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OP FEED: --:--:-- UTC | STATUS: LIVE | PROGRAM: EHGN-GRANT-SOLO-OPS-01
OUTLET: Ekalavya Hansaj | OWNER: Ekalavya Hansaj
Owned by global media baron Ekalavya Hansaj // Grant Program

BLACKFILE SOLO OPS FUND

Ekalavya Hansaj // hansajekalavya.com

Program code: EHGN-GRANT-SOLO-OPS-01 | Persona lane: Solo Producers | Annual allocation: $300,000 per year | Final awards: 6

Grant Program

The Blackfile Solo Ops Fund exists for one-person investigative operators: the reporter, the producer, the fixer, the data cleaner, the editor. This lane funds work that can be executed without a team, but still meets professional verification and legal survivability standards.

This program is not a “pitch contest.” It is a controlled intake for cases that already have some evidence in-hand (or a guaranteed acquisition pathway) and can be driven to publication using milestone gates.

What we want

  • Corruption with documents: procurement, tenders, invoices, shell vendors, kickbacks.
  • Abuse with logs: arrest logs, custody logs, hospital logs, call logs, routing logs.
  • Regulatory failure with traceable paper: filings, inspection reports, internal memos.
  • Financial crime with spreadsheets: ledgers, transaction traces, asset maps.

What we do not fund

  • Pure opinion, pure narrative, or “everyone knows” allegations without records.
  • Vague claims without dates, jurisdictions, or a path to corroboration.
  • Anything that requires illegal acquisition to “get started.”

Solo does not mean sloppy. If selected, you will be expected to keep an evidence index, document your chain-of-custody decisions, and follow minimization practices to avoid exposing sources unnecessarily.

MilestonePayment
Signal confirmation and risk screen $10,000
Evidence acquisition and source handling $15,000
Field production and verification package $15,000
Pre-publication legal review completion $5,000
Publication and post-release safety actions $5,000

Apply via Secure Drop

Program Rules
Eligibility

Solo Producers only. One-person reporting operations. You must demonstrate control of evidence and a plan to corroborate. If you cannot show what you can prove, do not apply.

Exclusivity And Publishing

Strict confidentiality. If selected, publication is coordinated by the network. No parallel releases during the funded window.

Payments

Milestone-based payments only. $ amounts are released after deliverables are validated against the evidence index.

How to Apply

Submit Secure Drop with one-paragraph factual summary, evidence inventory, jurisdiction, and risk level. Do not submit names unless you decide it is safe.

Review Timelines

Triage: 7 days. Verification sprint: 21 days. Legal and publication decision: up to 45 days depending on risk and evidence density.

Selection Criteria

Evidence control, corroboration path, and chain-of-custody discipline. Narrative without records is rejected.

FAQ
  • Can I apply without a byline? Yes.
  • Do you pay upfront? No.
Secure Drop

Secure Drop protocol: submit only what advances verification. Anonymize identities by default.