How the European Journalism Centre is funded, and why your support is needed

Independent journalism is an essential public service, but like much public-interest work, it relies on a carefully balanced mix of funding sources to remain credible and sustainable. 

At the European Journalism Centre, being transparent about that reality is part of our responsibility to the journalists, partners, and communities we support. This post outlines how our work is funded in practice, and why that funding does not always cover what is needed to continue it. 

What our funding looks like in practice

The European Journalism Centre supports journalists through training, grant funding, mentoring, and networking. That work is made possible through a combination of different funding sources, but each also comes with limits on what it can and cannot support.

European Commission (EU) funding

A significant part of the EJC’s work is supported through European Commission funding. This includes large, multi-year programmes such as IJ4EU and the Journalism Science Alliance, which enable cross-border investigations, collaboration between journalists and researchers, and long-term support for independent journalism.

This funding is awarded through competitive processes and is tied to clearly defined programmes. It makes important work possible. But it comes with an important condition: it does not cover the full cost of running those programmes.

Many European Commission-funded programmes do not cover all the costs required to deliver a programme (co-funding). This means that while a programme may be supported by European funding, the EJC must secure additional funding to cover the remaining costs. These include staff time, coordination, systems, and the work required to support journalists before, during, and after a programme formally runs.

In practice, this means that even well-funded programmes depend on other sources of support to be delivered responsibly and sustainably. A programme with a €1 million budget typically requires an extra 10 to 30 percent in matching funds to run responsibly. Without that co-funding, the programme cannot run, regardless of its public value or the demand from journalists.

Philanthropic foundations

We also receive support from philanthropic foundations that work in the public interest. This funding helps make fellowships, accelerators, grants, and other support programmes possible, particularly where journalism faces structural or market pressures.

Like European Commission funding, foundation support is usually tied to specific programme. It enables defined activities over a set period, rather than covering the full, ongoing cost of running an organisation or sustaining a community.

When the EJC administers programmes supported by foundations, clear safeguards ensure that funding is kept separate from editorial decision-making. Journalists retain full independence over their work, while the EJC focuses on creating fair, transparent support structures.

Service contracts

Some organisations engage the EJC through service contracts. These involve delivering specific work such as training, research, convenings, or programme management.

These agreements allow us to apply our expertise in ways that strengthen the journalism ecosystem. They are designed to deliver agreed activities and outcomes. They do not provide flexible funding, and they do not create long-term financial security.

They also do not give partners any role in shaping journalistic work or deciding who participates in our programmes and activities. The EJC acts as an independent intermediary, ensuring a clear separation between funding partners and the journalists we support.

Individual donations

Individual donations currently account for the smallest portion of our funding. They are also the most adaptable.

Donations allow us to support the work that falls between programmes, to invest time in coordination and community, and to respond when needs change faster than institutional funding can.

They help cover the parts of journalism support that are hardest to fund, but essential to sustain.

With a core team of nine people, the European Journalism Centre supports a network of over 50,000 journalists and more than 300 newsrooms across Europe and beyond.

This is the role of journalism support organisations: by focusing on coordination, collaboration, and shared infrastructure, a small team can help journalism reach more people, serve more communities, and remain independent, even where markets or politics make that difficult.

Why your support is needed

Demand for our work continues to grow, while the funding environment for journalism support has become more constrained. Because so much of our work is co-funded, continuing it depends on having enough flexible support to cover the parts that grants do not fund.

Individual donations help close that gap. They support the coordination, systems, and people that allow funded programmes to run responsibly and to remain connected to the journalists and communities they are meant to serve.

Supporting the European Journalism Centre means supporting the shared infrastructure that allows independent journalism to work across borders, languages, and communities, including those that are often overlooked or underserved.