Freelance Greenlight Grants

• Eligibility Criteria: Freelance journalists in the United States
• Type of Funding: Grant
• Target Region: North America
• Application Language: English

Freelance Investigative Reporters + Editors (FIRE) is offering its distinct new $25,000 Greenlight Grants to support investigative reporting uncovering information in the public interest exclusively by freelance investigative journalists—those who are not formally attached to any newsroom, news site, or outlet.

Eligibility

FIRE supports investigative reporting. By definition, investigative reporting uncovers information in the public interest, usually information that  someone is trying to hide. If you can answer yes to the following questions, your proposal is probably investigative—and thus eligible for FIRE support.

• Are you doing original reporting, using public records or difficult-to-obtain sources?
• Has your reporting turned up anything that might suggest potential damage to the public good in ways that hadn’t been known or understood before?
• Have you found evidence that, if sufficiently corroborated, would reveal systemic injustice, damage to the public good, corruption, deceit, or abuse by someone in a position of authority who would not want your story disclosed publicly?

Further, FIRE does not require you to have an eligible outlet at the time you apply (application deadline April 27, 2026)—only by the time we award the grant. On request FIRE may be available to help you find an outlet—or help yours become eligible. More at FAQ.

But you would be responsible for finding the outlet—and including answers from the outlet in your application for the new Greenlight Grants. if your story passes an initial round. The answers would come via a Google Form, downloadable here.

Since the application would be answered jointly, FIRE strongly encourages applicants to view all the questions in advance.

What the grant offers 

• FIRE’s $25,000 Greenlight Grant will need a strong story—and ultimately a newsroom co-applicant.
• For its role editing your story and taking legal responsibility for it (as elaborated here), your newsroom partner receives one-fifth of the grant amount, or $5,000 (you receive the remaining $20,000).
• The grants are stipends, to spend as each party sees fit to advance the story.
• To receive a Greenlight Grant, the publisher or broadcaster for the story must conform with best practices in engaging the freelance reporter—more on which here.
• As a result, the co-application requires special collaboration between reporter and editor or publisher: a form of “co-application.”
• To allow candidates equal time to prepare, FIRE will not review Greenlight Grant inquiries until after the April 27 deadline.
• Until then, reporters and outlets would ideally establish an initial conversation and a tentative mutual interest in a particular story, but do not necessarily need a commission, letter of commitment, or contract—though they may help. As of April 8, 2026, FIRE is offering personalized consultations on the process, including optional phone sessions.

How to apply

• All FIRE applications start with a simple email inquiry about something called a “FIRE Consultancy,” a basic two-hour service and gateway to further support.
• In the inquiry you may indicate interest in a grant (more on grants here). If you wish to indicate interest in the pilot $25,000 Greenlight Grants, you must do so in an email submitted by the deadline, April 27, 2026.
• But starting April 8, any potential applicant may email application@firenewsroom.org to request clarity on any element of the new application process—along with a brief confidential phone appointment if needed.
• As outlined, the path to a Greenlight Grant starts with a simple email inquiry by the April 27 deadline, which would describe the story and mention the proposed outlet.