Journalismfund Europe has always been more than a grant-giving body. From its early years as the Pascal Decroos Fund onwards, it has repeatedly played the role of incubator: giving shelter, funding and structure to journalistic ideas until they were strong enough to stand on their own.
Over more than two decades, this has taken many different forms: cross-border reporting networks such as Investigate Europe and the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC.Network); training structures such as the post-graduate degree in investigative journalism organised with Thomas More in Mechelen; public-interest tools and communities such as Wobbing.eu; and independent organisations such as SciMingo (formerly Scriptie vzw) and the Flemish Journalism Fund. Perhaps the clearest illustration is Dataharvest, the European Investigative Journalism Conference, which Journalismfund Europe incubated for a decade before it grew into a fully independent gathering.
In recent years, this incubating role has increasingly focused on helping young European networks of investigative journalists find their footing. As an incubator, Journalismfund Europe can play a decisive role during the fragile start-up phase, before a group of journalists is ready to establish its own legal entity.