Ukrainian independent media outlets that received support through the International Fund for the Reconstruction of Ukrainian Media (IFRUM) are already demonstrating early results in developing commercial partnerships, engaging audiences, undergoing digital transformation, strengthening their teams, and diversifying revenue streams.
An interim analysis of the projects implemented with the participation of DII-Ukraine shows that all supported newsrooms are carrying out their planned activities without significant deviations — despite the ongoing full-scale invasion and constant shelling — while some have already exceeded the targets set for the first stage.
The International Fund for the Reconstruction of Ukrainian Media (IFRUM) is a politically independent fund established by leading organizations working in the fields of freedom of expression and media development. The Fund was officially launched in London on September 19, 2025, with the participation of international donors, diplomats, and representatives of the Ukrainian media sector.
IFRUM is implemented in partnership with Ukrainian organizations, including the Institute of Mass Information, Lviv Media Forum, Detector Media, DII-Ukraine, Recovery Window, and Media Development Foundation (MDF). Its goal is not only to provide newsrooms with financial support, but also to help them strengthen their institutional capacity, develop sustainable business models, and gradually reduce their dependence on short-term grant funding.
In 2026, under a programme funded by the European Union and implemented by RSF together with DII-Ukraine and Lviv Media Forum, 22 capable Ukrainian newsrooms received grants totalling EUR 360,000. The supported outlets represent the Kharkiv, Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Cherkasy, Lviv, Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Volyn, and Odesa regions.
As part of the component implemented by DII-Ukraine, a joint open call was conducted together with Lviv Media Forum and received 227 applications from regional media outlets. Following the selection process, 22 newsrooms received grant support, including 11 supported through DII-Ukraine. An independent panel of nine experts was formed to evaluate the applications.
Liubov Rakovytsia, Head of DII-Ukraine, emphasizes that one of IFRUM’s key strengths lies in bringing together organizations working with the media sector and supporting newsrooms that already have the potential for further growth.
“For me, it is very important that media organizations came together within IFRUM to support the media environment as a whole. I am very pleased with the results that newsrooms are already showing and with the fact that we were able to support genuinely capable media outlets. Many of them already have a strong team, an audience, ideas, and an understanding of where they want to go next, but they need a push — a certain boost for the next stage of development. And it is very good that IFRUM was able to become part of this process.”
The supported newsrooms are working on different aspects of sustainability: institutional development, income diversification, commercial partnerships, the introduction of artificial intelligence tools, the production of new content, audience and community growth, and technical upgrades.
For example, the Odesa-based media outlet More Liudei built a commercial partnerships function virtually from scratch and, already during the first stage of the project, earned UAH 161,750 from cooperation with businesses, exceeding its own financial target for the reporting period of March–May 2026 by 60%. One of the practical results was a partnership with a taxi service.
Artur Yablonskyi, More Liudei:
“We are already exceeding our planned targets. One of the most successful cases has been a partnership with a taxi service. We approached the company ourselves and proposed cooperation around their audio guide project, and in response we heard that they already knew our media outlet and had themselves been looking for an opportunity to work with us. We are now preparing joint content and are already discussing new projects.”
The Kharkiv-based media outlet Nakypilo focused on digital and institutional development. The newsroom launched SEO optimization of its website, purchased access to ChatGPT, LanguageTool Premium, and NotebookLM, and began using new tools for multimedia production and protection of its digital infrastructure.
Viktoriia Plis, Nakypilo:
“Thanks to the project, we implemented several important decisions for the team that we had postponed for a long time. First of all, we held a full team-building session, after which we updated our internal processes, developed new working protocols, and are already seeing a positive effect from these changes. We also gained the opportunity to introduce modern tools for cybersecurity, SEO, and work with artificial intelligence. For example, additional website protection is already blocking thousands of attempted attacks, while the use of AI has reduced the time needed to prepare some visual materials threefold — from six hours to two.”
Frontliner used the project, among other things, to work with young journalists and update its approach to video content. The newsroom developed universal templates in 16:9, 1:1, and 9:16 formats, allowing materials to be adapted more quickly for YouTube, Shorts, Instagram, and TikTok. The outlet also launched a paid internship programme and integrated two young reporters into its editorial workflow under the guidance of experienced mentors. The initiative gained genuine international resonance: the interns’ photo story, “A Business of His Own After Injury: How a Blind Veteran Earns a Living through Pottery”, moved readers so deeply that the newsroom received an official letter from a reader in the United States. He offered to purchase the veteran’s products in order to support his work.
Yelyzaveta Kovtun, Frontliner:
“One of our strategic priorities was to bring young journalists into the team. Thanks to the project, we are working with two interns who quickly integrated into the newsroom and are already contributing to commercial projects and content production. We also invested in their training and safety preparation. Another area was updating our video package — graphics, fonts, animation, and design. Combined with our YouTube analysis, this has already had a positive impact on the performance of our videos.”
The media outlet SHOTAM used the support to develop its membership programme and establish a more systematic approach to offline events. The newsroom attracted 53 new donors, formed a partnership with the Knyzhkova Kraina book festival, and began using events both as a tool for community building and as a source of additional revenue.
Artem Ipatov, SHOTAM:
“The grant gave us not a one-off event, but an entire area of work. First, we finally had the opportunity to present ourselves professionally and visually at offline events — this had previously held us back from participating in major platforms. Second, during this time we developed our own understanding of event strategy: which events are genuinely relevant to us, and at which events we ourselves are of interest — as speakers or participants. It stopped being chaotic participation and became systematic work. We significantly expanded our network of partners and attracted commercial partners to launch our own festival. In other words, the grant did not simply finance our presence; it enabled us to build an events function that now also operates on a commercial basis.”
The interim results of the programme show that IFRUM support is being used by newsrooms not only to produce content. For some media outlets, it has created an opportunity to establish new commercial streams; for others, to improve internal processes, strengthen teams, test new digital tools, expand international audiences, or work more systematically with their communities.
DII-Ukraine continues to support the newsrooms throughout the implementation of their projects, monitor progress against planned indicators, and collect practical cases that may be useful to other independent Ukrainian media outlets.
