FAQ: Science and Data Journalism Funding Line – Launch Grants

Funding for the Science and Data Journalism Launch Grants from the Media Forward Fund is generously provided by the Joachim Herz Foundation, the Klaus Tschira Foundation, the Madsack Foundation, the Rudolf Augstein Foundation, the Schöpflin Foundation, the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft, the Volkswagen Foundation and the ZEIT FOUNDATION BUCERIUS.

The Media Forward Fund cooperates with the Wissenschaftspressekonferenz e.V. (WPK), the largest association of science journalists in Germany, to provide science journalism support to our funding partners. The WPK connects full-time science journalists who work for print media, radio, television and/or the internet. The aim of the WPK is to promote quality in science journalism.

Since May 2022, the WPK Innovation Fund has supported founders with a total of 300,000 euros annually for the development and implementation of innovative science and data journalism initiatives and assisted in the implementation phase with coaching and consultation from experienced experts.

Drawing on its multi-year experience with the WPK Innovation Fund, the WPK provides its expertise in science journalism to the Media Forward Fund during the selection process. This ensures the selection of high-quality projects that meet the universal standards of quality science and data journalism. Throughout the one-year funding period, WPK will support our funding partners with expertise and advisory services in science journalism.

In cooperation with the WPK, our project financing supports media organizations oriented towards the common good with the market launch of an untested, and thus new, offering, format, distribution channel or revenue source.

These projects close a gap in science or data journalism coverage and ideally rely on approaches that differ from existing methods commonly used in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (DACH region) and/or in their own market.

A particular focus here is on the participatory involvement and/or reaching of target groups that have so far been underserved by the media. 

The goal is the successful launch of the project and the establishment of an initial product/market fit during the funding phase – as an important developmental step toward validating or refining the respective business model. This means that the launched project should generate initial revenues.

For small, non-profit media organizations oriented towards the common good, the Fund awards project funding generally in the amount of 75,000 euros for one year.

For small, for-profit media organizations oriented towards the common good, the Fund typically provides up to 75,000 euros for one year. In the case of for-profit organizations, gross figures are considered. 

In the case of cooperation with a for-profit media organization, the financial contribution made by the Fund to the cooperation partner is subject to VAT. Since, as a German non-profit organization, the Media Forward Fund is unable to deduct the VAT incurred, the VAT has the effect of increasing costs.

If the for-profit media organization is based in Austria or Switzerland, the reverse charge rule is in effect, whereby only the net amount can be paid out to the for-profit media organization.

The maximum funding period for Science and Data Journalism Launch Grants is one year (12 months).

Science and Data Journalism Launch Grants are only available to small media organizations.

The determining criterion is the number of full-time employee equivalents (FTEs) in your organization at the time of application. Organizations with 30 or fewer FTEs are considered small.

We want to get to know your media organization. That also includes an understanding of the (legal) structure you are part of.

It could be the case that your organization works closely together with other organizations or a company. You could, for example, be applying together with a GmbH and there is also a non-profit association involved.

If your organization is part of a larger overall organization, that also plays a role in determining the size of your organization. If this is the case, the size determination is not based on the applicant organization, but on the entire overall organization. If the overall organization has more than 30 FTEs, only co-financing is possible.

Sub-units are not corporate bodies in the legal sense. By sub-unit, we mean subordinate organizational units of an organization, such as a specific editorial team (e.g. a section) or an independent offering (such as a magazine for students).

This differentiation will mostly apply to large media organizations that have a wide range of journalistic products and formats. Small media organizations, by contrast, will not generally have established sub-units yet.

You can find an overview of the eligible costs for project financing in the PDF "Application guidelines" under the Apply tab.

For non-profit media organizations, we cannot supply non-profit media organizations with funds to boost their business operations (e.g. an online store or merchandise items).

In cooperations with for-profit media organizations, we are unable to provide support for activities that boost the commercial sales activities of that for-profit company (such as published material that is behind a paywall). In addition, no assets can be financed by the Media Forward Fund that become the property of the for-profit organization free of charge (e.g. the programming of an app that boosts the sales value of the app and thus of the company).

