Journalism grants for newsrooms and publishers
LINA seeks to strengthen public interest journalism in Australia and support local newsrooms to grow their capability for reporting. This includes offering grants to newsrooms to report on stories deemed important to their communities and audiences.
LINA micro-grants
Up to $2,000 per story
This grant opportunity supports the production of stories that could reasonably be described as:
- Solutions journalism: investigates and explains the responses to a particular issue/s; or,
- Public interest journalism: reporting that pursues information that the public has a right to know, ie holding power to account; or,
- Justice/court reporting: journalism focused on events and actions within the justice system; or,
- Investigative journalism: deep reporting on a single topic of interest; and/or,
- A collaborative reporting project involving two or more newsroom partners.
Environmental reporting grants
$2,000 to $10,000 per project
This grant supports journalism projects that are solutions-oriented (constructive journalism) and report on environmental issues or sustainable actions and initiatives.
These may take the form of a short-series, an investigative feature, a multimedia production, and/or another reporting project that supports audience engagement on a topic of environmental mitigation actions.
The purpose of this grant is to counter misinformation and bias in some news media, educate audiences and use relatable examples of impact to inspire action in your community.
These grants are available to LINA members only.
Find out more about the hallmarks of a LINA membership and what we can offer:
Other grants for Australian newsrooms
Some additional funding opportunities that may be relevant to some Australian publishers, newsrooms or journalists.
News Media Relief Program
The News Media Relief Program is helping the sustainability of Australian news publishers by providing a proportion of salary costs for journalists producing core news content that is distributed digitally.
The grant amount is $13,000 per eligible journalist full time equivalent (FTE).
Applications close 31 March 2025 unless funding is exhausted earlier.
Walkley Foundation: Solutions Journalism Fund
The Fund will allocate grants of between $AU5000 to $AU30,000 from a total pool of AU$175,000 to support eligible media organisations and independent journalists to create public interest journalism stories or projects with a solutions journalism focus.
Applications closed November 2024.
Walkley Foundation: Scholarships and fellowships
The Foundation’s scholarship, fellowship and leadership programs, coupled with Awards programs like the Walkley Young Australian Journalist of the Year, have supported early and mid-career journalists, lowered barriers to entry to the profession for a more diverse group of journalists, and helped ensure that the future of the industry is in good hands.
Various programs.
Michael Gordon Journalism Fellowship
This grant program honours Michael Gordon, the respected former Age political editor who died suddenly in February 2018. The national initiative aims to enable social justice journalism, funding reporting projects in areas such as Indigenous affairs, migration policy, human rights and international development.
Applications open Sep-Oct 2025.
Bean Lockyer Ticehurst Award for Excellence in Regional Journalism
The Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) launched the annual $15,000 prize in honour of ABC cameraman John Bean, journalist Paul Lockyer and chopper pilot Gary Ticehurst, who tragically died in a helicopter crash while on assignment in 2011. The criteria for judging entries will include newsworthiness, incisiveness, public benefit, and impact on the understanding of the issues and challenges facing regional Queensland.
Applications open Sep-Oct 2025.
Walkley Foundation: The Sean Dorney Grant for Pacific Journalism 2024
The Sean Dorney Grant for Pacific Journalism honours the work of legendary ABC journalist Sean Dorney. It provides for a grant of $10,000 to a journalist to produce significant content in any medium profiling issues in the Pacific region.
Applications open 2025.
Small business and other grants
Small Business Skills and Training Boost
This initiative provides small businesses with a bonus tax deduction to help them train new staff and upskill existing staff.
Applications open (ongoing).
NewAccess: Free and confidential mental health coaching for small business owners
This program provides free and confidential mental health support to small business owners.
Applications close 31 December 2024.
Wage subsidies: Financial incentives for businesses to hire new staff
Subsidies of up to $10,000 for Australian businesses to fill an ongoing position.
Applications open (ongoing).
WA (Collie Region): Collie Futures Small Grants Program
The Collie Futures Small Grants Program provides funding to organisations for projects that will create jobs and opportunities in the Collie region of WA.
Applications close 30 June 2025.
Social enterprise capability building grants (SEDI)
Receive up to $120,000 for your social enterprise, aiming to help you purchase business and impact capability building services. This grant focuses on regional and rural social enterprises who fall within a ‘Department of Social Services outcome area’ — we recommend you apply under the ‘Communities and Inclusion’ or ‘Online Services’ category.
You must have trading revenue that exceeds $50,000 per year to be eligible.
Applications are open now until December 2025.
Australian Government: Skills for Education and Employment (SEE) First Nations
The SEE Program aims to improve access to foundation skills training, focusing on building LLND skills, for around 27,000 Australians.
Applications open (ongoing).
NSW: National Energy Bill Relief for Small Businesses
Receive up to $325 to help with the cost of your electricity bills in the financial year 2024–25.
Applications close 30 June 2025.
TAS: Small Businesses on Embedded Networks
This program provides energy bill relief (a one off payment of $625) for TAS small businesses in an embedded network.
Applications open (ongoing).
TAS: Apprentices and Trainees Payroll Tax Rebate
The Apprentices and Trainees Payroll Tax Rebate provides employers with a payroll tax rebate on wages paid to eligible apprentices, trainees and young people.
Applications close 30 June 2025.
Closed grants:
QLD Government: Gateway to Industry Schools Program (GISP)
The program builds partnerships between schools and industry to enable young people to acquire the knowledge, skills and attributes to participate effectively in the Queensland economy and provides opportunities for industry and the education sector to work together to deliver outcomes for students, local communities and businesses.
Applications closed August 2024.
Foundation for Rural Regional Renewal: Community led resilience-building.
The Strengthening Rural Communities (SRC) Prepare & Recover program supports communities in remote, rural and regional communities across Australia to implement initiatives that prevent and prepare for future climate related impacts, or recover from existing disasters in the medium to long-term timeframe, generally one to ten years after the disaster.
Applications closed September 2024.
Australian Government: New Jobs Program Trial
This opportunity provides grant funding at the minimum wage rate (plus superannuation and leave) to successful applicants for Community Development Program (CDP) participants.
Applications closed October 2024.
QLD: Business Basics Grants
The Business Basics grant program (Program) provides support to businesses to increase core skills and adopt best practice. This round of Basics is focused on business enhancement.
Applications closed October 2024.