GrantmakersDistrict of Columbia

Fund for Investigative Journalism Inc

Washington, DC · EIN 52-0895081. Reported 63 grants totalling $684,458 to 45 organizations across tax years 2021-2024, on Form 990 Schedule I.

45organizations funded
$10,000median reported grant
$684,458granted, 2021-2024
31%of grantees funded again the next year
9%of dollars to its largest recipient

Does this grantmaker accept applications?

Its tax return does not say, and we will not guess. Private foundations file Form 990-PF, which asks outright whether they fund only organizations they select themselves -- 78% say yes, and that one answer is what lets the rest of this site tell you which foundations are worth approaching. Grantmaking charities like this one file a regular Form 990 instead, and the IRS never puts the question to them. Anyone claiming to know the answer from the filing is inventing it.

Three things in the filing do bear on it:

  1. What kind of organization it is. The IRS has no activity classification on file for this one, so we cannot tell you whether it is a community foundation or a single-institution support fund. The recipient list below is the better guide.
  2. How spread out its giving is. 45 distinct organizations, with 9% of the dollars going to the largest single recipient. That is genuinely spread out -- the mark of a funder making many independent decisions rather than underwriting one institution.
  3. How much its list changes. 31% of one year's grantees are funded again the next, across 3 year-to-year transitions. That is below the 57% median for grantmaking charities, and well below the 67% private foundations manage. A list that turns over this much is one a newcomer can realistically join.

How big are its grants?

The median reported grant is $10,000. Half of what it reported fell between $7,750 and $10,000; the smallest was $5,200 and the largest $35,000. If you are asking for materially more than the top of that range, you are asking the wrong organization.

Schedule I only reports grants over $5,000. Form 990 requires a charity to list recipients it paid more than that and lets it omit the rest, so every grant-size figure on this page describes the grants it reported, not all of them. Its real median is lower and its real recipient count is higher. This is also why these numbers cannot be compared with the private-foundation figures elsewhere on this site -- Form 990-PF has no reporting floor, so the two are different populations rather than two samples of one.
$5,000 - $10,000
29 grants
$10,000 - $25,000
32 grants
$25,000 - $50,000
2 grants

Every organization it funded

This is the complete list from its filings, largest first. Recipients are grouped by the EIN the filer reported, not by name, so an organization that was typed differently in two years appears once rather than twice.

OrganizationLocationTotal receivedGrantsYears fundedLast
Wcij IncMadison, WI$61,947432023
Regents of the University of California at BerkeleyRiverside, CA$54,926332024
Arizona Center for Investigative ReportingPhoenix, AZ$41,400222022
InvestigatewestSeattle, WA$39,115332024
San Francisco Public PressSan Francisco, CA$35,000332023
The Current Ga IncSavannah, GA$24,769222022
Mississippi Center for Investigative ReportingJackson, MS$23,250222022
Capital & MainLos Angeles, CA$22,750222022
Carolina Public Press IncDurham, NC$21,780222022
CalmattersSacramento, CA$20,000222024
Honolulu Civil Beat IncHonolulu, HI$20,000222022
The Texas Democracy FoundationAustin, TX$20,000222023
The Center for Investigative Reporting IncEmeryville, CA$20,000112021
Grist Magazine IncSeattle, WA$14,750112024
Salt Lake Tribune IncSalt Lake Cty, UT$13,250222023
South Florida Public Media Group IncMiami, FL$12,500112023
Arizona Local PostTucson, AZ$11,164112023
Center for Public IntegrityWashington, DC$10,000112022
In Their Hands LLCChicago, IL$10,000112024
Investigative NewsourceSan Diego, CA$10,000112023
Making Waves Films LLCHonolulu, HI$10,000112021
Slavic SacramentoWalnut Creek, CA$10,000112021
The Center for Michigan IncDetroit, MI$10,000112021
WyofileLander, WY$10,000112023
Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting IncChampaign, IL$9,925112021
Deadline DetroitDetroit, MI$8,993112021
National Public Radio IncWashington, DC$8,912112023
Connecticut News Project IncHartford, CT$8,850112021
New Hampshire Public Radio IncConcord, NH$8,750112022
Utah Investigative Journalism ProjectSalt Lake Cty, UT$8,500112024
The Florida Center for Government Accountablility IncTallahassee, FL$8,400112022
Publicsource IncPittsburgh, PA$8,200112022
Bangor Daily NewsBangor, ME$8,027112024
Invisible InstituteChicago, IL$7,500112024
Oo ProjectWashington, DC$7,500112023
Pacific Community MediaLong Beach, CA$7,500112021
Massachussetts Media Fund IncSomerville, MA$7,450112021
The AdvocateBaton Rouge, LA$7,450112024
Fort Worth ReportFort Worth, TX$7,100112022
Voice of San DiegoSan Diego, CA$6,600112021
Muckrock Foundation IncorporatedBoston, MA$6,250112021
Shaw Suburban Media GroupCrystal Lake, IL$6,000112021
Idaho Education NewsBoise, ID$5,500112023
Hola CulturaWashington, DC$5,250112021
Spotlight Media LLCLouisville, KY$5,200112021

