The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation has announced a $1 million investment in a fund that aims to encourage innovation and experimentation in nonprofit news and public media organizations.

Made as part of the $5 million Knight Local Media Initiative, the investment in the INNovation Fund, a partnership between the foundation and the Investigative News Network, a nonprofit coalition of more than ninety nonprofit investigative journalism outlets, will support roughly thirty projects with "micro-grants" of up to $35,000 over the next two years. Starting February 1, nonprofit online news outlets and public media will be able to apply for grants in support of new innovations and revenue streams, audience engagement initiatives, and stronger business models. The deadline for applications is March 1, and INN, which will administer the program, will announce the first round of awards on April 15.

"As with any business, mission-driven, nonprofit newsrooms need to experiment with and focus on diversifying their revenue streams in order to be able to sustain the information services they provide to their communities," said INN chief executive Kevin Davis. "This program will provide much-needed ready capital to forward-thinking nonprofit organizations to experiment with emerging technologies, develop new community events, retain experts to develop additional underwriting opportunities, or try something entirely new."