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Journalism Project Management Guide: Chapter 4 Budgeting and Resource Management
Journalism Project Management Guide: Chapter 4 Budgeting and Resource Management

Illustration: Louiza Karageorgiou for GIJN

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Project Management: Budgeting and Resource Management

Investigative journalism projects require not only intellectual resources, but also financial and material investments. There’s no investigative journalism without funding. And while every potential story is different and getting grants is organized differently on different continents, working with budgets (spending money) is the same everywhere. Project managers support the project by ensuring the budget is available, administering it, and managing the money to cover travel, accommodation, tools and technology, legal support, payment of freelancers, and any other expenses that may occur.

Importance of Comprehensive Budgeting

Budgeting is an important, but for many, less enjoyable part of project management and provides the financial roadmap for the entire reporting process. A project budget is the total cost required to complete the story over a specified period of time. It’s used to estimate what the project will cost at each phase. Preparing a project budget is a critical part of starting the planning process.

A project budget should not be merely a grand total. Instead, it should include a clear outline of both why and how to spend that money. In theory, a new team member of the project when viewing the spreadsheet used to break down the budget should be able to understand the project budget without further guidance. Unfortunately, that’s not so easy without the right approach and tools.

Steps to Manage Project Budget

  1. Take the project planning, go through the phases of the project, and determine the requirements per phase. Before the cost of the project budget can be estimated, it must be clear what the team needs to execute the investigation and the story as a whole.
  2. Estimate the budget together with the team: they may think about something a project manager did not: each role in the team (data journalist, open source journalist, producer, designer, etc.) will have specific costs in mind. The project manager makes sure that each role gives their input and looks at the overall costs, like tools for team communication, transcription costs, or a project management tool, for example.
  3. To finalize the project budget, the team needs to think through all possible risks. By going through these risks, the team can reconsider some costs and increase the budget for some items.
  4. Create a project budget tracker and monitor. This can be done in a budget tracking application, but usually, an Excel or Google spreadsheet will do. Most budget templates also have a space for money spent, so you can keep track of how much money the team has already used. To ensure everyone is paid — and on time — all expenses must be tracked in a budget. That also implies that the project manager is very clear about what is in and what is not in scope for the budget of the project. This is, by the way, not always the same as the budget given by the grants, which can require separate budget tracking.
  5. Create a budget amendment process. Just like reviewing the schedule from time to time, especially at the milestones between the different phases of the project, the project manager will need to review the state of the available budget. This may mean that additional funds need to be sought or that there is more room to spend money on design than previously anticipated, for example. Again, it is important for the project manager to consult with the team members on what they foresee their budget needs will be through publication and any extra costs afterward.
  6. Review and save the project’s budget report. This is not only necessary to justify the costs to any funds that have committed money, but it is also definitely a good basis for making an estimate for the next project.

Use this budget overview to apply for funding and/or to share with the collaborative newsrooms. (See next part about funding)

Budget Example

Budget itemDescriptionTotal budgetUnit amountCost of unitRequested at
Human resourcesTeam, consultants, experts, translators, designers, etc
Team member 1 (name)Project managerUS$3,0005 daysUS$600 per dayFund 1
Team member 2 (name)Freelance journalistUS$6,00010 daysUS$600 per dayFund 2
Team member 3 (name)TranslatorUS$1503 hoursUS$50 per hourFund 1
Travel and accommodationTravel, hotel
TravelTrain ride from A to BUS$301US$30Newsroom A
Research and communicationSoftware, tools, website, database etc
ABCDatabaseUS$1503 monthsUS$50 per monthNewsroom B
Other costs

Budget Report Example (After One Month)

Budget itemDescriptionTotal budgetedSpentBalanceOrigin
Human resourcesTeam, consultants, experts, translators, designers, etc
Coco GubbelsProject managerUS$3,000US$240US$5,760Fund 1
Team member 2Freelance journalistUS$6,000US$600US$5,400Fund 2
Travel and accommodationTravel, hotel
TravelTrain ride from A to BUS$30US$30US$0Newsroom A
Research and communicationSoftware, tools, website, database etc
ABCDatabaseUS$150US$50US$100Newsroom B
Other costs

More to Read About Project Budgeting

Templates

Fundraising Strategies for Investigative Projects

Finding funding for investigative journalism projects can be challenging, but is often essential to start a project at all. Project managers can play a central role in developing and implementing effective fundraising strategies. There are different ways of fundraising, including grants, sponsorship, crowdfunding, and collaborations with other media organizations.

A situation where several newsrooms collaborate and agree to publish on a closed-source basis is easiest. But this is not always possible. When freelancers are part of a team, it is usually necessary to look for income to fund their time spent on the investigation. Incidentally, employers may also look for additional sources to free up a journalist for a longer period of time for an investigation. Many NGOs and other journalism advocacy groups offer funds specifically for this purpose.

While the project manager plays a central role in budgeting, obtaining funding is not necessarily part of their remit. If possible, it may be preferable to hire a professional fundraiser or work with someone in that role from one of the collaborating newsrooms. Applying for funds is time-consuming and requires a lot of attention: if a specialist can take over this task, it is highly recommended. However, the project manager, given that he or she also prepares the project plan with the team, is often the first point of contact for a fundraising specialist when preparing applications.

