Introduction:
Thank you for your interest in the Advancing Democracy Innovation Fund!
This opportunity, led by Solutions Journalism Network in collaboration with Hearken and Trusting News, is designed to support newsrooms in developing innovative approaches to covering politics, elections, and government — approaches that build trust, center communities, and highlight solutions.
This round of funding will provide selected newsrooms with up to $4,000 and will review applications on a rolling basis. It is open to newsrooms that have completed the Knight Center course, A Better Way to Cover Civic Life, or through our webinar series. This opportunity is open to U.S.-based newsrooms that have not previously completed the Advancing Democracy Fellowship (2022–2024). All projects must be completed by March 15, 2026.
This fund is one of several offerings from the Advancing Democracy initiative, which builds on three years of successful newsroom coaching, training, and collaboration. Together, we aim to move political reporting beyond horse-race narratives and toward journalism that meets the information needs of communities.
Program goals:
- Equip newsrooms to apply skills from the Advancing Democracy initiative—including engaged elections, solutions journalism, Good Conflict, and trust-building strategies—to high-impact political reporting.
- Support innovative newsroom projects that reimagine political, civic, and elections coverage.
- Share learnings across the field through public webinars, resources, or presentations.
What does this fund support?
Selected newsrooms will receive up to $4,000 for projects tied to political, elections, or government coverage that utilizes one or more of the following skills: engaged elections, solutions journalism, Good Conflict and trust-building strategies. This could include:
- Deep investments in community engagement and listening
- Community events
- Travel to report solutions or engagement-driven stories
- Experiments with new formats or audience products
- Multimedia packages or visual explainers
- Collaborations that bridge civic engagement and journalism
- Collaborations with influencers or civic information providers
- Covering staff time to report a solutions story, organize an engagement activity, or create new products or activities tied to trust
Projects must clearly apply at least one of the skills from the Advancing Democracy initiative, and preference will be given to applications that combine multiple skills in their proposal.
- This is the grant’s second round of funding and will support up to eight additional newsrooms.
- Selected newsrooms will receive 50% of funding up front, with the remaining 50% delivered after project completion.
- All grantees will be asked to share lessons learned through a webinar, written resource, or similar public product.
- Each newsroom will be required to meet with a coach once during the grant period. Additional coaching may be available upon request.
- We encourage you to set internal deadlines that work best for your team, but all projects must be completed by March 15, 2026.
Who is eligible?
US-based newsrooms that have learned the core Advancing Democracy skills through our online course, A Better Way to Cover Civic Life, or Advancing Democracy webinar series.
Key details:
- This application is now open and we will review applications on a rolling basis.