Costs for online marketing (e.g. paid advertising on platforms such as Google, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok) can be covered under MFF funding / -financing up to 5% of the total project budget – with a maximum of €10,000 per year. This limitation applies exclusively to online marketing activities. For offline marketing activities (e.g. events, poster campaigns, or pop-up stands), there is no predefined funding limit.

The Science and Data Journalism Launch Grants are only available to small media organizations. As such, no proprietary resources are required.

Beyond our financial contribution, we also offer capacity building, coaching, access to training courses and community events. Should you find it beneficial, we can also arrange external consultants to provide you with individual support in implementing your project. These services are free of charge for our funding partners and are provided in addition to our financial contribution.

The Science and Data Journalism Launch Grants will only be awarded once. Next year, this line will be awarding organizational funding and project financing for science and data journalism projects that have already demonstrated a product/market fit.

In the General Funding Line, there are two funding rounds each year.

No. Each organization may only apply for one funding line per funding round. If you are uncertain as to which funding line is best for you, please contact us at funding@mediaforwardfund.org

No. It is only possible to apply one time and for one funding line per funding round.

Yes. An application for the Science and Data Journalism Growth Funding is possible next year, regardless of whether you have previously received a Launch Grant.

Yes. The Science and Data Journalism Launch Grants will only be awarded once. Next year, this line will be awarding organizational funding and project financing for science and data journalism projects that have already demonstrated a product/market fit.

• The registered headquarters of your overall organization must be in Germany, Austria or Switzerland.
• Your organization does not have more than 30 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs).
• Your organization must serve the common good. That means that the revenues produced by your work are predominantly generated with the intention of strengthening journalism in its social mission of promoting public education and strengthening democracy.
• Your work is based on recognized journalistic/editorial standards, which you document publicly (or plan to do so). You are committed to the principles of the press code in your country. If applicable, you also have established guidelines for media cooperations with scientific institutes.
• You have a distinct structural and personnel separation between editorial and business management. If your company is younger than five years old and has fewer than 10 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs), there must be a demonstrable intention to implement this separation in the future.
• Your proposed project is an offering, format, distribution channel or source of revenue in the field of science or data journalism that your organization has not yet tested on the market and is thus new.
• You are able to demonstrate the science or data journalism qualifications of the designated member of the project leadership team in addition to previous collaboration (e.g. contractual or freelance basis).

With our project financing, we support media organizations oriented towards the common good with the market launch of an untested, and thus new, offering, format, distribution channel or revenue source in the field of science or data journalism.

The goal is the successful project launch and the establishment of an initial product/market fit during the funding phase as an important developmental step toward validating or refining the respective business model. As such, we don’t fund the conceptualization of a project launch, nor do we fund the growth of something the organization has already introduced to the market. For the latter, please refer to the General Funding Line.

The following organizations are ineligible for funding:

• Schools, universities or public research institutes
• Publicly funded media outlets
• Interest groups
• Sole proprietorships or Individuals who are not part of an organization
• Service and technology providers
• Platforms that primarily curate third-party journalistic content
• PR or news agencies
• Production companies
• Organizations or projects that are still in the concept or startup phase

The following purposes are ineligible for funding:

• Conferences and networking events
• Studies, accompanying research or individual research projects
• Scholarships
• (Piloting) of technical solutions or services for media professionals or media companies (infrastructure)
• Supplementary funding for an ongoing project

The Launch Grants provided by the Science and Data Journalism Funding Line are focused on the market launch of an untested, and thus new, offering, format, distribution channel or revenue source in the field of science or data journalism.

As such, we are unable to provide additional financing for projects you have already launched using proprietary resources or launched using funds from a different funding source and which have proven to require additional funding as they have developed.

No. The Fund only finances projects by organizations with registered headquarters in Germany, Austria or Switzerland (DACH region). This is to ensure that there are target audiences and markets for the media offer not only in the country of origin, but also in Germany, Austria or Switzerland. With this restriction, we aim to promote equal opportunities between local media outlets and media organizations that intend to expand from international markets into the DACH region.

