Tech Journalism Fund 2026 - $5,000 to $25,000 Grants

The Tech Journalism Fund is a project grant from Omidyar Network, launched in October 2025, giving US-based journalists $5,000 to $25,000 towards the cost of one resource-intensive reporting project on technology and society. It sits alongside Omidyar's Reporters in Residence programme, which pays a monthly stipend over a residency, whereas the fund covers the expenses of a single defined story. Grants pay for travel, research and fact-checking, multimedia work, paid data access and a stipend for the reporting time itself.

Freelancers, staff reporters, editors and teams of journalists working across any medium can all apply, and Omidyar explicitly welcomes applicants from a wide range of backgrounds, careers and experiences. The one hard geographic limit is that the fund is only open to US-based journalists at this time. No degree, employer, outlet size or publication history threshold is published, and there is no application fee.

Between $5,000 and $25,000 per project, with the exact figure driven by the budget you submit. The grant is project funding rather than salary, so the budget should itemise reporting costs: travel, research and fact-checking support, multimedia enhancement, data access such as LexisNexis searches or government record requests, and a stipend covering the time the reporting takes. Every proposal must include a detailed budget of estimated costs.

There is no deadline. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and generally reviewed within 30 days of submission, so you apply when your project is ready rather than waiting for a cycle to open. One thing to plan around: because of the volume of submissions, Omidyar only contacts accepted applicants, so if 30 days pass in silence you should treat the answer as no and pursue other funding.

Any proposal on how technology and society intersect is welcome, but four areas get priority consideration: legislation and policy proposals on regulating AI and the tech sector, investigative pieces on the companies, organisations, people and ideas shaping the AI and tech industries, the impact of AI on children, youth and families, and how workers, unions, companies and employers are contending with AI and other technological advances in the workplace. A funded example is the series "AI Killed My Job" by independent journalist Brian Merchant, on how AI is affecting working people.

No. Omidyar states that all projects supported by the Tech Journalism Fund are editorially independent, and it publishes funded work on its own site after the fact rather than before. The trade is transparency: every supported piece discloses that it received Tech Journalism Fund support when it is published. If that disclosure would create a conflict with your outlet's funding policy, sort it out with your editor before you apply.

Not strictly, but it helps a lot. The distribution section of the application asks for your ideal publisher and specifically invites you to note whether you already hold a commitment from an editor or a letter of interest, alongside your broader distribution plan. A story with a named outlet and an interested editor is a far easier decision for a funder than one that still has to find a home after the reporting is done.

The form itself is short: name, email, a bio of 250 words or fewer, a project description of 500 words or fewer, a distribution plan, a detailed budget, a timeline, and optional supporting files up to 50 MB. The work sits in the pre-reporting behind it, since Omidyar asks for concrete narratives that show significant familiarity with the topic rather than broad conceptual themes. Budget a day for the writing and rather longer for the reporting that earns it.