Applications open for Media Forward Fund

Strong democracies depend on everyone having access to reliable and credible information so they can actively participate in the public debate.

For this reason, they support organizations and projects whose work addresses shortcomings at the structural level or fills existing gaps in regional/local reporting or in national/supra-regional reporting.

A particular focus is on media organizations that report for target audiences that have thus far been underserved by the news media.

Funding Information

• Organizational funding: The maximum funding amount is €400,000 over a period of up to two years, although higher funding amounts are possible. Small media organizations with up to 30 full-time employees (FTEs) in the overall organization can apply for organizational funding.
• Project funding: The maximum funding amount is €200,000 over a project duration of up to two years, although higher funding amounts are possible. Both small and large media organizations can apply for project funding. For large media organizations, the Media Forward Fund co-finances projects on a 50:50 basis. For example, if your project, as a large media organization, costs a total of €400,000, the Media Forward Fund would provide €200,000 in financing.
• The maximum funding period for organizational and project funding is 24 months.

Who they fund?

• They have two funding categories: thematic funding and general funding.
• Thematic funding focuses on scientific, educational, cultural, environmental and climate journalism. Information on future calls for the thematic funding line will be published here.
• The general funding category focuses on regional/local and national/supra-regional media outlets:
  • Organizational funding: for small media organizations
    • Small media organizations, with the equivalent of up to 30 full-time employees (FTEs) in the overall organization may choose between organizational funding (»core funding«) or project funding. In this way, organizations are free to decide how best to use the grant.
  • Project funding: for small and larger media organizations
    • Large media organizations are eligible if their work serves the common good (»no shareholder journalism«) and can apply for project funding, with the requirement that 50 percent is co-financed from their proprietary resources.

Eligibility Criteria

• To be eligible for grants, media organizations – or subsidiaries of a foreign organizations – must be registered in either Germany, Austria or Switzerland.
• Small media organizations can apply for both project and organizational funding. Large media organizations, on the other hand, can only apply for project funding.

Ineligible

• The Media Forward Fund currently cannot award grants for:
  • Public service media outlets
  • Interest groups
  • Conferences and networking events
  • Studies or individual research projects
  • Scholarships
  • Projects by individuals who are not part of an organization
  • Organizations or projects that are still in the idea phase
  • Organizations or projects that merely provide an additional offer similar to many existing ones. Their work thus does not address any structural or content-related needs that only they would fill (Additionally)
  • Supplementary funding for an ongoing project.

For more information, visit Media Forward Fund.