MJRC Relay — Funding Program

Media and Journalism Research Center

MJRC Relay

A funding program for journalism and public-interest information.

MJRC Relay connects research with support for people and organizations developing better ways to create, explain and share information.

Our grantmaking experience

Over nearly five years, MJRC built and operated a subgranting program: receiving funding from major donors and making onward grants to independent media companies, particularly in environments affected by media capture.

The idea originated with Open Society Foundations, which drew on MJRC’s expertise and capacity to reach media companies operating under political or commercial pressure. Following OSF’s example, other donors joined and the program expanded.

MJRC disbursed a total of EUR 4 million from eight major donors, mostly private foundations, to about 40 media companies in a dozen countries.

Final subgrants: June 2025

The last grants under this subgranting program were made in June 2025. Since then, MJRC has redesigned and reconceptualized the program, broadening its focus to the changing ways information is produced and distributed.

How we assessed grant support

Our subgranting work examined organizational and financial sustainability, audience development and collaboration, drawing on engagement with supported organizations and evidence of changes in their work.

MJRC’s Grant Value Index relates the value of a grant to assessed impact. Its underlying Impact Index considers policy and civil society, journalistic collaboration, the viability of the funding model, and audience growth.

These tools form part of our earlier media grantmaking work and inform the questions we bring to future funding research.

The current program

Journalistic initiatives remain firmly within the program. Relay expands that scope to other information providers and the communities they serve.

In 2024, MJRC launched a primarily exploratory program offering research to help funders make decisions about emerging information initiatives. That work now informs Relay, following the redesign of the program after the final subgrants in June 2025.

Our interest extends from journalism to information that people use in everyday life: understanding a service, navigating an institution, making sense of complex terms or finding reliable answers in their own language.

AI is changing both information production and distribution. Tools that create, translate, summarize and recommend information also shape which sources people see and trust. Relay explores their practical value for communities, alongside questions of accuracy, attribution and the visibility of independent voices. This connects with MJRC’s AI Information Map.

EUR 1.2 millioncommitted so far

Participating funds and foundations have committed this support to experimental projects and social investments in new areas of information provision.

Projects supported through this phase will be announced on this page.

Assessment & diligence

Groundwork

Understand the information environment. Assess the capacity to improve it.

Groundwork is MJRC’s approach to information environment assessments and project diligence. It examines community needs, the routes through which information travels and the ability of potential providers to create something useful and sustainable.

Map the need: Identify the questions people need answered, information gaps and the communities a project could serve.
Trace the information: Examine sources, intermediaries and delivery channels, including how AI could change production and access.
Assess the capacity: Consider source access, people, technology, editorial judgment and the ability to maintain a reliable service.
Shape the support: Explore what could be tested, what evidence would show progress and whether an approach could work elsewhere.

Commissioned country research

We have been commissioned to examine the information environments in the countries below, scanning the field for projects that could make a difference, particularly through practical uses of AI tools. Each package maps the relevant players, their relationships and distribution channels, the funding landscape and the capacity to develop useful information services.

The research helps commissioning funders understand who could deliver a project, where support is already available and what further assessment is needed before making a funding decision.

Retail Banking

Armenia

Our commissioned research examines who produces and controls retail and banking information, how customers and small businesses access it, and where independent information services could fill gaps in product, price, payment and service explanations.

Research scope, players & funding in Armenia

Players and networks being mapped: Commercial banks, payment providers, retail chains, independent merchants, e-commerce platforms, business associations, consumer organizations and local information providers. The mapping examines ownership, partnerships and access to customer-facing channels.
Funding and investment landscape: The brief maps foundations, impact investors, development-finance institutions and bank or retail innovation programs, examining their priorities, existing support and potential interest in independent information services for consumers and small businesses.
Information creation potential: Searchable product and service catalogs, clearer banking explanations and AI-assisted updates drawn from identifiable sources.
Distribution potential: Multilingual search, conversational guides and information services reaching people through merchants and community channels.
Capacity being mapped: Access to reliable source material, routines for keeping information current and local teams able to check and explain AI-generated answers.