13 of 45 (29%) received money in more than one year over the 4 years we hold. Remember the $5,000 floor: an organization funded every year at $3,000 shows up here as never funded at all.

It also reported 4 groups of grants to individuals -- scholarships, emergency assistance and similar. Schedule I reports these by category with a headcount and never by name, so there is nothing here we could publish about the recipients even if we wanted to.

What kind of organizations it funds

By each recipient's own IRS classification, for the 32 of 45 recipients we could match to a registered organization. These are assigned categories, not our guesses -- Schedule I reports the recipient's EIN, so this is a lookup rather than a name match.

Arts & Culture
18 orgs
Public & Societal Benefit
4 orgs
Civil Rights
3 orgs
Education
2 orgs
Community Improvement
2 orgs
Environment
2 orgs
Diseases & Disorders
1 org

Giving by year

Tax yearGrants reportedTotalMedian grant
202124$216,752$9,879
202217$245,453$11,780
202313$131,032$10,000
20249$91,221$10,000

Tax years, not calendar years, and the most recent year is usually incomplete -- Form 990 arrives about a year after the year it covers, so a low final year means late paperwork rather than a grantmaker winding down.

Where its money goes

27% of its giving went to organizations in California. Community foundations and federated funds are usually the most geographically bounded funders there are -- being outside the footprint is normally disqualifying in a way that a weak programme fit is not.

California
$187K
Wisconsin
$62K
Washington
$54K
Arizona
$53K
Illinois
$33K
District of Columbia
$32K
Hawaii
$30K
Texas
$27K

Down to the city

Madison, WI
$62K
Riverside, CA
$55K
Seattle, WA
$54K
Phoenix, AZ
$41K
San Francisco, CA
$35K
Washington, DC
$32K

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Funders that support the same organizations

These grantmakers and private foundations gave to organizations this one also funded. Shared grantees are the strongest signal available that two funders have overlapping priorities -- and a funder already backing your peers is a far warmer prospect than one that merely lists your cause.

Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund30 shared recipientsThe Miami Foundation Inc30 shared recipientsInstitute for Nonprofit News25 shared recipientsDonor Advised Charitable Giving Inc22 shared recipientsVanguard Charitable Endowment Program18 shared recipientsThe Groundtruth Project Inc15 shared recipients

How to approach this grantmaker

  1. Look for a published programme first. Unlike most private foundations, organizations of this kind often do run open, deadlined grant cycles with written guidelines. Its own website is the authority on that; this page is the authority on who it has actually paid.
  2. Check you are its size. The median reported grant is $10,000 -- and because grants under $5,000 need not be reported, it very likely writes smaller cheques than this page can see.
  3. Check you are in its geography. Its giving concentrates in California.
  4. Read the recipient list for organizations like yours. If nothing on it resembles your work, that is a real answer and a cheap one to get.

Related guides

Foundations funding arts & culture in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, rankedFoundations funding education in CaliforniaEvery funder in this group, ranked

Where these numbers come from

Everything above is taken from Fund for Investigative Journalism Inc's own Form 990 Schedule I filings, which the IRS publishes in bulk. We used 4 returns (tax years 2021-2024). Nothing here is scraped, inferred or estimated.

On its most recent return it told the IRS it made grants to 6 section 501(c)(3) organizations and 3 other organizations. That is the filer's own count for one year; the totals above cover every year we hold.

Address of record on the latest return: 1100 13TH Street Nw Ste 800, Washington, DC, 20005.

EIN 52-0895081 · See the original filings on ProPublica · How we build this

This is history, not an open call. Form 990 is published about a year after the tax year it covers. Nothing on this page is a deadline. It is a record of who this organization has actually funded, which is the best available predictor of who it will fund next.

Is something here wrong about your organization? Email [email protected] and we will correct it.