The Fund for Investigative Journalism is accepting proposals for regular grants (up to $10,000 for full investigative stories) and seed grants for early reporting (up to $2,500). Proposals for regular grants are due on Sept. 8 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern, and applications for seed grants are due on Sept. 15 at 11:59 p.m. Details are below. Details on two types ...
In “The Adoption Trap,” freelance journalist Sandy West took a deep look at private foster and adoption agencies operating in Texas with little regulation or oversight from state child welfare authorities. With support from the Fund, West focused on two women locked in court battles to maintain their parental rights in lawsuits filed by people to whom neither they nor ...
Nationwide, prosecutors are required to disclose information to defendants that might erode the credibility of law-enforcement officials who testify in criminal trials. With support from the Fund, an ongoing investigation by Wisconsin Watch, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and TMJ4 News is investigating Milwaukee County’s list of 200 current or former officers who have acted in ways that erode their credibility. ...
Sierra Crane Murdoch dug into the case of Mika Westwolf, a young Native woman who died after being hit by a car in Montana in 2023. The Fund provided Murdoch with a grant to investigate the case for a forthcoming book. With her reporting from the book, Murdoch told Westwolf’s story for a full episode of “This American Life” that ...
With the Fund’s support, Sara Sneath was working on a series about fossil fuel influence in Louisiana universities when she received a tip about McNeese University’s Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) Center of Excellence. Reporter Natalie McLendon, a McNeese graduate, also reached out to her with tips that the industry’s involvement in the center was unusual. Together, with a follow-up grant ...
The Commercial Development Company (CDC), which calls itself “North America’s leading brownfield developer,” acquires environmentally-impacted lands from industrial operators, pledging to clean them up and sell them for redevelopment. But residents are often left frustrated when the properties remain undeveloped, sometimes for decades. In a six-month investigation supported by the Fund – involving property records, court documents, site visits and ...
Local governments across California are ignoring a state law that was supposed to add oversight to crowded homeless shelters after reports of violence, vermin and health hazards, according to a CalMatters investigative series with support from the Fund. While cities scramble to address sprawling street encampments, the most immediate alternatives – homeless shelters promising nightly refuge – continue to generate ...
Seven years after the devastation of Hurricane Maria – and with continued blackouts caused by storms and spotty coverage – the government of Puerto Rico has not created a comprehensive plan to identify and notify people with special needs who could die without electricity to run dialysis machines and other equipment. With support from the Fund, the nonprofit Centro de ...
Chicago police officers who knowingly lie or conceal evidence in criminal cases are supposed to be put on a list that the State’s Attorney’s Office maintains, so that defendants can question their credibility if they’re called to the stand. But in an investigation for the Chicago Reader and the Invisible Institute, with support from the Fund, reporters Max Blaisdell and ...
California sharply cut back its enforcement of outdoor heat-protection laws as extreme heat intensified in recent years, endangering farmworkers and others who toil in scorching temperatures, according to an investigation by Robert J. Lopez, with support from the Fund. The report, co-published in the Los Angeles Times and Capital & Main, found that on-site safety inspections by Cal/OSHA dropped by ...