2026 Impact Seed Fund Grantees Will Turn to Pulitzer Center Reporting for Inspiration

The Pulitzer Center is excited to announce the 26 grantees of the Impact Seed Fund (ISF) selected from 478 applications received this year. Launched in 2022, the ISF is a micro-scale grant that supports educators and researchers to engage students and communities with educational activities on critical issues such as deforestation, Indigenous rights and knowledge, ocean biodiversity, climate change and labor rights, transparency, and governance.

These projects will use Pulitzer Center-supported journalism to engage university students, researchers, educators, civil society organizations, youth-led groups, and Indigenous communities across Brazil, Chile, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ecuador, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Malawi, Mexico, Nigeria, Paraguay, Senegal, Thailand, and Uganda. This year’s ISF projects reflect a wide range of approaches, including strengthening climate and environment education among university students, fostering Indigenous knowledge exchange on forest management, and equipping students with the tools to communicate relevant issues related to climate justice.

Pulitzer Center-supported stories will serve as inspiration for these projects as well as materials for engagement with community members to explain complex climate issues at various intersections, encourage critical thinking among students, advance collaboration between varied stakeholders and changemakers, and promote active participation in grassroots issues. The ISF grantees will implement educational projects from August through December 2026.

“Through the Impact Seed Fund, the Pulitzer Center has been building meaningful bridges between journalism and academia across some of the world’s most geographically and culturally diverse regions. Over the years, supported projects have demonstrated the power of this collaboration to engage young people with pressing socio-environmental challenges, fostering critical thinking, civic participation, and innovative solutions for a more sustainable future,” said Maria Rosa Darrigo, Education Program Manager for Latin America at the Pulitzer Center.

Inspired by Pulitzer Center journalism, these grants have supported collaborations and deeper learning experiences across countries. Over the years, ISF projects have shown how bringing journalism into education spaces helps students engage critically with complex issues while creating knowledge-sharing spaces between different actors and contexts, contributing to a lasting impact.

Check out the projects selected for 2026 in the carousel below.
 

Impact Seed Fund 2026 Selected Projects by Anderson Rodrigues

Homepage photo caption: The Kivu region in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The new Impact Seed Fund projects will use Pulitzer Center-supported journalism to engage students, researchers, educators, civil society organizations, and Indigenous communities around the world, including in the DRC. Image by Ben Houdijk/Shutterstock.