In January 2024, the Justice for Journalists Foundation celebrated the end of its five-year-long investigative grant programme, which has supported over 80 media outlets, independent journalists, and media freedom NGOs from 40 countries. All existing grant agreements remain valid through their termination date.
In accordance with its Mission Statement and Objects, the Justice for Journalists Foundation helps investigate violence and abuse against media workers who have been targeted as a result of their professional duties. The vast majority of attacks against journalists remain unpunished, and there are currently no international mechanisms for pursuing and obtaining justice.
With the aspiration to restore justice and promote freedom of expression, the Justice for Journalists Foundation issues grants to investigative journalists, both professional and non-professional (bloggers, social activists), media organisations, editorial offices, and NGOs, willing to find the perpetrators and facilitators of crimes against media professionals. The broad topic of our grants is Investigation of violence and abuse against journalists, freelancers and bloggers.
The grants are available to media workers and organisations all over the world who are able to receive funds from the UK Charity.
We refer to the grant making policies set out here which apply to all investigative grant applications.
The maximum amount offered for each individual grant will be 80,000 US Dollars. Our grants cover the hard costs of getting to the story and reporting it – airfare, hotels, meals, ground transportation, fixers, translators, as well as the reasonable fee for the justifiable duration of the project.
Justice for Journalists Foundation’s grant does not cover office-related expenses (renting an office space or paying for an already rented office), nor does it pay for the acquisition of new professional and editing equipment. If journalists require to use other equipment in addition to what they already use, we suggest they rent it or employ professionals whose fees include the use of their equipment.
Grant recipients are responsible for all taxes, duties, and fees related to their receipt and use of our Grant. The Justice for Journalists Foundation does not cover these.
If you already received or planning to apply for any additional funding from other NGOs or if you run a crowdfunding campaign, you have to state this in your application form.
We expect you to keep your costs down, which means no business class, no fancy hotels, no unreasonable fees, no prolonged stays in the field.
Grant applicants should provide a 500-words long narrative description along with a detailed budget for their investigative project. The project proposal should highlight what is new and significant about the story and what its potential impact might be. The proposal should contain an outline of the reporting plan and a timeline for completing the project, as well as a description of stories to be published or broadcast as the outcome. The Applicant also needs to provide proof of interest in the project registered on behalf of media outlets.
The Applicant shall be required to confirm it has assessed its application satisfies our freedom of expression criteria specified in our grant making policies set out here.
Our grants are subject to the following criteria in addition to the grant making policies referenced above. Unless they are met, your grant proposal will not be considered by the Justice for Journalists Foundation.
- The Justice for Journalists Foundation provides free emergency insurance coverage to all recipients of its investigative grants. However, if your proposal involves reporting in a hostile or dangerous environment, we require that you and your potential outlets adhere strictly to the ACOS Alliance principles outlined HERE.
- If your proposal involves reporting in a hostile or dangerous environment, we require that you obtain safety equipment (including, but not limited to helmets, bulletproof vests and GPS personal locator beacons). More information on risk planning and safety for journalists can be found HERE. The cost of leasing or purchasing such equipment should be included in your project budget.
- Staff journalists who plan to report from conflict zones or hostile environments must have a firm assignment from a news organisation that will assume full responsibility for his/her well-being.
- We require that our grant recipients who plan to report from conflict zones or hostile environments undergo First Aid and Safety, as well as Hostile Environment Training, where appropriate. The Justice for Journalists Foundation is committed to covering the cost of such trainings conducted by accredited organisations. The non-exhaustive list can be found HERE.
- For Russian speaking journalists, the Justice for Journalists Foundation offers its own free courses on media security, which can be accessed HERE.
The Justice for Journalists Foundation is non-partisan and does not support any political agenda. The Foundation will give preference to the established media and NGOs with stringent reporting procedures and proven track record of successful projects.