Hello everyone,

Welcome to the November roundup, with over 130 new opportunities since our last update!

Last month the question underneath the money was who gets to do the work, which researchers, which institutions. This month the question is how much of the work gets handed to machines. The clearest pattern across sectors is that AI funding moved from studying AI to building it into public systems. The European Commission opened a Frontier AI Initiative and an AI media platform at EUR €15,000,000 and EUR €10,000,000, the Rockefeller Foundation opened Cities Deliver with the OpenAI Foundation to put frontier AI tools inside city governments, Digital Promise is funding AI assessment infrastructure in K-12 schools, and the Commission is piloting AI underneath the energy grid and food research. The tell is that these are single large demonstrators built with public institutions, not open research competitions.

At the same time the US federal research and justice apparatus reopened its standing programs. The National Institutes of Health is funding interdisciplinary centers, immune-tolerance networks, cancer monographs and AIDS research centers, and Department of Justice agencies opened family treatment courts, elder-abuse research and an elections-integrity program. These are formula-scale programs for institutions with an existing base, not seed money for newcomers.

And the money that USAID used to carry is surfacing elsewhere. The US Department of State opened an Advancing Global Health program statement with an award ceiling of USD $250,000,000, Grand Challenges Canada opened climate-and-health scaling funding, and CEPI opened a rolling call on vaccine manufacturing. The ceiling on that State Department statement is a national-formula figure rather than a typical grant, so read it as a signal of where the money is routing, not as something most organizations can win.

On the sector pages this month

• Cross-Cutting & Intersectional Impact (13 this cycle). The biggest and broadest money of the month, where a single grant spans more than one field, from AI in public services to climate treated as a health problem to biodiversity, with several headline funders opening at national-program scale.

• Global Health & WASH (24 this cycle). The US National Institutes of Health reopened its centers and program grants in force, disease-specific foundations are again funding the researcher rather than the project, and the post-USAID global-health money is routing through a State Department program statement.

• Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment (8 this cycle). UN agencies are funding women’s health delivery capacity rather than campaigns, and the flexible core funding is going straight to women-led and trans-led organizations.

• Education, Human Rights & Inclusion (24 this cycle). AI is arriving in schools and city halls as infrastructure, Europe is funding the defense of the information space, and US federal justice money is flowing to courts and community institutions.

• Agriculture, Climate, Environment, Energy & Food (13 this cycle). AI is being wired into the climate and food transition at the platform level, and biodiversity money is backing the people and communities who sustain nature over several years.

• Humanitarian Aid, Emergency Programming & DRR (6 this cycle). A thin month, and the money that is open is operational: food assistance, logistics and protection coordination, with budgets set after selection.

• Innovation, Research & Smart Cities (20 this cycle). The European Commission opened its Frontier AI build-out in a single sweep, Amazon keeps funding the assurance layer around AI rather than the models, and smart-city money is pooling into large multi-country partnerships.

• Small Community Grants (28 this cycle). The reachable money this month: local and community grants of roughly USD $25,000 and under, the kind a small charity or volunteer-led group can actually win, grouped by region so you can go straight to what is open where you work.

The sector-specific pages are for paid subscribers, this helps support the time and effort it takes to curate and organize these opportunities. However, the monthly roundup of top opportunities will always remain free and accessible to all. This month we are happy to share with you these selected opportunities.

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Take care, and apply boldly.

Selected Opportunities:

Cross-Cutting / Intersectional Impact

Breakthrough Energy Fellows Program - Cohort 7, Breakthrough Energy. *New!* *Closing soon!*

Breakthrough Energy, the climate organization founded by Bill Gates, is accepting applications for the seventh cohort of its Fellows program, which backs scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs working to commercialize early-stage climate technology. The program sits inside Breakthrough Energy Discovery, the pre-venture end of its work, and it funds research and development rather than finished companies. What Breakthrough Energy seeks to back is step-change technology, not incremental gains: ideas capable of cutting or capturing emissions at a scale that moves the global number. The multi-stage design, from concept paper to deep-dive interview, signals that the team wants to pressure-test both the science and the founder’s commitment to building. The strongest fits are researchers and technical founders ready to leave the lab and carry a hard-tech climate solution toward market.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Scientists, engineers, researchers, and entrepreneurs working to commercialize early-stage climate technologies. The flagship Innovator Fellowship is for innovators committed to commercializing their technology (projects typically have raised less than $2M in dilutive funding and must be legally incorporated before the September 2027 program start). The Explorer track is for earlier-stage, higher-risk applied research, typically based in university labs and overseen by professors, faculty, or full-time researchers. Business Fellowships are for experienced business professionals who support Innovators. No citizenship or location restrictions.

• Funding amount: Innovator Fellowship: up to approximately USD $500,000 in research and development support plus extensive in-kind resources; Explorers: approximately USD $50,000 to $250,000 for R&D (per program descriptions). Exact Cohort 7 dollar figures are not published on the current application portal.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Climate & Environment; Innovation; Science & Technology; Energy.

