Extended deadline, two new grants

Earlier this month, FIRE announced a $75,000 grant from Craig Newmark Philanthropies to advance FIRE’s new contract-related legal assistance.

Within days, two longtime FIRE contributors pledged $55,000.

The gifts, especially the $50,000, from the anonymous donor who originally seeded FIRE, are intended as challenge grants. Please donate if you can!

The $130,000 infusion has already allowed FIRE to 

• expand our pilot project, extend today’s deadline for FIRE’s contract-related legal services, and accept applications indefinitely by rolling deadlines, effective today

• award five Virtual Newsroom grants, up to $12,500 each, to eligible reporters accepted for the legal services by June 1, 2021
• reactivate the legal-services survey, which has proved invaluable in designing the service. Any reporters may take the 5-7-minute survey. 

The legal service is anonymous and confidential. Eligible reporters don’t need a contract in hand. For an investigation, you may apply for FIRE's legal assistance, reporting assistance—or both services. You may also receive support from another journalism organization.

You may apply at any time. But to qualify for the June 1 selection deadline and the $12,500 grants, we advise you to submit an inquiry no later than May 15 for the contract-related legal assistance. We do our best to communicate decisions within two weeks.

We look forward to helping freelancers safely advance their investigations in the public interest.