Technology companies
Technology companies
The latest entrants into the funding scene include Luminate and Google’s Digital News Innovation Fund. Some, such as Luminate, do not accept unsolicited offers and future grantees need to be recommended first. Others run highly competitive calls for proposals, although the workload involved is relatively light.
Google News Initiative
The Google News Lab is a global team at Google whose mission it is to "collaborate with journalists and entrepreneurs to help build the future of media. Launched in 2015, the News Lab works with news organizations to help drive innovation, address industry challenges, and provide training and access to emerging technologies for reporting and storytelling.
Google News Initiative is centered around three primary goals: 1) elevating and strengthening quality journalism, 2) enabling new business models to support quality journalism, and 3) empowering news organizations to leverage technology for innovation in the newsrooms. To accomplish this, they’ve engaged with news partners to create new products, partnerships, and programs.
Geographical Priorities: Global. Funding rounds are grouped geographically into the Asia-Pacific; Middle-East, Turkey and Africa; North America; and Latin America regions.
Types of funding: Programmatic and core grants
Funding opportunities: Through rounds of regional funding, the GNI Innovation Challenges programme empowers news innovators from around the world to demonstrate new thinking in online journalism and the development of new publishing business models. In turn, Google share knowledge generated from the projects with the wider industry.
Digital News Innovation Fund: In 2015, Google launched the DNI Fund, an initiative open to publishers of all sizes in Europe that financially supported high-quality journalism through technology and innovation. The last round of funding took place in 2020. You can read the report here.
Luminate
Established in 2018 by the Omidyar Network, Luminate is a global philanthropic organisation with the goal of empowering people and institutions to work together to build just and fair societies. Luminate funds and supports non-profit and for-profit organisations while advocating for policies and actions that enable people to participate in and shape the issues affecting their lives, making those in power more transparent, responsive, and accountable.
Geographical priorities: Luminate operates globally. Its partners include pioneering entrepreneurs, courageous campaigners, and organisations around the world addressing civic empowerment, media, and technology.
Type of funding: Programmatic funding and grants.
Funding opportunities: Luminate does not accept unsolicited applications. The organisation identifies potential partners through its own research, diligence, and global network.
Priorities related to media development and journalism: Luminate focuses on four interconnected areas that underpin strong societies: Civic Empowerment, Data & Digital Rights, Financial Transparency, and Independent Media. It seeks to defend a vibrant, free press that uncovers the truth and holds power to account. Through its International Fund for Public Interest Media Programme (IFPIM), Luminate advocates for increased funding to public interest media globally.
Examples of funding initiatives:
Rest of World: $200,000 sponsorship for AI technology and social media platforms, supporting reporting, an AI election tracker, and stories on elections in key countries.
African Women in Media (AWiM): $250,000 grant to address gender disparities in media and support events examining AI’s impact on media and gender.
Nigeria AI Collective: Support for CJID to establish an AI collective in Nigeria, including a fellowship for journalists to report on social implications of AI and promote tech accountability.
European AI & Society Fund: $1 million grant supporting AI development aligned with public good, human rights, and social justice.
International Fund for Public Interest Media (IFPIM): Support to explore new funding models for public interest media and convene leaders from the Global South to discuss fair value exchange between AI tech companies and journalism organizations.
View the Omidyar profile on CIMA's website (Last updated March 2018)
Mozilla
The Mozilla Foundation is a nonprofit organisation committed to keeping the Internet open, transparent, and accessible to all. It supports open source software, promotes healthy internet infrastructure, and backs initiatives that build more trustworthy and equitable technology.
Geographical priorities: Mozilla Foundation is based in the United States (headquartered in San Francisco) but has a global orientation. Through its grantmaking it supports technologists, activists, and researchers in multiple regions, including specific funds for Africa.
Type of funding:
Grants: for open source projects, community leaders, research, and advocacy.
Cohort / fellowship support: including Mozilla Fellows.
Incubator-style funding: via challenges like the Responsible Computing Challenge.
