WASHINGTON, DC; April 22, 2026 – The Fund for Investigative Journalism announced today that it is awarding 70 new grants to journalists for groundbreaking investigations. The grants cover the expenses of specific investigative stories, and recipients can also receive free editorial and legal assistance. This group of grants, from the Fund’s first funding cycle of the year, is by far ...
Hemp products are legal in Wisconsin, but only if they have very low levels of THC, the chemical in marijuana that makes people high. With support from the Fund, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel commissioned independent testing on 30 gummies, vapes and edibles bought at hemp stores – and found that most of them contained illegal levels of THC. Some contained ...
The State of New York plans to ask a judge to dismiss 500 prison sexual abuse cases because of typos and other technicalities in the victims’ legal filings, according to new reporting in New York Focus and Hell Gate. With support from the Fund, Chris Gelardi and Jessy Edwards have spent months compiling and analyzing data from 1,600 lawsuits filed ...
Two years after Borderless uncovered inhumane conditions and the death of a five-year-old boy at a city-run shelter in Chicago, the local nonprofit outlet documented long waits for shelter placement and persistent issues with shelter conditions, in a new investigation supported by the Fund. Reporters Aydali Campa and Katrina Pham obtained public records and interviewed shelter residents, including one who ...
Guards in a Mississippi jail terrorized people in their care for years, according to a new investigation published by The New York Times, Mississippi Today and Reveal. With support from the Fund, Brian Howey and Nate Rosenfield spent nearly a year reviewing 69 alleged incidents of violence against inmates at the jail that occurred from 2012 to 2024. They interviewed ...
Luke Mullins documented alarming conditions inside Psychiatric Institute of Washington (PIW), which is a key part Washington, D.C.’s mental health safety net. For an investigation in the Washingtonian with support from the Fund, Mullins drew from lawsuits, regulatory documents obtained through FIOA, and interviews with former patients and staff members. He found a violently charged environment that was linked to ...
For stories published by ProPublica, with support from the Fund, Eli Cahan found that dozens of psychiatric hospitals have turned away patients in crisis, in violation of federal law, but have rarely faced consequences from federal oversight authorities. Cahan identified more than 90 psychiatric hospitals across the country that have turned away patients in crisis over the 15 years – ...
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 ...