Retail Fintech

Moldova

The commission maps the information surrounding retail transactions and digital payments: who explains fees and service terms, which intermediaries reach merchants and consumers, and where AI could support clearer, more accessible information.

Research scope, players & funding in Moldova

Players and networks being mapped: Retailers and marketplaces, payment processors, banks, fintech developers, merchant associations, startup support organizations, consumer groups and community publishers. Research considers their connections and the channels through which they explain services.
Funding and investment landscape: Funding mapping covers foundations, SME-support and digitalization programs, development-finance institutions, fintech investors and corporate innovation teams. It examines which support reaches early-stage providers and where initiatives have limited access to grants or investment.
Information creation potential: AI-assisted explanations of payment processes, fees and service conditions, organized into resources that merchants and communities can reuse.
Distribution potential: Question-and-answer tools embedded in retail support, merchant onboarding and community information channels.
Capacity being mapped: The ability to explain terms accurately, work across languages and turn recurring customer questions into updated, accessible information.

Banking Fintech Healthcare

Turkey

Our commissioned work examines information provision across banking, fintech and healthcare, including service navigation, access requirements and complex product terms. It asks which providers could develop useful AI-supported explanations and how those services might be sustained.

Research scope, players & funding in Turkey

Players and networks being mapped: Banks, payment and electronic-money providers, fintech companies, hospitals and clinics, health platforms, patient and consumer organizations, professional associations and independent publishers. The mapping examines service-information flows and possible distribution partnerships.
Funding and investment landscape: The brief examines philanthropic foundations, impact and venture investors, bank and healthcare innovation programs, and development-finance institutions. It considers funding priorities, existing portfolios and possible support for pilots that could be adapted across sectors.
Information creation potential: Source-linked service directories and reviewed explanations of banking products, payment services and healthcare access.
Distribution potential: AI-assisted navigation, conversational search and multilingual guides that connect a person’s question with relevant service information.
Capacity being mapped: Maintaining current information across institutions, showing the source of an answer and connecting users with a qualified person when needed.

Tourism Fintech

Tunisia

The commission explores how tourism businesses, communities and visitors obtain information about services, bookings and payments. It maps the intermediaries shaping that information and opportunities for locally maintained, multilingual resources using AI tools.

Research scope, players & funding in Tunisia

Players and networks being mapped: Accommodation providers, tour operators, guides, booking platforms, tourism associations, local publishers, payment providers, fintech developers and business-support networks. Research examines how local knowledge becomes visible through these channels.
Funding and investment landscape: The funding landscape includes foundations, tourism and enterprise-support programs, development-finance institutions, impact investors and corporate partners. The brief examines their interest in local service information, small-business access and sustainable distribution models.
Information creation potential: Structured local service information, multilingual visitor resources and plain-language explanations of payment options.
Distribution potential: AI-assisted travel and service guides, searchable local listings and information tools used by small tourism businesses.
Capacity being mapped: Local contributions, accurate translation and update processes that keep seasonal services and payment information useful.

Healthcare Fintech

Indonesia

Our commissioned research maps healthcare and fintech information services, focusing on how communities find providers, understand access routes and navigate digital financial tools. It examines the organizations, local knowledge and distribution capacity behind those services.

Research scope, players & funding in Indonesia

Players and networks being mapped: Healthcare providers, health-information platforms, community health organizations, banks, payment and fintech companies, local publishers and technology developers. Research considers how these actors connect reliable information with the people who need it.
Funding and investment landscape: The brief examines health and financial-inclusion foundations, development-finance institutions, impact investors, venture investors and corporate innovation programs, mapping existing backing and potential support for accessible information services.
Information creation potential: Reviewed service-navigation content and accessible explanations of healthcare access, digital payments and financial service terms.
Distribution potential: Mobile, conversational and voice-based tools, with AI-assisted translation and adaptation for different audiences.
Capacity being mapped: Reliable local information, language coverage and distribution partners able to reach people beyond text-only interfaces.

