International Women's Media Foundation
/OVERVIEW: The International Women’s Media Foundation runs fellowship, grant and awards programs that support women journalists and media professionals.
IP TAKE: International Women’s Media Foundation funds female journalists through fellowships, grants, awards, safety training and mentoring programs. Awards mainly support individual women or transgender journalists working in topical or geographical areas that are underreported or neglected by media outlets. A few grants and awards fund teams of media professionals working in the foundation’s areas of interest, but these must be at least 50% women. Many of IWMF’s programs run for two- to three-year periods; it is worthwhile to check the foundation’s website frequently for new opportunities and programs.
Many of this accessible foundation’s programs run open application or nomination programs. Guidelines and due dates vary by program. Grants are highly competitive, given how few opportunities exist in this area for women, so reach out to their responsive staff with general questions.
PROFILE: Based in Washington, D.C., the International Women’s Media Foundation was established in 1990 by a group of prominent women journalists. The foundation aims to “unleash the potential of women journalists as champions of press freedom to transform the global news media.” It names safety, opportunity, reporting, recognition and equity as areas of interest. In addition to grants and fellowships, this funder runs signature mentorship, professional development and safety training for female-identifying journalists.
Grants for Women, Journalism and LGBTQ
The International Women’s Media Foundation supports journalism through its fellowship, grant and awards programs. Current funding opportunities include the following.
The Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship “provides academic and professional opportunities to advance the reporting skills of women journalists who focus on human rights and justice.” This fellowship is generally awarded to “staff or freelance women journalists with at least three years of professional experience.” Proficiency in written English is required for success in this program, which involves coursework at MIT’s Center for International Studies professional internships at the Boston Globe and the New York Times. The foundation runs an open application program for the fellowship and accepts applications in January and February each year. For additional information see the fellowship’s FAQ.
The foundation’s ¡Exprésate! LGBTQI+ and Women’s Rights Reporting Initiative “supports the production of high-quality journalism by and about women and LGBTQI+ people in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.” From 2021 until 2022, this program will train 120 journalists in issues of inclusivity and safety in the field. The program also features a mentorship program and the opportunity to apply for grants ranging from $500 to $4,000. This program is conducted largely in Spanish. Potential applicants should sign up for the foundation’s newsletter.
The Gender Justice Reporting Initiative aims to improve journalistic coverage of gender issues in South Africa and Uganda. The program plans to offer virtual training on physical and digital security, as well as mentoring and reporting grants to 30 or more African journalists. It is unclear if this program is accepting applications at this time, but grantseekers may sign up for the foundation’s newsletter.
The Global Health Reporting Initiative was established in response to the COVID-19 crisis and aims to support journalists with expertise in health as they cover “urgent issues like vaccine acceptance and demand and the impact the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine is having on routine immunization programs.” The program involves virtual coursework, mentoring and competitive grants for relevant projects. Interested grantseekers should check the program’s webpage periodically and sign up for the foundation’s newsletter.
The International Women’s Media Foundation provides “financial and personal” support to Round Earth Media, a program that “partners American early-career and student journalists with their in-country peers” in a broad effort to develop new talent and increase coverage of under-reported issues. The foundation does not provide information about the application process for this program.
IWMF’s Fund for Women Journalists makes grants to women journalists and students of journalism to advance “the role of women in the news media.” Grantmaking focuses on diversity and transparency. The foundation accepts applications on an ongoing basis via its application page and responds to applications in approximately six weeks. The average grant size is $10,000.
The Fund for Indigenous Journalists is funded by the Waren H. Buffett Foundation and supports reporting by indigenous journalists on the subject of “missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, two-spirit and transgender people.” Journalists who are affiliated with news outlets, as well as freelancers, may apply online for funding at any time.
The Kari Howard Fund for Narrative Journalism, a newer program at the foundation, was established in memory of Howard, an editor at Reuters, to “support of proposals to report and publish compelling human stories, wherever they are found.” Still in the planning phase, this fund has yet to announce any grantmaking guidelines.
The Kim Wall Memorial Fund was founded in memory of the murdered Swedish journalist Kim Wall and aims to “inspire other young journalists to go out in the world and find the stories.” This fund awards a total of $5,000 in grants a year to women and nonbinary journalists. Application materials are posted on the program’s web page during an open application period, usually in the fall.
Another new program, the Reproductive Rights Reporting Fund was established in response to the 2022 Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and makes grants to support reporting on issues surrounding the status of reproductive rights and health in the U.S. Because of the high demand for funding in 2022, this program is no longer accepting applications. Journalists are advised to check the program’s page periodically for changes and updates.
The Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice in the Americas program “funds reporting on issues that impact people’s daily lives in the region, including abortion and contraception access, maternal health, reproductive health policy and abortion bans.” This fund supports both women and nonbinary journalists working. It also organizes “international reporting trips to support and encourage quality reporting on these issues." This program does not run an open application program.
IWMF’s emergency funds include the United States Journalism Emergency Fund, the Black Journalists Therapy Relief Fund and the IWMF Emergency Relief Fund. All three funds are intended for journalists experiencing “immediate needs related to their professional work.” All three funds accept applications on a rolling basis. Links to application guidelines are provided on the emergency funds main page.
In addition to the above funding opportunities, the IWMF runs safety trainings and mentoring programs and runs three achievement awards programs: the Anja Niedringhaus Courage in Photojournalism Award, the Courage in Journalism Awards and the Gwen Ifill Award, which is awarded to women journalists of color in memory of the late co-anchor of PBS Newshour.
Important Grant Details:
The IWMF made about $750,000 in grants in a recent year. The foundation mainly awards fellowships and grants through specific programs with set award amounts. This funder’s recipients are mainly individual journalists and teams of journalists working in the foundation’s areas of interest. For additional information about past grants and awards, see the foundation’s individual program pages.
The IWMF accepts applications for some of its fellowship, grant and awards programs. Guidelines and due dates vary by program. It is also worth noting that this funder changes its funding programs frequently; interested grantseekers should check the website periodically and sign up for the organization’s newsletter for relevant updates. General inquiries may be directed to foundation staff via email.
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