The Digital News Initiative (DNI) is a partnership between Google and publishers in Europe to support high-quality journalism through technology and innovation. The goal of the DNI fund is to stimulate innovation in digital news journalism over the next three years.

Here’s a quick overview of the programme:

Do you have a great idea that fits the call? You should definitely think about applying!

Wouldn’t it be helpful to have an external team to take a second look and make sure your application is as good as it can be? We are hacking our light-touch support format to provide feedback and idea refinement.

Why would we do that? We are not applying, but want to make ourselves available to support initiatives that want to strengthen the strategy, data, technology, and design components of their projects.

We think successful journalism is key to an enabling information environment for social change organisations. And a lot of our experience supporting social change organisations translates well to addressing the challenges that journalism projects, groups, and organisations face when adopting data and technology to their work.

We are a non-profit organisation that accelerates social change by helping activists, organisations and other social change agents make the most of data and technology. Since 2011, we have supported more than 400 organisations – big and small – from every corner of the globe.

Our Light Touch Support (LiTS) programme is designed to provide actionable, tailored advice to a number of organisations, mostly in the early stages of a project. We are now offering LiTS support to a limited number of activists and organizations who have an idea for the DNI fund, and need help in the proposal writing stage.

Are you interested in applying for the DNI fund but you need recommendations on how to improve your proposal? Are you looking to turn your many ideas into a strong application? Do you want to learn about similar projects?

To discuss your application to the DNI fund with us, please visit Calendly and book time with one of our team.

Please remember: the round of applications for the DNI fund closes on April 20, so get in touch with us as soon as you can!

If you need more information about the fund before you speak to us, there’s more information on in this Q&A blog post, and Google have also published a Q&A video for the Digital News Initiative which might give you more of an idea about what type of projects they’re looking to fund:

And even if you’re not thinking of applying to the DNI fund, don’t forget: our LiTS support is available for social change organisations from around the world.

Book a call to discuss your project with us, or learn about our Matchbox process for special support in Latin America, Southern Africa, and the Balkans region.