Database Grants

The EFCSN Database Grants call provides lump-sum support to EFCSN-certified fact-checking organisations to connect editorial archives and ingest full-text fact-checks into a shared European database, with a total budget of €860,000 and expected awards of 40–60 grants. Individual grants are up to €70,000, funded at 50% as lump sums with a 24-month project duration and payments tied to reporting milestones and verified ingestion counts. Eligible applicants are single legal entities (for-profit or non-profit) based in EU Member States or DEP-associated countries that publish at least four human-authored fact-checks per month and agree to a data licensing arrangement. The call opens 29 July 2026 and closes 6 September 2026 at 23:59 UTC with applications submitted via the EFCSN Grants Platform.

What it funds

Purpose

Grants to help European fact-checking organisations connect archives and publish full-text fact-checks into a central EFCSN-operated database, set up necessary technical workflows, review AI-generated metadata, and license data to EFCSN for third-party access.

Funding and scale:Total call budget €860,000; maximum per grant €70,000; expected 40 to 60 grants; funding rate 50%; grants paid as lump sums in three instalments. ¹

1. 1Who can apply: single legal entities (for-profit or non-profit) that are EFCSN certified fact-checking organisations or fact-checking teams/units inside larger organisations.
2. 2Minimum editorial activity: average of at least four human-authored fact-checks per month.
3. 3Geographical eligibility: organisations based in EU member states or Digital Europe Programme associated (DEP) countries.
4. 4Consortia: not eligible; only single applicants may apply.

Selection:three-phase process (eligibility check, scoring on readiness and capacity, final consortium approval). Payments: 40% at signature, 30% after interim report approval, 30% after final report approval. Successful applicants must sign a data licensing agreement and will gain access to the database backoffice to collaborate with other fact-checkers.

How to apply and contact:apply via the EFCSN Grants Platform (registration required). Questions to grants@efcsn.com. Deadline 6 September 2026. ¹

Footnotes

1. 1Application and full call text are published on the EFCSN grants portal and the EU Funding & Tenders Portal; start and submission details are available from EFCSN (efcsn.com and the EFCSN Grants Platform).

Call title:Database Grants. Managing organisation: European Fact-Checking Standards Network (EFCSN) as part of the FACTEUR project (Fact-Checkers for European Resilience Against Disinformation). Call reference identifier: DIGITAL-2025. Call published on EFCSN and the EU Funding & Tenders Portal. Call opens 29 July 2026 and closes 06 September 2026 at 23:59 UTC. Grant duration: 24 months. Deadline model: single-stage. Questions about the call should be sent to grants@efcsn.com. The call is co-funded by the European Union and forms part of the FACTEUR project implemented by EFCSN with partner organisations including Pagella Politica/Facta, Faktograf, Newtral, Fact Review, Greece Fact Check, Fact Check Cyprus and Science Feedback. For the published call see the EFCSN webpage EFCSN Database Grants and the EU portal listing EU Funding & Tenders Portal.

Objectives and Scope

Purpose:Fund European fact-checking organisations to connect their editorial archives and workflows to a centralised European fact-check database operated by EFCSN and partners. The database will hold full text fact-checks, fact-check data, verified disinformation appearances, and associated metadata (including AI-generated metadata subject to human review). Grants support technical integration, establishment of ingestion workflows, review and annotation of AI-generated metadata, licensing of data to EFCSN on fair and reasonable conditions, and activities to promote the database.

Key deliverables:Set up necessary workflows and technical infrastructure to contribute full-text fact-checks from 7 September 2026 onwards; review and where necessary correct or annotate AI-generated metadata; sign a data licensing agreement granting the EFCSN licensing rights under fair and reasonable conditions; continue ingestion where possible after project end according to licensing terms; use the EFCSN database backoffice to collaborate with other fact-checkers.

Eligibility and Applicant Requirements

Eligible applicant types:legal entities only. Specifically fact-checking organisations, fact-checking teams or units within larger organisations. Both for-profit and non-profit legal entities may apply provided they meet the fact-checking and certification requirements. Single applicants only; consortia are not eligible. Applicants must be EFCSN-certified fact-checking organisations. Applicants must publish at least four human-authored fact-check articles per month on average. Editorial scope: applicants must have a substantial and demonstrable focus on at least one country that is a member of the Council of Europe, Kosovo, Belarus or Russia. Location requirement: organisations must be based in the European Union or DEP-associated countries (see DEP participating countries list) ¹. Entities subject to EU restrictive measures or otherwise ineligible under EU rules cannot participate.

Eligible Applicant Types (explicit):Fact-checking organisations; fact-checking teams or units within larger organisations; legal entities (for-profit and non-profit).