Funding opportunities: Mozilla Foundation issues open calls for its grant programs (e.g., Technology Fund, Fellows, Incubator) to fund projects aligned with its mission. Its Mozilla Technology Fund provides awards (up to ~ $50,000) to open-source projects working on trustworthy, transparent, and accountable AI.
Priorities related to technology, media & internet development:
Trustworthy AI: Mozilla places a strong emphasis on transparency, fairness, and accountability in AI.
Open Source Software: Supporting maintainers and projects that build the foundational infrastructure of the open web.
Internet Health and Policy: Through its movement building, Mozilla engages in advocacy, public education, research, and community organizing to uphold open internet principles.
Digital Inclusion: Through regional grant programs (e.g., Africa Innovation / Mradi Fund), Mozilla supports digital rights, human rights, and technology development in under-served communities.
Omidyar Network
Omidyar Network was established in 2004 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam as a philanthropic investment firm dedicated to harnessing the power of markets to create opportunities for people to improve their lives. Operating as both a Limited Liability Company (LLC) and a 501(c)(3) foundation, Omidyar Network provides financial support to both for-profit and nonprofit organisations across education, emerging technology, financial inclusion, governance & citizen engagement, and property rights. The network aims to strengthen independent media, investigative journalism, and citizen participation to foster open, fair, and accountable societies
Geographical priorities: Omidyar Network operates globally, with headquarters in Redwood City, California, and offices in London, Johannesburg, Mumbai, Bangalore, Singapore, and Washington, D.C. Its media funding has historically targeted Asia, Europe, and Latin America, supporting approximately 45 independent media, investigative journalism, and fact-checking organisations worldwide.
Type of funding: Programmatic and core funding; philanthropic investments in for-profit and nonprofit organisations.
Funding opportunities: Omidyar Network typically does not accept unsolicited proposals. It identifies and approaches partners that align with its priorities through its global network, partner organisations, and sponsored events.
Priorities related to media development and journalism: Omidyar Network recognises independent media as essential to open, fair, inclusive, and democratic societies. Its Governance & Citizen Engagement initiative supports:
Direct assistance to media outlets and content production
Rights and safety of journalists
Business sustainability
Access to information
Investigative journalism
Research on media and information systems
Journalists training Moderate priorities include digital security, freedom of information, and media literacy.
Examples of funding initiatives:
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ): $4.5 million to expand investigative reporting, including work leading to the 2016 Panama Papers exposure.
ALTEC (Alianza Latinoamericana para la Tecnología Cívica): Launched in 2017 with Fundación Avina, ALTEC supports up to 20 civic tech and media projects of $150,000 each, promoting civic engagement and government accountability in Latin America.
Global media support: Since 2004, Omidyar Network has invested approximately $28 million in international media projects, including investigative journalism, independent media, and fact-checking organisations. In 2016 alone, $3.6 million supported media development across Asia (50%), Europe (40%), and Latin America (10%).
Open Society Foundations
The Open Society Foundations (OSF) are the world’s largest private funder of independent groups working on justice, democratic governance, and human rights. The foundation was established by philanthropist George Soros and supports a global network of initiatives, including national and regional foundations such as the International Renaissance Foundation (IRF) in Ukraine. OSF aims to build open societies where citizens have dignity, participate in shaping the state, and enjoy transparent and accountable governance
Geographical priorities: OSF supports independent investigative reporting outlets and international networks of investigative journalists worldwide. Its network includes regional foundations such as the International Renaissance Foundation (IRF) in Ukraine.
Type of funding: Programmatic and core funding.
Funding opportunities: Most grants are awarded to organisations that OSF approaches directly. Additional funding opportunities are available through its network of national and regional foundations.
Priorities related to media development and journalism: OSF recognises independent journalism as essential for checking abuses of power, combating corruption, and fostering informed public debates and critical thinking. Through its Program on Independent Journalism (PIJ), OSF works with journalists, media outlets, media associations, and media freedom groups to promote independent and viable media, professional quality journalism, and functioning media markets, particularly in countries undergoing democratization.
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