The Center for Public Interest Reporting provides funding of up to $15,000 for Enterprise Projects and $500 Pilot Grants for exploratory reporting to determine the viability of an in-depth project. Enterprise Projects are typically completed within six months. Pilot Grants are to defray reporting expenses typically incurred over one or two weeks.

The Center accepts applications on an ongoing basis throughout the year. Prior to submitting a proposal, please send an email with a brief project description. To minimize spam, all written communication with members of the CPIR staff initially goes through the contact form on our “about” page. To facilitate our automatic sorting process, please be sure to begin the subject line of any preliminary inquiry either with Enterprise or Pilot, followed by a slug, as in these examples: Enterprise: (Police Overtime); Pilot: (Police Overtime). The project description should include a brief and concise summary of the topic to be addressed, an enumeration of current or potential story sources, an estimate of probable costs and a description of the journalist’s or team’s qualifications. The Center receives up to 20 such preliminary inquiries a week, and the selection process is rigorous. Candidates should have a minimum of five years’ reporting experience and a substantial record of groundbreaking work. Typically, the Center staff takes a week to decide whether to accept a grant proposal. We will immediately erase the preliminary inquiry of anyone whose candidacy does not proceed beyond this initial phase. Anyone chosen to proceed will receive a grant application package with all required forms via email. Once we send the application package, we expect a complete application within another week.

Here are some general guidelines on how to prepare:

• References: Candidates should be prepared to submit contact information for editors at three publications with whom they have worked in the preceding six months.

• Work Samples: Applications require five examples of ground-breaking stories completed within the preceding two years.

• Budget: The project budget should identify expenses including travel costs, equipment purchase or rental, government fees for copying or downloading documents, insurance, and stipends.

• Enterprise Project Commitment Letter: Such a letter is by no means a requirement. Story placement services are an important part of CPIR’s mission. Still, in cases where a publication already has expressed interest in a project, a letter of commitment from a news editor can only strengthen an application to the Center for funding and staff support to complete the project. Such a letter should promise that the news organization will publish or broadcast the proposed story or package, provided it meets the news organization’s standards.
Such a letter is not expected for Pilot Grant applications.