Funding, Budget and Eligible Costs

Total call budget:€860,000. Maximum grant per project: €70,000. Expected number of grants: 40 to 60. Funding rate: 50%. Form of grant: lump sums. Grant duration: 24 months. Funding modality includes monetary payments distributed according to the payment structure below. Indirect costs flat rate: 10%.

Eligible Costs (listed)

1. 1Direct personnel costs — employees or equivalents: editorial, research, technical, administrative and other staff; natural persons under direct contract; seconded persons; SME owners and natural person beneficiaries; volunteer costs.
2. 2Subcontracting costs — limited to a maximum of 15% of the action; subcontracting may cover only a limited part of the action.
3. 3Direct purchase costs — travel and subsistence (accommodation, travel, subsistence) and other goods, works and services (consumables, meeting and seminar services, dissemination including website and publication fees, shipment, insurance, translation, etc.).
4. 4Indirect costs — 10% flat rate applied to direct costs as specified in call documents.

Selection and Award Process

Selection is a three-phase process. Phase 1:Eligibility and compliance check by EFCSN to confirm completeness and eligibility. Phase 2: Review and rating by EFCSN against award criteria; applications are ranked. Phase 3: Final evaluation and approval of the ranking by the FACTEUR consortium; awards are issued to ranked applications within the available budget.

Award Criteria and Scoring:Two main award categories, each with a maximum of 10 points: Readiness (max 10 points) — evidence of commitment and technical readiness to connect editorial systems to the database infrastructure; Capacity (max 10 points) — proven track record of database work in information integrity and a substantial track record of publishing fact-checks.

Application, Timeline and Submission

How to apply:Applicants must register and submit an application using the EFCSN Grants Platform application form available at the EFCSN grants portal EFCSN Grants Platform. Applicants must create an account if not already registered. Call opening date: 29 July 2026. Call deadline: 06 September 2026 at 23:59 UTC. Evaluations will take place in early September 2026 and results will be communicated shortly afterwards.

Application type:Single-stage open call via online application form on the EFCSN Grants Platform (open call).

Structured Answers to Categorisation Questions

Eligible Applicant Types:Legal entities only; explicitly fact-checking organisations, fact-checking teams or units within larger organisations. Both for-profit and non-profit entities eligible. Not open to individuals or consortia. Public bodies and universities are not explicitly listed as target applicants unless they host an EFCSN-certified fact-checking unit that meets the publication requirement.

Funding Type:Grant. Form: lump sums; monetary financial support paid in three instalments tied to reporting milestones.

Consortium Requirement:Single applicant only. Consortia are explicitly excluded; applicants must apply as single legal entities.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility):Organisations must be based in EU Member States or DEP-associated countries (Digital Europe Programme participating countries). The DEP participating countries list should be consulted for the latest eligible third countries; this call references the DEP list and excludes entities subject to EU restrictive measures ¹.

Target Sector:Information integrity, media / journalism, fact-checking, digital resilience, databases and data infrastructure. Secondary relevance to ICT (data ingestion, metadata, AI-assisted metadata generation and review) and research communities using fact-checking data.

Mentioned Countries:Countries explicitly referenced in eligibility and editorial focus requirements: Council of Europe member states (general), Kosovo, Belarus, Russia. DEP-associated countries are referenced generally; for a full list see the DEP participating countries document ¹.

Project Stage:Operational / data-integration and content ingestion stage. Expected maturity: organisations with established editorial production (publishing minimum four human-authored fact-checks per month) and capacity to integrate archives and workflows into a central database (development, validation and production ingestion).

Funding Amount:Maximum €70,000 per project; total call budget €860,000; 40–60 grants expected. Funding rate: 50% (lump sum grant).

Application Type:Open competitive call via EFCSN Grants Platform (single-stage).

Nature of Support:Monetary funding (grant payments) plus non-financial support: access to the database backoffice and technical assistance/options from the Consortium for integration and ingestion. Monetary payments are subject to reporting and final verification of ingested fact-check counts.

Application Stages:3 evaluation stages (1 Eligibility & Compliance, 2 Review and ranking, 3 Final evaluation by FACTEUR consortium).

Success Rates:Not explicitly published. With total budget €860,000, expected 40–60 grants and maximum €70,000 per grant, success rates will vary by number of eligible applicants; any applicant scoring within the available budget can be funded following ranking and consortium approval. No precise acceptance percentage is given.

Co-funding Requirement:Funding rate is 50% which implies co-financing is required or that eligible costs will be co-funded by applicants up to 50% unless the lump sum calculation already accounts for co-financing. Applicants should prepare to co-fund the remaining portion of eligible costs or demonstrate other funding sources to cover total action costs.

