Philanthropic partnerships at the Guardian
The Guardian, like many news organisations around the world, is working to find new ways to fund our journalism to ensure we can continue to produce quality, independent journalism in the public interest.
Increasing philanthropic support for our independent journalism helps fund impactful Guardian reporting on important topics such as modern-day slavery, women’s rights, climate change, migration and inequality.
Our current philanthropic partnerships
The Judith Neilson Institute supports Guardian Australia’s Pacific Project, which is a reporting series and network focused on geopolitical issues, environmental challenges and social affairs in the Pacific Islands. It has also provided short-term funding to help support coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on Australia
The Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation (VFFF) supports Guardian Australia’s Rural Network, which gives rural and regional communities a voice through a trusted network of Guardian editors, journalists and contributors.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation supports documentary films about poverty in the UK, which seek to reframe the issue and engage a wide, mainstream audience “beyond the choir”
Philanthropic support for editorial projects can be made directly to Guardian News & Media, or through two new philanthropic organisations created by the Guardian:
theguardian.org
In 2017 we announced the launch of theguardian.org, a nonprofit organisation set up by the Scott Trust to support quality independent journalism about some of the most pressing issues of our time. The organisation raises funds from individuals and foundations, and directs them towards projects that advance public discourse and citizen participation on issues such as climate change, human rights, global development and inequality. The Guardian is able to apply for grants from theguardian.org for editorial projects that correspond with the priorities set out by theguardian.org’s board of directors, and that are aligned with its charitable mission, which is why a number of the Guardian’s philanthropic partnerships are via grants to this organisation. For more information, visit theguardian.org.
Support for Guardian editorial projects via theguardian.org includes the following:
A common condition – supported in part with a grant from the Helmsley Charitable Trust
The age of extinction, which supports reporting on the planet’s catastrophic species loss, and ways to tackle the biodiversity crisis – funded in part with grants from the BAND Foundation, Oak Foundation, and Arcadia
America’s dirty divide – supported in part with a grant from Open Society Foundations
Animals farmed – funded in part with a grant from Open Philanthropy
Big oil uncovered – supported in part with grants from Rockefeller Family Fund and Tortuga Foundation
Fair access – supported in part with a grant from Open Society Foundations
The fight for democracy – supported in part through philanthropic funding from Ford Foundation, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, and Park Foundation
The future of work – supported in part with a grant from the Ford Foundation
Global development – supported in part with a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Guns and lies in America – funded in part with a grant from the California Wellness Foundation
Our unequal earth – funded in part by a grant from the 11th Hour Project, a program of the Schmidt Family Foundation
Seascape: the state of our oceans – funded in part with grants from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the McPike-Zima Foundation, and and the Fund for Environmental Journalism (a grant-making program of the Society of Environmental Journalists, which credits the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for underwriting its FEJ initiative)
Southern Frontlines – supported in part with a grant from Open Society Foundations
Rights and Freedom – funded in part with a grant from Humanity United
Through the roof - supported in part with a grant from Melville Charitable Trust
Guardian Civic Journalism Trust – a partnership between Guardian Australia and the University of Melbourne’s Centre for Advancing Journalism
In March 2018, the Guardian Civic Journalism Trust was established with the Centre for Advancing Journalism in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Melbourne to provide funding towards journalism projects that advance public discourse and citizen participation in areas such as the environment, indigenous affairs, human rights, inequality and governance and accountability. All projects have an educational component to equip the future generation of Australian journalists with skills through capacity-building programmes with the Centre for Advancing Journalism, including student internships, a cadet mentoring scheme, guest lectures and student workshops.
Guardian Civic Journalism Trust grants include:
The Balnaves Foundation has provided a grant for in-depth reporting and educational activities on Indigenous affairs over a period of three years.
The Balnaves Foundation has also provided a grant to support Australian arts in focus.
The Limb Family Foundation has provided a grant for environmental investigations reporting.
The Green Family Foundation has provided a grant for inequality reporting.
The Trimtab Foundation has provided a grant for Lives in Limbo, which examines the failures of Australia’s offshore processing policy and the lives affected.
The Barlow Foundation has provided a grant for three projects to shine a much-needed light on undercovered issues of inequality affecting Australia’s youth. The first of these, Dreams Interrupted, explores mounting youth unemployment whilst the second, Childhood in Custody, explores the stories of Indigenous children trapped in Australia’s jails, with those who live and work in the system. The third project, The Voice Ask Me Anything, is a Full Story podcast series focussing on the Australian referendum on an Indigenous voice to parliament.
The Doc Ross Family Foundation has provided a grant in support of Guardian Australia’s Rural Network in Victoria.
Philanthropic support is recognised in two ways:
1. Philanthropic support for a specific project or editorial body of work is labelled ‘supported by’ to make clear how the content has been commissioned and produced, and who has funded it.
2. Philanthropic support that is broadly intended to build the capacity for a particular area of Guardian journalism – for instance environment reporting – but which is not directly attributed to a specific project or reporting series, is listed below:
European Climate Foundation, which has supported our environment coverage.
The Energy Foundation, which has supported the Guardian to increase our capacity to report on energy, climate and the environment in the US.
The Susan McKinnon Foundation, which has provided the Guardian Civic Journalist Trust with a grant for investigative reporting and educational activities on governance and political accountability in Australia over a period of three years.
VivCourt, which has provided funding through the Guardian Civic Journalism Trust, including to support reporting on the coronavirus crisis by Guardian Australia.
The underlying premise of all philanthropic support for the Guardian is that it is for editorial priorities that have already been identified by Guardian editors. Throughout the process of securing philanthropic support, the Guardian’s philanthropy editors and other senior editors confer about its suitability and the editor-in-chief has the final say on whether a funding opportunity is approved.
For enquiries please contact philanthropy@theguardian.com