Public Business seeking grants to fund investigative business journalism

Public Business supports original reporting on the wider implications of business. It is looking for deeply researched stories about companies and the impact they have on the economy, the environment or society. It welcomes proposals for projects of all lengths, but it is particularly keen to receive proposals for medium-to-long form work.

Its grants cover the hard costs of reporting, such as travel, interpretation, security and other logistics, obtaining or reproducing documents, etc. The amount of the grant will depend on the project proposed, but most grants will fall between $2,,500 and $6,000.

It does not provide a stipend for the reporters, who must be paid – either as staffers or as freelancers – by the news outlet publishing the work. Its grants cover hard reporting costs to enable reporters to do more than news budgets allow them, but its stories are not wholly free to news outlets.

While it welcome proposals that include an agreement from a news outlet to publish the work, it does have relationships with several news partners, and are prepared to place stories directly.

Its grants come with an obligation to participate in an emerging platform for collaborative and transparent journalism. Namely, grantees will have access to our network of academic and nonprofit researchers of business, as well as to material these researchers produce. Grantees will be expected to share – securely, on our site – their own material (data, documents, interviews) for fellow researchers to read and comment on. Selected material from this exchange will be made public on our website, and journalists and researchers will be encouraged to use its blog as a platform to continue their discussions. Its goal is ultimately to build a public archive and conversation hub about business and its implications.

To apply, please submit the following:

1. A description of the project, why it matters now, and how it satisfies our mandate to cover the wider implications of business. A list of stories that exemplify this mandate can be found here.

2. A detailed budget for the amount of money requested.

3. If relevant, a letter of commitment from participating news outlet.

4. An indication of what forms of source material this story might make available to our platform.

5. A resume, and links to previous work in any and all media.

Please include email and phone contact, and submit applications to grants@publicbusinessmedia.org no later than Monday, Nov. 28.