. The deadline for applications is Monday, October 21 at 5pm Eastern time. Check for instructions and apply online: www.fij.org.