Washington – The Fund for Investigative Journalism is pleased to announce the Morton K. and Jane Blaustein Foundation has awarded a $50,000 grant for the Fund’s grant-making and mentoring program for independent investigative reporters.
The Foundation’s two-year grant underwrites the Fund’s program of project grants for reporters who have the ideas, sources, and know-how to produce groundbreaking investigative journalism, but need help paying the expenses of reporting.
“We are deeply grateful for this generous grant,” said Brant Houston, president of the Fund’s board of directors. “This donation allows us to support the journalists and journalism that it is so critical for free and democratic societies.”
The support also helps the Fund operate a mentoring program in partnership with Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), which matches grant recipients with veteran journalists who serve as mentors. Interested grantees are also eligible for fellowships with the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University.
This year, ten Fund-supported grantees were recognized with awards for their exemplary journalism, including the Edward R. Murrow Award, the IRE Book Award, and the 2011 Sigma Delta Chi Awards. Four journalists were named as finalists for the prestigious 2011 Livingston Awards for Young Journalists.
In two rounds of grant-making so far this year, the Fund’s Board of Directors awarded $104,000 to 26 reporters, and plans another round of awards this fall. Applications are due Friday, September 28.
The Fund for Investigative Journalism is an independent, nonprofit organization that has supported hundreds of public service reporting projects since 1969, when it provided funding for Seymour Hersh to investigate the massacre of civilians by American soldiers in My Lai, Vietnam. His stories won the Pulitzer Prize.
The Morton K. and Jane Blaustein Foundation, based in Baltimore, supports nonprofits that foster equal opportunities in education, access to quality health care, and the freedom to participate in a democratic society.
In addition to support from the Morton K. and Jane Blaustein Foundation, the Fund for Investigative Journalism receives foundation support from the Ethics and Excellence Foundation, the Park Foundation, the Gannett Foundation, the Green Park Foundation, The Nara Fund, from private family foundations, and from individuals. 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.
Donations can be made online, www.fij.org, or by mail to the Fund for Investigative Journalism, 529 14th Street NW – 13th floor, Washington DC 20045.