How to pitch for funding successfully as a journalist
The media field has been adversely affected by high unemployment rates and a drop in profitability for many news organizations. There are still many working journalists who are full of ideas and energy to create an impact and innovate in their fields. The biggest barrier for journalists to overcome is monetary resources. Whether they are applying to research for a journalism project, pursuing an ambitious story that requires paying a lot of expenses, starting their own media business, or advancing their knowledge and skills by studying in academic programs, they require funds that they do not possess.
Therefore, journalists should improve their skills in fields other than research and great reporting to successfully pursue their goals, vision, and dreams. Despite the financial challenges journalism faces today, there are several opportunities for funding and financial support for journalists, especially for those willing to test themselves in a skill set that is relevant to their work and quite different from what they are used to. Reporters pitch ideas for stories almost every day to their editors or managing directors. However, pitching an idea for funding is something that most working journalists have never experienced.
FOREIGN PRESS provides some practical insights for journalists to apply for funding, write a grant proposal, or apply for financial support through a scholarship. Here are the five major rules journalists should keep in mind when seeking funding:
Start by researching the backgrounds and qualifications of past awardees of the program you are applying for before pitching your idea, project, or professional accomplishments. By doing so, you will better understand the type of candidates the organization seeks. Take time to review as many past awardees as possible and note the most impressive aspects about each of them or their winning project. Next, follow the instructions below for the second step.
Learn about the organization's mission, people, initiatives, and priorities. Those areas where an organization is spending most of its energy and resources are those in which it is most interested in supporting candidates who have professional experience, research proposals, qualifications, or project ideas relevant to these areas. You may want to consider what elements of your proposal or accomplishments make you relevant in these fields, and to the organization that may be able to assist you.
Find a way to differentiate yourself. Each organization that provides grants, awards, and monetary scholarships receives hundreds of applications from journalists every year before the application deadline. To be successful your strategy is to find a way to differentiate yourself, proposal, essay, or idea from the other applicants competing with you for the same reason: to win support. Distinguish yourself from others by showing in your application those aspects of your accomplishments or your proposal that indicate you have researched the organization and have unique experience or an innovative approach.
Ask questions and show interest in the process. In addition to differentiating yourself, you must ensure that you will stand out from other applicants. Asking questions and showing interest in learning more about the application process and requirements will never harm you, but the opposite. This may have little to do with whether your application is successful or not, but it will certainly make an impression. Do not hesitate to check with the teams or the person who can answer your questions on behalf of the organization. Before you submit your application, reach out, get connected, and show you have done your research. In other words, get noticed.
When it's time to start writing your application or proposal, there are certain things to remember:
Avoid generalizations and be precise.
Give examples to support your arguments.
Specify your desired outcomes and your timeline for achieving them.
Explain how your work or project intends to create an impact on the respective field and, if possible, explain how it can be measured.
Remember: If you are a foreign journalist enrolled in a master’s program in a US-based institution, you may be eligible for a scholarship from the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents. For more information about the eligibility criteria, click here. Keep the advice above in mind if you decide to apply.