As a for-profit media organization, you may apply for project financing. It is, however, essential that both your organization and the project be oriented towards the common good. This means that the revenues produced by its work are predominantly generated with the intention of strengthening journalism in its social mission of promoting public education and strengthening democracy. Furthermore, all publications produced as part of the project must be publicly available free of charge.

No. We can only fund corporate entities with legal personality. This means we cannot provide funding for individuals who are not part of an organization, nor to sole proprietorships (e.g., e.U.) or partnerships under civil law (e.g., GbR).

Although research alliances are not independently operating media organizations, an application is possible. A research alliance is eligible for funding if it includes a legal entity that meets our funding criteria, consists of partners based in the DACH region, and publishes through third parties within the DACH region.

No. Funding provided as part of a Launch Grant in the Science and Data Journalism Funding Line requires that you are a registered corporate body / organization at the time of application and already have a working business model aimed at serving the common good. Consequently, you must be able to demonstrate proof-of-concept for your existing journalistic offering in addition to a product/market fit at the time of application, confirmed by initial revenue generated from at least one source in the DACH region. This requirement applies to your entire organization and not just for the specific project you intend to launch within the framework of project financing. Here, the aim is establishing an initial product/market fit over the duration of the project as an important step toward the validation or refinement of the business model as it pertains specifically to this project (e.g. new offering, format, distribution channel or revenue source).

The majority of your revenues from your existing journalistic offering must come from the DACH region. That means the share must be at least 51 percent.

We only provide funding to individual media organizations and not consortiums. There is, however, nothing to stop funding recipients from deciding to implement the project in collaboration with other organizations.

No. We are currently only able to fund media organizations that produce and publish journalistic content themselves. Funding for technical solutions or services for media organizations or publishing companies – such as tools, journalist networks or training courses – is unfortunately not possible.

No, our focus is on funding science and data journalism. It is not our intention to promote scientific communication and we reserve the right to review each individual case on the basis of the information provided.

To ensure that your project meets generally accepted standards for quality science and data journalism, we require that at least one person with the appropriate qualifications or experience is part of the designated project management team.

Should this person not be employed by your organization, you must be able to demonstrate past cooperation with this person in the form of published work.

The share of articles published each day that are mainly generated by AI or are news agency copy must not exceed 30 percent.

Our project financing supports you in the launch of an untested, and thus new, offering, format, distribution channel or revenue source. The aim is the establishment of an initial product/market fit during the funding phase as an important developmental step toward validating or refining the business model for precisely this project.

Our overriding aim is to promote the financial stability of media organizations that are oriented towards the common good by ideally supporting projects that are aimed at long-term success.

With our Launch Grants awarded as part of the Science and Data Journalism Funding Line, we want to enable you to prepare your product for the market so that by the end of the funding period, you will have successfully launched the product on the market and established a product/market fit.

To realize this goal, we must ensure at the time of your application that you have a viable and feasible idea for the project you wish to launch and that an existing need for it has been determined among the target audience.

Information can be provided in both euros and Swiss francs. Only the total amount of funding requested along with certain entries in the cost and financing plan should be provided in euros, where indicated.

Please observe the additional instructions in the sample template for the cost and financing plan as there are differences in tax law between for-profit media organizations and non-profit media organizations. Please also refer to the question: “Why are gross figures considered for funding amounts when it comes to for-profit media organizations?”

The selection process is divided into three steps: 1) Brief introduction 2) Initial interview, and 3) Application drafting.

After the comprehensive consideration of your application, we then continue the selection process with the most promising projects by deepening the due diligence process into your organization.

On the basis of the submitted application documents, the jury will then make the final decision on the awarding of funding.

The selection process focuses on three areas: the assessment of your journalistic work, your organization and your idea for using the grant. The assessment is based on our five overarching criteria.

In addition, the average share of daily content published by the overall organization made up by proprietary content (excluding copy from news agencies and mainly AI-generated content) must be over 70 percent.

The brief introduction can be submitted any time before March 23, 2025. The earlier you submit the brief introduction form, the sooner we can conduct an initial interview and determine whether you are eligible to submit a full application.

