Freelancer Support Scheme for international teams of freelance investigators

IJ4EU’s Freelancer Support Scheme provides teams of journalists working outside of newsroom structures with grants of up to €20,000 plus an extra cushion of tailored assistance including training, mentoring, and networking opportunities.

Altogether, the scheme will provide around €500,000 in grants in 2024/25, along with training, mentoring and networking opportunities. It is managed by the European Journalism Centre (EJC).

IJ4EU is open to cross-border investigative projects on any topic. This includes, but is not limited to, corruption, illicit enrichment and financial crime, security, democracy and human rights, environment and climate change, and health. Applications must justify the relevance of the investigation to the public interest in the eligible countries or to the broader European public sphere.

Applications must be submitted by teams composed of at least two freelance journalists. Teams must have members based in at least two European countries that have signed up to the full cross-sectoral strand of the European Union’s Creative Europe Programme, which provides core funding for IJ4EU. Eligible countries include all 27 EU member states and the following non-EU countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia and Ukraine. Other team members can be based in countries anywhere else in the world.

Eligibility is based on residency (where you live and work) and not nationality (citizenship).

Grant funding may be used to cover any costs necessary for the development, completion and publication of the investigation and production of journalistic content, including salary and human resource costs, research-related costs, translation and travel costs. The only exception applies to equipment (hardware) costs, which are not eligible. 

The deadline for applications is 28 October. The next call will be launched on 13 January 2025.

Find out more

Press release