Case Study: Brown Institute awards $25,000 in rapid COVID-19 micro-grants with Submittable

Brown Institute Issues $25,000 in Micro-Grants

The Brown Institute, a Columbia–Stanford collaboration supporting media innovation, faced the urgent challenge of funding local reporting on COVID-19 as small news outlets saw traffic rise but revenues collapse. To move quickly and manage applications, the Brown Institute used Submittable to launch a micro-grant program aimed at journalists, technologists, and researchers covering the pandemic.

Using Submittable, the Brown Institute opened applications on March 13, closed them after one week, and selected winners three days later—announcing five $5,000 micro-grants (totaling $25,000) within ten days from 325 applicants. The rapid Submittable-enabled process funded timely reporting on topics like domestic violence during lockdown and pandemic-related flooding risks, delivering immediate, measurable support to independent reporting efforts.

Brown Institute

Michael Krisch

Deputy Director