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Fund for Investigative Journalism Supports 43 New Investigative Projects

WASHINGTON, DC; November 21, 2024 – The Fund for Investigative Journalism today announced that it is providing grants and other critical support to 43 journalists or teams for new investigative projects in 22 states across the U.S. 

Founded in 1969, the Fund provides grants directly to journalists and news outlets to cover the expenses of specific investigations on any topic in any form of media. The Fund also provides its grantees with editorial support and free legal assistance (through its partnership with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press).

The new grants include 18 regular grants, of up to $10,000, and 25 smaller seed grants for early reporting and research that can lead to full investigations. The new grants are to journalists working in 22 states. 

Below are 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:

  • The Bangor Daily News, working in partnership with ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network, for stories by Sawyer Loftus 
  • Sanjana Bhambhani, freelance multimedia journalist and documentarian from New Delhi, India
  • Nick Bowlin, freelance journalist from Gunnison, Colorado
  • Jana Cholakovska, investigative reporter covering the environment and public health
  • Ryan Devereaux, freelance investigative journalist 
  • Drilled, a collaborative, cross-border investigative newsroom focused on climate
  • Willow Higgins and Ryan Kost, New York-based investigative reporters who focus on criminal justice issues 
  • High Country News, for a project led by Jimmy Tobias
  • InvestigateWest
  • Investigative Project on Race and Equity
  • Katie Licari, freelance investigative reporter focused on water
  • Steven Monacelli, investigative journalist based in Dallas, Texas
  • MuckRock, for a project with Open Vallejo and The Guardian US
  • Luke Mullins, freelance journalist based in Washington, DC
  • Clavel Rangel, investigative reporter based in Miami, Florida
  • Richmondside, a local nonprofit newsroom from Cityside 
  • Patrick Spauster, independent journalist based in New York writing about cities
  • Utah Investigative Journalism Project

Seed grants to freelance journalists, up to $2,500, for the expenses of preliminary investigative reporting:

  • Alexander Borodikhin 
  • Emma Rose Brown 
  • Annie Burns-Pieper 
  • Matt Chapman
  • Bobbi Dempsey 
  • Carlotta Dotto 
  • Heath Druzin
  • David Dudley 
  • Amel Guettatfi 
  • Michael Holtz 
  • Brian Howey 
  • Diana Kruzman 
  • Danielle Mackey 
  • Robert McClure
  • Max Parrott
  • Robert Scheide 
  • Gabb Schivone 
  • Caroline Tracey 
  • Tressa Versteeg 
  • Wendy Wei
  • Emily Wood

Seed grants to news organizations, up to $2,500, for the expenses of preliminary investigative reporting:

  • ecoRI News
  • Honolulu Civil Beat
  • The New Humanitarian 
  • Yellow Scene Magazine

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, Jennifer LaFleur, David Boardman, Luis Botello, Sarah Cohen and Ricardo Sandoval-Palos.

 The next deadline to apply for regular grants is January 27, and the next deadline to apply for seed grants is January 31. For stories produced with the Fund’s support – and the impact of those stories – visit www.fij.org

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