Are you a journalist working on a big investigative story? Need a few thousand dollars in your bank account to help out? The Nation is doing a press blitz to raise awareness of The Investigative Fund, a project of the non-profit Nation Institute helmed by Joe Conason (Observer/Salon) and Esther Kaplan (God on Their Side: George W. Bush and the Christian Right). Grants start at $1000 and recent awards have gone to writers at The Nation (natch), New York Review of Books, the Los Angeles Times, the American Prospect and USA Today.

Of course, keep in mind this is The Nation after all — if you're dreaming of writing a piece on, say, the evolutionist deceptions of natural history museums... this might not be the place for you.

But otherwise, this will make buying airfare and spending dreary afternoons looking up public records just a bit more affordable. That's a good thing.

Investigative editor Esther Kaplan's e-mail after the jump.

An opportunity from The Nation Institute - open to U.S. and international projects. Please send your questions to Esther Kaplan below and read more at http://nationinstitute.org/ifunds/

From: Esther Kaplan, Investigative Editor, The Nation Institute

I've recently started a new job at an investigative journalism project at the Nation Institute. The investigative fund is a pretty amazing resource for independent investigative journalists -- we can provide support above and beyond whatever (inadequate) article fee you might get, to allow you to spend some real time and expense reporting a story.

Before year's end, I'm particularly interested in investigations related to the Bush administration, especially around such phenoms as privatization and outsourcing that will be major tasks for any new
administration to clean up. And of course, campaign '08 stories, whether about candidates, money in politics, voter suppression plans, etc.

But in general, proposals are welcome on any juicy investigative topic -- domestic or international -- especially if you think the story could have a real impact. Stories that have been commissioned in the fund's short three years of existence have sparked Congressional hearings, caused a Bush advisor to step down, and forced members of Congress to change their stance on legislation. You can check out some past stories here:
http://www.nationinstitute.org/ifunds/

Most grants vary from $1,000 to cover travel costs for a reporting trip to $10,000 for a time-consuming investigation. If a proposal has the potential to have a major impact, we do, on rare occasions, make larger grants. We review proposals on a rolling basis, usually every two to three weeks.

The basic info is below. Please send any questions or proposals to my email below.

Yours, Esther

Kaplan may be contacted here.