New Voices Blog

What about independent entrepreneurs?

Welcome to the New Voices blog. Citizens media projects are already provoking a lot of discussion, and we know the projects to be funded New Voices grants will add to that dialogue. We invite your comments and tips, your questions and reactions.

I’ll start this blog by addressing a query that many of you have already registered. Namely, why isn’t New Voices funding open to anyone with a worthy project? Why does it exclude grassroots efforts from independent entrepreneurs?

The simplest answer is that J-Lab, under its grant from the Knight Foundation, is limited to regranting the money only to nonprofit or educational institutions. Period.

That doesn’t mean we are not interested in independent initiatives. If you look at the Project Summary PDF form, we invite people who do not meet New Voices guidelines to share their good ideas with us. While we can’t make any promises, J-Lab will do its best to see what other funding we can make available.