Securing Strategic EU Funding for IberCHECK

The Funding Opportunity

When the European Commission launched Call CNECT/2024/1910855, a Preparatory Action titled "Network of European fact-checkers to fight disinformation – Boosting the visibility of fact-checking content in Europe," we knew it was the perfect catalyst for our partners.

This call represented a rare and highly competitive funding window. The Commission allocated a total budget of EUR 1,637,500, expecting to fund only 3 to 5 projects across Europe with grants ranging between EUR 300,000 and EUR 500,000. Crucially, it offered an attractive 80% EU co-financing rate to projects that could successfully move fact-checking content out of niche platforms and into the mainstream.

The Strategic Challenge

Securing this funding required navigating extremely strict eligibility and structural criteria. The call explicitly mandated that the consortium must include at least three applicants, combining at least one independent fact-checking organisation with at least one distinct entity involved in media and content distribution.
Furthermore, to pass the rigorous evaluation, the proposal had to seamlessly address three highly specific EU objectives:

• Designing and testing innovative approaches to disseminate content.

• Establishing broad partnerships with diverse stakeholders to amplify reach.

• Identifying and sharing best practices and lessons learned with the broader European community.
  

How Soros Gabinete Supported the Partners

To transform this opportunity into a fully funded reality, Soros Gabinete provided comprehensive support in structuring the consortium, aligning the narrative, and optimizing the financial proposal:

• Consortium Engineering for Perfect Compliance: We helped assemble an Iberian powerhouse that perfectly matched the Commission's stringent eligibility rules. By aligning leading independent fact-checkers (Newtral and Público) with major mainstream media distributors (laSexta and Onda Cero) and an AI tech partner (Inaria), we created a consortium that directly answered the call's demand for cross-sector collaboration.
  

• Aligning the Vision with EU Objectives: We meticulously mapped IberCheck’s proposed activities to the call's three specific objectives. We framed their planned 325 innovative outputs (like TikToks and videopodcasts) to satisfy the EU's requirement for "innovative dissemination". We positioned laSexta and Onda Cero's mass audience reach to fulfill the "broad media partnerships" mandate. Finally, we ensured activities like the "Disinformation Abecedary" exhibition and university hackathons directly addressed the call's goal of sharing "best practices and lessons learned".
  

• Financial & Administrative Optimization: Navigating the financial set-up of an EU Grant Agreement is notoriously complex. We guided the partners in modelling a highly cost-effective budget that maximized their operational capacity. We successfully structured a total estimated budget of EUR 449,216, strategically applying the maximum 80% funding rate to secure EUR 359,373 in EU contributions. We ensured all cost categories—including actual personnel costs and the 7% indirect cost flat-rate—complied with the strict eligibility rules. We also provided the necessary justification for critical subcontracting tasks (such as €5,000 for animated videos and €700 for OSINT training) to clearly demonstrate "best value for money" to the evaluators.
  

The Result

Thanks to a perfectly aligned proposal and a bulletproof financial strategy, IberCHECK successfully secured the funding and will officially launch its 12-month action on 1 January 2026. With Soros Gabinete's support, this visionary consortium now has the EU backing necessary to reach over 2 million citizens and set a new European standard for combating disinformation at scale.