Fintech

Colombia

The fintech commission examines who explains financial products and payment services, how that information reaches communities, and where independent providers could improve understanding. It also maps the funding and partnerships available to build and distribute those services.

Research scope, players & funding in Colombia

Players and networks being mapped: Fintech companies, banks, payment platforms, lending-service providers, cooperatives, consumer organizations, business networks and community publishers. The mapping examines their roles as information sources, distributors and potential project partners.
Funding and investment landscape: Research covers foundations working on financial inclusion, impact investors, development-finance institutions, early-stage investors and corporate innovation programs. It examines which models they support and where independent information initiatives sit outside established funding channels.
Information creation potential: Source-linked explanations of product terms, fees and payment processes, including content built around recurring community questions.
Distribution potential: AI-assisted knowledge services, conversational explainers and reusable content for community publishers and intermediaries.
Capacity being mapped: Transparent sourcing, timely updates and the ability to distinguish independent information from a provider’s promotional claims.

Fintech Insurance

Serbia

The commission maps information production and distribution across fintech and insurance: who interprets product terms, coverage and claims processes, which channels people rely on, and where AI-supported services could improve access to clear explanations.

Research scope, players & funding in Serbia

Players and networks being mapped: Insurers, brokers and agents, banks, payment providers, fintech developers, comparison platforms, consumer organizations, professional associations and publishers. The mapping examines ownership, commercial relationships and the role of intermediaries in explaining products.
Funding and investment landscape: The funding brief covers foundations, development-finance institutions, impact and early-stage investors, and bank or insurance innovation programs. It examines who could support independent information tools, the conditions attached to support and opportunities for wider adoption.
Information creation potential: Structured, source-linked explanations of product terms, insurance coverage and the steps involved in making a claim.
Distribution potential: AI-assisted document search, conversational guides and information resources shared through publishers and service intermediaries.
Capacity being mapped: Keeping explanations aligned with current source documents, making comparisons transparent and providing human review of complex questions.

Share an idea

We welcome ideas from journalists, information providers, community initiatives and teams developing useful new services. These priorities guide our interest in potential projects.

An original idea with a community purpose

A practical, innovative approach to changing how information is produced or shared. Explain the need, who would benefit and what your idea would make possible.

Potential to grow and be adapted

An approach that could work in other communities, places or sectors. Our current supporters are particularly interested in applications in banking and healthcare, including how people access, understand and use information.

Opening access to funding

Priority goes to teams seeking their first grant or with very limited access to institutional grant funding. We want to hear from promising initiatives that have had few opportunities to connect with foundations and other supporters.

Send a short introduction to your team, the community you serve, the information need and your proposed approach. Tell us what support you would need, how the idea could be adapted elsewhere and about any previous access to grants.

Send a project idea mjrc@journalismresearch.org

Researchers and sector experts

Opportunities coming soon

We will soon be looking for researchers and practitioners to contribute to Groundwork assessments and Relay’s wider research.

We are interested in expertise across the following areas, alongside strong knowledge of the countries and communities involved.

AI, data science and information systems
Healthcare and health communication
Banking, fintech and financial inclusion
Insurance and consumer information
Investment, philanthropy and development finance
Journalism, community information and field research

Assignments may involve mapping organizations and funders, interviewing sector and community actors, examining information needs and evaluating the capacity of potential providers, including their use of AI.

To register your interest, send a brief introduction, your areas of expertise, country and language experience, and a CV or links to relevant work.

Specific assignments, requirements and application details will be announced here as opportunities arise.

For funders and investors

Join the program, support an experiment or commission the research behind a funding decision.

Foundations, funds and social investors are welcome to help shape Relay’s next phase. We can discuss your priorities, possible forms of support and opportunities for social investment in emerging information initiatives.

You can also commission a Groundwork assessment for a country, community or sector. The research can map information needs and providers, examine funding gaps and dependencies, and compare options for support. The scope is shaped around the decision you need to make.

Explore a funding partnership Commission Groundwork

MJRC Funding Program