• Deadline: November 2, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

International Program Call for Proposals: Peacebuilding and Mediation, Andrew Carnegie Foundation. *New!* *Closing soon!*

The Andrew Carnegie Foundation, formerly Carnegie Corporation of New York, is opening its International Program call for peacebuilding and mediation, funding organizations that use dialogue, diplomacy, and mediation to prevent armed conflict and political violence. The foundation treats peace as something built, not declared, and it wants credible actors who hold trust inside the regions where violence threatens to erupt. It is backing formal negotiation and grassroots engagement, along with action-oriented research that connects to policy and practice. The concept note design, short and focused on a window of opportunity, signals that the foundation values timing and relationships over polish. The strongest fits are US-based organizations, and their registered partners abroad, carrying deep local relationships and a clear theory of how their work shifts a live conflict.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charities with current IRS tax-exempt status; projects fiscally sponsored by a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) public charity; U.S. universities and academic institutions with 501(c)(3) status where the work has a direct policy or practice connection; and organizations registered in the U.S. or in the countries listed in Annex A. Non-U.S. organizations may apply in partnership with a U.S. organization. Carnegie cannot make grants directly to individuals.

• Funding amount: Grant Value: $500,000 to $1.5 million; Grant Term: 12 to 36 months.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Governance, Policy & Advocacy.

• Deadline: November 8, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Nexa Lighthouse: Transition to Scale Funding for Climate and Health Innovation in Asia and the Pacific, Grand Challenges Canada. *New!*

Grand Challenges Canada, co-leading the Nexa Lighthouse initiative with AVPN, is inviting proven climate and health innovations across Asia and the Pacific to apply for Transition to Scale funding. The program treats climate change as a health emergency already reshaping where mosquito-borne infections spread, how extreme heat harms people, and what polluted air does to communities. It backs two kinds of work: climate-informed early warning and monitoring systems, and climate-responsive patient care delivery. By asking innovators to implement in the region while opening eligibility to applicants incorporated anywhere, Grand Challenges Canada signals that it wants locally grounded solutions ready to grow, not early concepts. The strongest fits are growth-stage ventures with evidence behind them and a credible path to scaling health system resilience.

• Geographies: Asia; Oceania.

• Who can apply: Locally led, growth-stage climate and health innovators in Asia and the Pacific with a proven innovation ready to scale. Applicants can be incorporated or equivalent in any country but must implement in eligible Asia-Pacific countries. Both for-profit and nonprofit innovators are typically eligible under Grand Challenges Canada competitions; innovations may be a product, process, service, or delivery model.

• Funding amount: Approximately US$250,000 to US$2,000,000 per innovation (Transition to Scale), at the Nexa Lighthouse partners discretion depending on the maturity of the innovation.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Climate & Environment.

• Deadline: November 17, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Cities Deliver: AI Solutions for Public Services, The Rockefeller Foundation. *New!*

The Rockefeller Foundation, with the OpenAI Foundation, is opening Cities Deliver: AI Solutions for Public Services, a call for proposals funding teams that build frontier AI tools with city governments to improve public health, economic mobility, environmental resilience, and civic engagement. The foundation runs it through its RF Catalytic Capital affiliate, seeking proof that AI can reach residents through institutions they already rely on, not pilots that stall after a demo. It backs solutions a city has prioritized and is ready to absorb, pairing money with a peer cohort, technical support, and city-leader networks. Requiring a committed city partner and a learning agenda signals that durability inside government matters more than novelty. The strongest fits are nonprofits and public benefit corporations working with a city that has requested the work.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Nonprofits (including university departments or labs and fiscally sponsored organizations) and public benefit corporations may apply as lead organization. For-profit companies may qualify only in limited cases where the project is charitable with no more than incidental commercial benefit, subject to additional disclosure and fund segregation. Each applicant must partner with a city government (which commits to collaborate but cannot be the applicant) and submit through an authorized representative. Existing Rockefeller Foundation and RF Catalytic Capital grantees are also eligible. This is an organizational award, not an individual fellowship.

• Funding amount: Seed grants $500,000 to under $1 million; Scale grants $1 million to $2 million; per grant $500,000 to $2 million over 24 months; $50 million total pool; up to 50 partners expected.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Governance, Policy & Advocacy; Innovation; Science & Technology; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing.

• Deadline: November 29, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Advancing Global Health (Annual Program Statement, DFOP0017890), U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy (GHSD). *New!*

The United States Department of State, through its Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy, is opening the Advancing Global Health Annual Program Statement to fund projects that save lives, strengthen health systems, and move partner countries toward self-reliance. The bureau is using this statement to supplement the bilateral agreements it signs with partner governments, backing work that fills gaps and eases transitions in their implementation. It wants proposals tied to a specific addendum, each naming a country priority such as disease surveillance, neglected tropical diseases, or nutrition. By asking for a short concept note before a full application, the bureau is signaling that it will shape promising ideas with applicants. The strongest fits are organizations already delivering health results inside partner countries and ready to align with government priorities.