The strategy for gathering money or income for executing the investigation can also be done in collaboration with a development specialist, especially if it is someone who has collected funds in a certain field before. For example, if the investigation is about climate, there may be other ways to generate income besides reporting grants that a project manager may not be familiar with.

Building and Nurturing Partnerships

There are several ways to get costs for the project covered:

  • Reporting grants:  also consider funds that are not merely supporting journalism projects, but on a topic that matches the investigation.
  • NGOs: they may have additional funds available or can find them in their network.
  • Academic organizations: additional resources can also be found here.
  • Wealthy individuals and family foundations.
  • Western embassies in developing or transitioning countries (from Northern Europe and North America)

Steps to Get Funding for the Project

Prepare Well

  • Take the time to get to know potential funders well, understand what they stand for, what their mission is, and how your team’s reporting project can fit in with their goals.
  • Understand their different programs and read the guidelines carefully. The funder may guide you to the program that fits the project best.
  • Use the pre-application sessions for applicants they offer.
  • Keep in touch with funders who have financed previous projects. They may have newsletters about upcoming grants or tips to share.
  • Keep a schedule of any grants that might be of interest to the team and contact the fund’s program manager in a timely manner to discuss your application.
  • Start well in advance. Ask letters of intent from the publishers in time, make sure that team members who need to provide personal information are informed and ready to share their input.

Presentation

  • It is very important to be able to explain:
    • Why is the project important?
    • What will the team be investigating?
    • Why the team needs funding (cite specific costs, if possible)?
    • Why is it urgent — why now?
  • Have a good story. Funders want to know the answers to the above questions but also the bigger picture at work. Why is it important to have a cross-border team collaborating on this project? Donors will also look at:
    • Editorial Quality: Under-reported topics, fresh perspectives, evidence-backed or solution-oriented approaches, cross-border aspects, and last but not least, a well-written application.
    • Story Relevance: Timeliness, local, national, or regional importance. Added value compared to what’s been published on the issue until now.
    • Reach and Impact: Audience engagement potential, suitable format, publication plan, desired impact.
    • Project Feasibility: Realistic timeline, budget, risk assessment, and mitigation.
    • Applicants’ Experience: The team’s ability to execute the project, the quality of research methods and presentation/storytelling, and team structure.
  • Use concrete language, share the methods that the team plans to use, and explain the investigative aspects of the story/project.
  • The project plan will be very helpful at this stage as it contains all the ingredients for the application.

Transparency

  • Be open about the money needed and how any money was ultimately spent.
  • Keep accounts: track invoices and receipts, record as many expenditures as possible in detail so that in a later stage, it can be recalled what was spent, when, and why.
  • Make sure the funder feels their money will be well spent: the budget should be a coherent package to fund the project.
  • Transparency and accountability in financial matters are crucial to maintaining the trust of stakeholders, including funders and audiences.

More to Read About Fundraising

Summary on Budgeting

  • If all team members are employed full-time at the collaborating newsrooms: try to make arrangements with the editorial director to share resources and assets.
  • Foundations: work closely with foundations, as they have the same goal of a good outcome. At any moment in time, they are available for questions, they can help prepare the application and reach out to their network if you ask them.
  • Be aware that some of the funds are offering a smaller budget for preliminary investigation.
  • Keep it realistic! Do research on prices, request quotes, and calculate working hours (evaluations of previous projects are useful for this).
  • Include risks in the calculation.
  • Broaden your horizons: look at non-journalistic parties too, they often have budget or access to other financial sources.
  • Don’t forget administrative and logistical resources like paid software subscriptions, servers, etc. and don’t forget security.
  • Hire a pro if you can’t or don’t want to do the fundraising yourself.
  • Learn to work with Excel.
  • Use the templates offered by funds and read very carefully what does and does not fit within the application.
  • Keep your budget tracking very clear: one for the project as a whole and one (or more) per budget given by a fund. You need to have a separate overview of the money spent for each fund matching the resources mentioned in the application.
  • Include travel expenses for the kick-off meeting and other meetings that might be needed for the team members, in addition to traveling for interviews, for example.
  • Fair salary: clearly agree at the outset of the project or collaboration how salaries will be graded. One country has a different standard of living than another, soo is it fair to give everyone on the team the same amount regardless of where they live? Be upfront and get full buy-in on this among the key leaders on the project.
  • Networking: talk to the representatives of the funds at events and conferences, join online webinars and pre-application sessions they offer.

Coco Gubbels profile picture

Coco Gubbels became aware of the need for and added value of project management in investigative journalism a few years ago. As a former freelance investigative journalist and practicing project manager in the corporate world, she noticed how collaborative journalism was maturing, but journalists were still lacking the necessary skills. 

She now combines her passion for investigative journalism and her profession as a project manager in her one-woman organization PM-IJ: Project Management in Investigative Journalism. As a freelance project manager, she coordinates large international investigations, coaches and trains coordinators and mentors cross-border teams. She is the founder of a peer support group on LinkedIn to create a network of collaborative managers to learn and share experiences.

 

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