Deadline: 28-Sep-20
You are welcome to submit a project proposal if you have an initiative that stimulates independent and critical media, or one that sustains or promotes a strong, and just democratic state. Your project should match the pillars and priorities.
The Democracy and Media Foundation (DMF) is seeking proposals for its grant program that counters all forms of totalitarianism in social and political life and to strive for a vigorous democracy and multifaceted, opinionating media. The DMF’s current mission is to invest in strong, critical media and a strong, just democratic state based on the rule of law.
Objectives
These objectives are rooted in the origin of the Democracy and Media Foundation, which was established in 1944 by the founders of the illegal resistance newspaper.
These objectives shaped the foundation’s current mission:
- To invest in strong, critical media and a strong, just democratic state based on the rule of law. The Democracy and Media
- Foundation provides financial support to organizations, projects and other initiatives that promote this mission. The foundation can also provide (external) organizational advice and/or bring different initiatives together.
Extra priorities: COVID-19 and parliamentary elections
DMF gives extra priority to initiatives responding to COVID-19 and the upcoming parliamentary elections.
- COVID-19: With this call for proposals the DMF gives especially priority to initiatives that reinforce democracy and rule of law in the Netherlands in response to the COVID-19 crisis. Hereby the focus lies on:
- initiatives that critically question the (accelerated) use of technology to fight the coronavirus,
- journalistic projects and other initiatives that reflect critically on powerful public and private institutions as they respond to COVID-19.
- As the parliamentary elections are approaching, DMF is looking for:
- initiatives that aim to put topics on the agenda that are relevant for DMF, within public and political discours;
- projects that incite groups with low attendance figures to vote during this election.
Program Objectives
The objectives of the foundation have been divided into five pillars.
- Objective 1: A strong, just constitutional democracy
- Fundamental rights and freedoms
- Vigorous democracy
- Commemoration and remembrance
- Objective 2: Independent, critical media
- Truth-seeking
- Media innovation
Funding Information
- The average grant allotted within the general call for proposals is €15.000.
- Furthermore, applications within this call for applications are considered up to a maximum amount of €50.000 per project (year).
Eligibility Criteria
- The Democracy and Media Foundation only supports projects and initiatives that:
- meet a demonstrable need;
- are embedded in a broader strategy for change;
- are based on a clear and solid plan, and for which it is likely that (self-defined) goals will be reached.
- Applicants and/or initiatives that take an activating or mobilising role are preferred;
- If the applicant is a corporation, the initiative must have transparent governance structure with clearly separated functions;
- Initiatives by individuals are welcomed, provided that the applicant has a demonstrable track record in the field in which they are requesting subsidy;
- Each application should be accompanied by a clear and factual budget with a matching financing plan, including a realistic cost-benefit ratio.
- Types of projects that the Democracy and Media Foundation supports include (but are not limited to):
- Media productions (long-form) journalistic articles, books, documentaries, podcasts and web or TV series)
- Digital journalistic platforms
- Strategic awareness campaigns
- Policy advocacy
- Strategic juridical litigation
- Lectures and debates (as long as they are rooted in a broader adaptation strategy)
- Trainings/capacity building
- Geographical scope:
- The foundation prioritizes projects and organizations with clear added value in the Netherlands. Within the Netherlands, preference goes out to projects with an international or national outlook, as well as local initiatives that are part of a broader strategy for change. Projects taking place outside the Netherlands are granted support only rarely.
The foundation limits its support to organizations located in the 47 member states of the Council of Europe. Priority is granted to projects in countries were freedom of press and/or the democratic state based on the rule of law is under pressure.
Ineligible
Applications that do not qualify for funding include (but are not limited to):
- initiatives that do not match the objectives, pillars and core values as defined by the Democracy and Media Foundation
- initiatives outside the geographical scope of the Democracy and Media Foundation;
- initiatives with primarily (party) political or religious objectives
- government initiatives or initiatives from institutions affiliated with governments;
- standalone debates, lectures and similar events that are not embedded in a broader strategy;
- the development or improvement of websites or applications without substantial impact improvement;
- normal business costs related to a project, such as production costs or other expenses for a publisher when publishing a book;
- applications aimed exclusively at purchasing materials or inventory;
- initiatives with purely commercial objectives;
- initiatives with disproportionately high expenses in comparison to the benefits;
- initiatives from organizations with sufficient financial resources to cover the project expenses by alternative means;
- investments in real estate;
- initiatives concerned with remembrance without a clear link to the present, unless they are directly involved with the history of Het Parool.
Application that meets all requirements is still rejected.
- The application did not meet the Democracy and Media Foundation’s priorities as described in this call for applications and there were sufficient other initiatives within the same pillar that did.
- Other initiatives within the same area of priority and/or with similar themes were preferred.
- The Democracy and Media Foundation has already financed one or more similar projects and needs to evaluate those before funding new initiatives.
Application Form
An application consists of:
- Obligatory: The questions asked during the registration for project proposals via our SDM-portal
- Obligatory: A completed template for project proposals (see appendix 1) –uploaded through the web form;
- Obligatory: A budget and financing plan, drafted according to the guidelines as formulated by the Democracy and Media Foundation (see appendix 2) – uploaded through the web form;
- Optional: Maximum one attachment of no more than three pages – uploaded through the web form.
For more information, visit https://www.stdem.org/en/call-for-proposals/