Engaged Journalism Accelerator

€600k of grants will support new revenue and sustainability for 10–15 European* organisations. This funding will focus on emerging media organisations with proven user loyalty.

Typically, these are growing newsrooms who need support in financing expansion, business development and product development. Funds will be available for bringing in new expertise or technology to support this.

Two rounds of open calls will launch in October 2018 and February 2019, with a simple application process designed to attract a diverse range of applicants engaging a diverse range of audiences. To stay up to date, sign up for our Funding newsletter.

There is incredible variety in new, emerging business models and journalistic practices across Europe in membership, cooperatives, merchandising and partnerships. We’re mindful that there’s no single winning model for engagement or revenue.

Thanks to the support of our sustainability partners Civil, all grantees will also get optional access to Civil technology, CVL tokens, community and mentorship. We believe that the Civil platform offers exciting opportunities for a decentralized marketplace, governance and content verification through blockchain. There is no requirement to use Civil technology for grantees, but those that do wish to implement it will receive CVL tokens and onboarding from the Civil team.

*47 Council of Europe Member States

Coaching

As part of the Accelerator, we’ll be making coaching available for grantees and the wider journalism community. This will be open to any media organisation or journalist, and takes the form of an Open Surgery launching in Autumn/Winter 2018. It provides innovators office hours with experts in business, product and organisational growth. Advice on blockchain in journalism, co-operative governance and microtransactions will be available from the Civil team.

In addition, we’ll be establishing a peer mentorship network for around 100 people, connecting legacy newsrooms with start-ups and emerging media organisations.

Resources & Events

Resources and events will be open to all newsrooms interested in new models of engagement and sustainability. Over an 18 month period, these will include:

• 10 European events and meet-ups across Europe.
• Playbooks and case-studies of successes and failures
• Content and interviews from newsroom leaders and pioneers

Our principles

The Engaged Journalism Accelerator will support newsrooms, journalists, and the wider media ecosystem, by adhering to the following principles.

1. Coach for success.
2. Capture and share real case studies.
3. Connect humans, help them tell stories.
4. Support skills beyond journalism (business, legal, HR, product).
5. Grant responsibly (not too big, not too small).
6. Tie grants to sustainability and business innovation.
7. Insist on great user experience for grantees (easy application, clear criteria).
8. Support experimentation and tolerate failure.
9. Invest in people over projects.
10. Aid the development of diverse newsrooms and audiences