€ 10.000 per project on average

Structure of the European Fund for Investigative Journalism

The European Fund for Investigative Journalism is a project of the Belgian Pascal Decroos Fund (PDF) started in the autumn of 2008. The aim is to turn Journalismfund.eu into an independent entity.

The Journalismfund.eu-board consists of representatives of associations and centers for investigative journalism in Europe, renowned colleagues can be asked to join the advisory board as associated members.

The PDF board, its director and the director of the Journalismfund.eu invite new members into the board under the current set-up. When the Journalismfund.eu becomes an independent entity, this appointment procedure has to be revised.

The role of the Journalismfund.eu board is to point out the main direction for the work of Journalismfund.eu and to guarantee the independence of it’s work.

The board will provide a long-list of possible jury members, out of which the daily group of advisors will select the jury.

In the medium-term the Journalismfund.eu-board should in close cooperation with the director of Journalismfund.eu and of the Pascal Decroos Fund as well as the board of the PDF prepare the Journalismfund.eu to become an independent entity, of which it will be the board.

The board will meet once a year, preferably in connection with an investigative journalism conference.

Active board members can not apply for grants.

The jury is composed of persons in the field of investigative journalism, related academia or other relevant media personalities suggested on the long-list by the board. The jury consists of four respected personalities in the field of journalism, media, media law and so forth, preferably representing different parts of Europe.

Jury members can not apply for research grants.

The jury is anonymous. Members are exchanged with a two-year rhythm. The leaving members will be presented then. They will form a growing backing-group, who can advise the board.

For the start-up phase of the Journalismfund.eu, when the first two members leave the jury, the size of the jury should be re-evaluated.

The jury will gather – virtually or in real life – four times a year, as soon as the Journalismfund.eu is fully operational.

The director is appointed by and responsible to the board of the Pascal Decroos Fund, until the Journalismfund.eu is turned into an independent entity.

The director assisted by the Group of Daily Advisors composes the jury based upon the long-list by the board.

The director takes care of the day-to-day organisation, of fundraising and future planning.

In order to give good guidance to the Journalismfund.eu director, she can turn to a group of three daily advisors, who support her in her day-to-day decisions. The group will consist of the director of the PDF aswell as two members of the Journalismfund.eu board.

This structure will be reconsidered, when the Journalismfund.eu will be turned into an independent entity.

Members of the group of daily advisors can not apply for grants until the two years after they have left the board or after the last jury-member, whose identity they know of through their role in the group, will have left the jury.

In the 3^rd year of the Journalismfund.eu, the director should fundraise/seek cooperation with a university to provide a thorough evaluation of the research conducted with the help of the fund in order to adjust future focus of the fund.

 Download structure document  (pdf, 20 KB)as pdf.