Please note that, for technical reasons, the link to the brief introduction can only be used once. As such, changes can unfortunately not be made. You can, however, email us your correction at funding@mediaforwardfund.org.

To prepare your answers, you can take a look at the brief introduction preview.

Brief introduction preview

The initial interview of approx. 30 minutes is intended to provide us with an initial personal impression of you and a more detailed idea of your work and your idea for using the grant. No additional preparation is required for the interview. You are welcome, however, to take a look at the preview for the initial interview.

To best convince us of your expertise, we recommend that the science or data journalist designated to be part of your project management team also take part in the initial interview.

Initial interview preview

Once your eligibility for funding has been established by the information provided in the brief introduction and during the initial interview, you are permitted to submit your application via a form in our funding portal within a maximum of five weeks. You will receive the registration link from us by e-mail, which you can then use to register and access the relevant application form. The upload function for the required attachments can also be found at the end of the form.

The maximum time for drafting the funding application is limited to three weeks.

You submit your application and the necessary attachments (including a draft prototype, should you wish) using a form in our funding portal. In addition to the field for general information, there are a total of 11 questions that must be answered. We have set guidelines for the number of characters per response. However, there is no default character limit so that you do not need to shorten sentences. Nevertheless, we recommend sticking to the suggested character maximum as orientation. Designated questions can also be answered in bullet points.

Application form preview

As soon as you have received the registration link to our funding portal by email, you can start drafting your funding application using the form. We will accept funding applications via the funding portal until your three-week time limit has expired, at the latest by May 11, 2025.

You will hear from us at the latest by the week of June 2, 2025.

Yes, in this case please attach your preliminary annual financial records or other meaningful financial data (e.g. internal financial report).

Please use the link we sent you at the beginning to access the funding portal and update the information accordingly. If you would like to update the information after submission, please contact us at: funding@mediaforwardfund.org.

The due diligence assessment is based on the information you have provided, desk research and internal documents you have submitted (attachments to the funding application). In addition, we reserve the right to consult the Media Forward Fund’s Expert Council in addition to experts from science and data journalism from the WPK network about you and your project.

Should we determine that the internal documents submitted with your funding application are insufficient, we will request additional information in a timely manner.

The jury is made up of several experts along with experts from science and data journalism. Information regarding the precise make-up of the jury will be posted on our website once assembly has been completed.

We will try to inform you of the jury’s decision as quickly as possible.

Yes, we generally offer feedback to rejected organizations. You should have received additional information in the message sent with your rejection.

Shortly after you have been approved, we will prepare the funding / cooperation contract and send you a draft. Because this phase requires several feedback loops and/or mini-adjustments, you should allow plenty of time.

Once the funding agreement / cooperation agreement has been agreed and signed, the first funding tranche of 60 percent of the total funding amount will be transferred.

During the ensuing kick-off call, we will discuss your milestones and adopt them for the first six months of funding. We will also develop a shared vision for cooperation, discuss challenges and needs and agree on deadlines.

Once all funding partners are on board following the individual kick-off, a joint digital kick-off workshop as a group will follow. This provides an opportunity not only for funding partners to get to know each other better but also provides a framework for them to introduce their projects to each other, collect feedback and exchange ideas in addition to expressing their wishes and enumerating the resources they can contribute to the community of funding recipients.

We expect a written report after the conclusion of the funding period. In addition, we expect documentation regarding how the funding was spent.

The questions for your reports are included with your funding / cooperation agreement.

Over the course of the funding period, at least one half-time and one concluding check-in are planned:

• Kick-off call

• Half-time check-in after approx. 6 months (check-in no. 1)

• Concluding check-in and report after approx. 12 months (check-in no. 2)

The main purpose of the check-in meetings is to discuss the implementation and status of the agreed launch milestones, the lessons thus far learned, and the definition and adjustment of the milestones for the ensuing six months – and also the financial reporting based on the original planning.

The funding phase of a group ends with a joint final workshop at which the organizations involved share their most important findings from the implementation of their projects.