Application Form and Templates

Application forms:Applicants must use the EFCSN Grants Platform application form. The call states that grant amounts are calculated using a template table that takes into account organisation size and projected number of ingested fact-checks; the template is referenced in the call documentation and will be used to compute final payments at reporting stage based on actual ingested fact-checks. Applicants should expect to provide: organisational identification and legal entity information; EFCSN certification proof; editorial production statistics (monthly average of human-authored fact-checks, archival counts); technical readiness and planned approach for connecting editorial systems to the database (readiness); evidence of capacity and prior database or data-integration work and fact-checking track record (capacity); a budget breakdown consistent with allowed eligible costs; a project timeline and planned ingested fact-check targets; declaration of willingness to sign the data licensing agreement granting EFCSN rights to use the ingested data under fair and reasonable conditions. Applicants will register and submit via the grants platform at EFCSN Grants Platform.

1. 1Required documents likely include organisational registration documents, proof of EFCSN certification, editorial production samples or links, staff CVs or role descriptions for personnel assigned to the action, technical description of ingestion workflow and systems, planned annual/monthly ingestion volumes, cost breakdown and justification according to eligible cost categories, and acceptance of the data licensing agreement terms.

Selection Criteria Checklist for Applicants

1. 1Be a legal entity based in an EU Member State or DEP-associated country.
2. 2Be EFCSN-certified as a fact-checking organisation.
3. 3Publish at least four human-authored fact-checks per month on average.
4. 4Demonstrate editorial focus on a country that is a Council of Europe member, Kosovo, Belarus or Russia.
5. 5Apply as a single legal entity (no consortia).
6. 6Provide a technical plan and commitment to connect editorial systems to the EFCSN database and to review AI-generated metadata.
7. 7Agree to sign the EFCSN data licensing agreement and accept the payment and reporting milestones.

Risk, Compliance and Transparency

Compliance:Entities subject to EU restrictive measures or covered by ineligibility rules are excluded. Funding recipients will be publicly disclosed on the EFCSN funding opportunities page with recipient name, amount and grant duration. The final grant amount is adjusted at final reporting based on the actual number of ingested fact-checks in relation to the cohort and template calculations.

Summary — What this opportunity is about

The EFCSN Database Grants call funds individual EFCSN-certified fact-checking organisations across the EU and DEP-associated countries to connect their editorial archives and workflows to a shared, central European fact-check database built by the FACTEUR consortium. The aim is to create a large, searchable, interoperable repository of full-text fact-checks and metadata to support fact-checkers, researchers, policymakers and third parties. Grants provide monetary lump-sum support (up to €70,000 per organisation) for technical integration, personnel time to ingest and review AI-generated metadata, and related costs. Applicants must be legal entities, publish a minimum of four human-authored fact-checks per month, be EFCSN-certified, and apply as single entities. Selection follows a three-phase evaluation focusing on readiness to integrate and capacity to deliver. Successful applicants will sign a data licensing agreement allowing EFCSN to make ingested data available to third parties under fair and reasonable terms, and will receive access to the database backoffice to collaborate with other fact-checkers. The call opens 29 July 2026 and closes 06 September 2026; results are expected in early September 2026. For full call documents and application submit links, consult the EFCSN call page EFCSN Database Grants and the EFCSN Grants Platform EFCSN Grants Platform.

Footnotes

1. 1The call requires applicants to be based in EU Member States or DEP-associated countries (Digital Europe Programme participating countries). Consult the DEP participating countries list for the up-to-date set of eligible third countries: List of Participating Countries in the Digital Europe Programme.

EFCSN Database Grants is a Multi-Topic Call that provides lump sum support for ingesting fact-checks into a shared database. The accessible call information shows a total budget of €860,000, expected awards of 40 to 60 grants, and a maximum grant size of €70,000 per project.[6]

Key funding terms

Who can apply

The accessible excerpt does not publish the full eligibility rules, so the definitive applicant categories should be checked in the full call text on the EFCSN Grants Platform. The funding formula indicates that the call is aimed at fact-checking organisations contributing fact-checks to the EFCSN database.[6]

Application and selection process

1. 1Applicants submit the application form through the EFCSN Grants Platform and must register an account if they do not already have one.[6]
2. 2The grant amount must be calculated with the call template table before submission.[6]
3. 3Evaluation is scheduled for early September 2026, with results communicated shortly afterwards.[6]
4. 4Final reporting uses the actual number of ingested fact-checks to determine the final payment.[6]

Practical points for applicants

Applicants should be ready to document organisation size, expected ingestion volume, and later proof of actual fact-check ingestion, because those variables affect both the initial grant calculation and the final settlement.[6]

The accessible material does not state project duration, geographic restrictions, or thematic subtopics, so these points should be verified in the full call notice before applying.[6]