In April 2023, the International Fact-Checking Network at the Poynter Institute launched the Global Fact Check Fund, funded by Google and YouTube. This program, which will award $12 million in grant money to fact-checkers over three years, aims to increase the quality, volume and frequency of fact-checking.
Detailed analysis of the program from April to the end of 2023 showed that more than 50 fact-checking projects received funding totaling $1.875 million, with more to be announced soon.
The IFCN built the grant program around three distinct tracks:
BUILD provides up to $25,000 to help fact-checking organizations materially scale and upgrade their online presence, including improving website development, domain hosting, content management systems, publishing tools or improving security and resilience against hacking and other threats.
GROW provides up to $50,000, which supports the development of institutional capacity, competitiveness and sustainability in local and regional spaces.
ENGAGE, the largest of the three, awards up to $100,000, enabling fact-checking organizations to invest in audience engagement in local and regional spaces.
In 2023, the grant program was able to support 55 fact-checking projects across 42 countries through the BUILD 2023 and GROW 2023 rounds. The ENGAGE 2023 round is currently under review with awards expected by March 2024.
Among the first BUILD recipients was Digital Forensics, Research and Analytics Center (DFRAC), a fact-checking organization based in New Delhi, India. The project used funding from July to December 2023 to increase production, going from two to six fact checks published daily. The onset of the Israel-Hamas conflict in October led to a surge in fake and misleading news circulating online in India; the project successfully debunked more than 30 fake news stories per month pertaining specifically to the conflict. These efforts yielded positive results as DFRAC reported that impressions on X grew from 250,000 to 700,000. YouTube impressions also increased from 66,000 to 120,000 monthly, attributed to improved video quality and content quantity.
“The IFCN grant has been transformative for our fact-checking organization, bolstering our capacity with essential resources for recruiting and video editing, enabling us to produce impactful fact checks and significantly amplify our reach and influence across social media platforms,” said Shujaat Ali, managing editor of DFRAC.
The IFCN used a robust, web-based system to facilitate grant application submission and subsequent scoring and reporting, and that system was able to generate iterative improvements through each round. For example, the IFCN was able to standardize the length of each award, to enhance the ease of reporting and ensure timely disbursement of payments. It also added instructions on monitoring and evaluation in the grant application, which yielded a more efficient reporting mechanism after the grant was awarded. The webinars, open to all potential applicants, included technical information on monitoring and evaluation to ensure that all applicants received a similar foundation when applying to this and other grant opportunities.
IFCN also sought feedback through a survey from its application reviewers, who represent fact-checkers, academics and other media experts. The results of the survey revealed that 94% of the reviewers felt being a grant reviewer deepened their understanding of fact-checking, and 67% said it contributed to their professional development. Furthermore, 89% of survey respondents said the orientation process and materials prepared them for the task. Most importantly, despite an ambitious review timeline, 89% felt they had sufficient, or even more than enough, time to review the assigned applications, while 100% of the respondents felt that the volume of work was manageable. These results are being used to make assignments for future application reviews.
