Photo by Katherine McCormack on Unsplash

Uncharted Journalism Fund: Experiment Complete, Lessons Learned

After a two year expedition exploring the the new frontiers of journalism and funding, the Uncharted Journalism Fund trustees are shutting the project down.

“Initially this was a one year experiment,” said Phillip Smith, a dean of the fund. “We extended it to two because we found it rewarding and felt the experiment was not complete yet. We’re proud to have helped produce excellent journalism and we look forward to projects still in production. But we’ve asked a lot from trustees, both financially and in terms of time commitment. It feels like a good moment to to take a step back, look at what we’ve done, and provide a report for anyone who might want to follow.”

The following is that report. It describes how the fund operated, what it produced, and how much was invested. It includes feedback from trustees. It invites feedback from grant applicants, grant recipients, and the broader community.

Nuts and bolts

Over the course of two years, the number of trustees fluctuated between 8–10, with each trustee donating $100/month. There were a few months where we put the donations on pause as we figured out next steps.

Applications to the fund were collected via a simple online form. At the end of the application period, one of the deans compiled the applications and attempted to remove identifying features like names or websites. In pairs of two, trustees would review subsets of the applications to identify those that merited review by the entire group.

The group would review all shortlisted applications and then, when possible, meet as a group to select a smaller shortlist. When meeting as a group wasn’t feasible, discussion was done via email. At this point, applicant names would be revealed to help assess whether the proponent had the experience to complete the project. At the same time, trustees would declare potential conflicts of interest and recuse themselves if necessary from the final decision. If there were outstanding questions required to make a decision, two of the trustees would volunteer to call the applicants to ask clarifying questions. A final decision was usually made between the group by email.

All funds went to the journalism projects. But for bank fees, no money went to administration. The trustees provided the donations and volunteered their time.

The fund was not designed as a publishing venture but as a way to fund individual journalists and publishers to tell untold stories or explore new journalism platforms and tools. As result, projects wholly or partially funded by the Uncharted Journalism Fund ended up in a wide variety of publications, including: CBC, Vice, BuzzFeed, and The Narwhal.

At a glance

In two years, The Uncharted Journalism Fund has:

• Received more than 100 applications
• Shortlisted more than a dozen
• Provided $17,000 in grants
• Helped produce seven projects, with four still in production

Stories published:

Some projects resulted in multiple publications. Here’s a list…

Jackie Dives:

• https://www.cbc.ca/arts/exhibitionists/her-father-overdosed-these-photos-are-her-powerful-tribute-1.4707873
• https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/wjbb95/these-photos-helped-me-understand-my-dads-overdose-death
• http://truenorthjournal.ca/2018/06/requiem-for-dad/
• https://www.buzzfeed.com/gabrielsanchez/photo-stories-june-15

Christopher Pollon:

• https://thenarwhal.ca/blueberry-river-death-by-thousand-cuts/

Sarah Cox:

• https://thenarwhal.ca/the-caribou-guardians/
• https://thenarwhal.ca/keepers-of-the-spotted-owl/

Projects in production:

• Identifying as transgender in Canada’s North, documentary by Emily McCarty
• Rough seas for oil tankers, photography project led by Ian Hinkle
• Resource extraction and a Northern B.C. First Nation, a graphic novella by Daniel LaFrance (with Chris Pollon), includes companion website
• Tree poaching investigation, Sharon Nadeem, Andrew Seal, Alexander Kim

Media:

The Uncharted Journalism Fund experiment was featured in a couple of trade magazines:

• J-Source: How a new B.C. media fund will encourage storytelling innovation
• NiemanLab: “OK, I need to do something about this”: The Uncharted Journalism Fund is funding stories that wouldn’t be told otherwise

Trustee feedback

This section captures some of the experiences and feedback of the trustees.

General consensus on the project from trustees was positive, though some trustees expressed that it was a “mixed bag” of results in terms of efficacy and impact given the amount of funding.

As far as possible adjustments:

One trustee mentioned that the focus of the fund (“Uncharted Journalism”) may have been a little too broad; it made it difficult to choose the final project.

Another mentioned that it wasn’t a diverse cohort of trustees and that a lower dollar amount might have encouraged more diversity.

Other notable feedback included:

• That was little infrastructure for further recruitment or fundraising, and there were not enough materials available to use to pull in new trustees. More outreach to potential new trustees might have helped to make it easier for trustees to join and leave fluidly.
• And that future similar experiments would do well to fund shorter term projects promising tangible results within a tighter timeline, so as to bring attention to the fund and attract further funding before the funds and energy of members drains.

Fund trustees are:

• Chet Woodside
• Phillip Smith (Founder, Dean)
• Alex Samur (Dean, 2017)
• Giselle Portenier
• Erin Millar
• Mark Hamilton
• John Gray (honourary)
• Geoff D’Auria (Dean, 2018)
• David Beers
• Stuart Sutton-Jones
• Mary Lynn Young

Your feedback

Over the last two years, The Uncharted Journalism Fund became more than the story of citizens coming together to fund journalism directly. It became a story about those who applied to the fund, those who received grants, and the larger community of people who follow the project via the email newsletter, Twitter and elsewhere.

Your feedback is welcome too. In fact, we’d be grateful for it. You can leave a response on this post below, or you can drop a note on Twitter, or you can send an email to unchartedjournalism at gmail dot com.

Summary

“Ultimately, the Uncharted Journalism Fund is a simple idea that concerned citizens anywhere can bring to life if they put their minds to it,” said Smith. “We hope that this idea is contagious and finds its way to distant shores. And, when that happens, we will be happy to share more of what we’ve learned with you.”

Until then, happy sailing from the Uncharted Journalism Fund.