WASHINGTON, DC; NOVEMBER 16, 2023 – The Fund for Investigative Journalism announced today that it is making a record 45 new grants for groundbreaking public-service reporting projects.
These grants are directly to freelance journalists or media outlets to cover the expenses of specific investigations. Journalists receiving full grants can also be matched with veteran investigative reporters who provide editorial mentorship, and they can request free legal help through the Fund’s partnership with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
The new grants include 25 full grants, of up to $10,000, and 20 smaller seed grants for early reporting and research that can lead to full investigations. The Fund began providing seed grants earlier this year after absorbing the Gumshoe Group’s successful program that supported preliminary investigative reporting.
Below are lists of individuals and organizations awarded grants in this funding cycle. The Fund does not disclose the nature of its grantees’ stories before they are published.
Regular grants, up to $10,000, to cover the expenses of specific investigations:
- Arizona Luminaria, a nonprofit news organization
- Susie Cagle, independent journalist and author in California
- Eli Cahan, MD MS, investigative journalist and pediatrician based in Boston
- Sandra Chapman, independent filmmaker in Indiana
- Kristi Coale, independent investigative journalist based in California
- Georgia Gee, freelance investigative journalist based in New York
- Rebecca Grant, freelance journalist and author who covers reproductive rights, health and justice
- Grist, an environmental news nonprofit, for work by Naveena Sadasivam and Lylla Younes
- Lila Hassan, independent investigative journalist based in New York
- The Invisible Institute, a nonprofit journalism organization in Chicago
- The Lund Report, an independent source of health news for Oregon and Southwest Washington, for a project led by Emily Green
- Bella Monticelli, director, with a team of filmmakers
- Rico Moore, freelance investigative journalist based in Washington State
- Roberth Orihuela, independent journalist based in Arequipa, Peru
- Sadia Rafiquddin, independent investigative journalist
- Sara Sneath, investigative climate journalist based in New Orleans
- Ottavia Spaggiari an investigative journalist based in New York
- Cid Standifer, Cleveland-based freelance journalist, with The Buckeye Flame
- The 74, a nonprofit news outlet covering education in the U.S.
- Kathleen Thornton, independent journalist based in Minnesota
- UC Berkeley’s Investigative Reporting Program, for a project by Wangyuxuan Xu and Zhe Wu
- Sharon Udasin and Rachel Frazin, journalists and authors
- Murray Waas, independent investigative journalist
- William Wheeler, independent journalist based in California
- Jeniffer Wiscovitch, Es Mental magazine in Puerto Rico
Seed grants for freelance journalists’ preliminary reporting and research that can lead to full investigations:
- Alex Bledsoe
- Taylor Brown
- Eli Cahan
- Joseph Caterine
- Marc Dadigan
- Libby Leonard
- Ian MacDougall
- Sam Kestenbaum
- Khawla Nakua
- Kaila Philo
- Hanna Raskin
- Grant Stringer
- Samuel Sussman
- Theo Whitcomb
- Stephanie Wolf
- Elise Young
- Amy Zipkin
In addition, the Fund awarded seed grants to three media outlets:
- Feet in 2 Worlds
- Ark Republic
- Oviedo Community News
The Fund’s Board of Directors, all accomplished journalists, reviews grant proposals and votes on which to approve. A group of the Fund’s Board and Advisory Board members reviewed seed grant proposals and made recommendations to the full Board, which voted on them. That review group included Bill Marimow, Ellen Weiss, Luis Botello, Brant Houston and Deborah Nelson.
The next deadline to apply for regular grants is January 29, 2024. For stories produced with the Fund’s support – and the impact of those stories – visit www.fij.org.
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