• Geographies: Cameroon; Ivory Coast; Mozambique.

• Who can apply: Unrestricted. U.S. and foreign private for-profit enterprises; U.S. and foreign public and private institutions of higher education; U.S. and foreign organizations including faith-based organizations; Public International Organizations (PIOs); and governmental institutions. Each Statement of Interest must respond to a specific Addendum.

• Funding amount: Award floor USD $500,000; award ceiling USD $250,000,000 per award; total estimated program funding up to USD $4.5 billion, subject to availability; up to 100 awards.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Governance; Policy & Advocacy.

• Deadline: February 14, 2027.

• Learn more and apply here.

Agriculture, Climate, Environment, Energy & Food

GCBC Research Grant Competition 4 (RGC4) - Concept Note Window, Global Centre on Biodiversity for Climate (GCBC). *New!*

The Global Centre on Biodiversity for Climate is opening its fourth Research Grant Competition, inviting concept notes for research that confronts the drivers of biodiversity loss across the Amazon, the Congo Basin, and the Coral Triangle. GCBC wants evidence that can move governance, markets, and finance, not studies that sit on a shelf, so it asks applicants to trace a clear path from research to decisions affecting nature, climate, and poverty. Requiring a partner rooted in an ODA-eligible country in each focal region signals that it values locally grounded knowledge and genuine co-development over extractive fieldwork. The strongest fits are not-for-profit research organizations that can convene cross-border teams, work on underrepresented ecosystems like coral reefs, wetlands, and peatlands, and build gender and social inclusion in from the start.

• Geographies: South America; Middle Africa; South-eastern Asia.

• Who can apply: Lead applicants must be not-for-profit research organisations meeting UKRI’s criteria for research organisations. UK-registered leads must be on the UKRI eligible organisations list (or have submitted their UKRI registration before 19 October 2026). Non-UK leads must be legally constituted with a research remit and a relevant research track record; leads based in ODA-eligible countries are especially welcome, and leads may also be based in other European countries or the US. Every application must include at least one organisation legally registered in an ODA-eligible country within a focal geography (Amazon, Congo Basin, or Coral Triangle), as lead or implementing partner.

• Funding amount: GBP £200,000 to £1,500,000 GCBC funding per project (grants of 2 to 4 years); up to around 12 grants in a mixed portfolio.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Climate & Environment; Economic Development & Livelihoods.

• Deadline: November 30, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Nature Communities Fund, Afield Environmental. *New!*

Afield Environmental, a London charity built on a family legacy, is opening the first call of its Nature Communities Fund to back individuals leading community nature projects across eight boroughs. The charity puts money directly into people rather than organizations, funding two years of a person’s time alongside project costs so community growing spaces, food forests, pollinator corridors and urban wetlands can take root and last. It frames this as a response to environmental injustice, and it wants spaces that stay free and public and that benefit people and other species together. The random longlist, the paid interviews and the cohort support all signal a funder lowering barriers for people without grant histories. The strongest fits are residents with lived experience of environmental injustice and a long-term, locally shaped vision.

• Geographies: United Kingdom.

• Who can apply: Individuals aged 18 or over who have the right to reside in the UK, live in or serve a community in one of the eight eligible London boroughs, are not in full-time employment or education during the project period, and can dedicate at least two days per week on average. No formal qualifications, grant experience or organisational affiliation required. Organisations cannot apply, though an individual may apply as a member of or linked to one.

• Funding amount: Up to £60,000 over two years (per individual grant); option to apply for follow-on funding in year three.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Climate & Environment; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing.

• Deadline: December 2, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

American Climate Leadership Awards 2027, ecoAmerica. *New!*

ecoAmerica runs the American Climate Leadership Awards to recognize the people and organizations driving the most effective climate solutions across the United States. The program rewards work that is already producing measurable results, not future plans, and it weighs how well a leader broadens participation by reaching Americans who have stayed outside the climate conversation. Judges look for impact, replicability, innovation, and the ability to tell a convincing story, signaling that ecoAmerica cares as much about movement building as about any single project. Tracks for youth, nonprofits, and community-minded local businesses widen the field well beyond established names. The strongest fits are proven climate leaders whose results travel and whose work pulls new audiences into action.

• Geographies: United States.

• Who can apply: Transformational climate leaders, youth ages 14-24 working at the local or state level, outstanding nonprofits, and local for-profits with community engagement initiatives. National applications are accepted from leaders only (national youth applications are not accepted). Programming must be current or completed within the past year; future plans are not considered. No entry fee.

• Funding amount: Winner $50,000; Runner-Up $25,000; Finalists (10) $10,000 each; Semifinalists (20) $1,000 each; Youth Leadership Award $10,000; People’s Choice Award $5,000; Honors Award (recognition, no amount listed).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Climate & Environment.

• Deadline: December 14, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Victam Foundation Call for Funding 2027, Victam Foundation. *New!*

Victam Foundation funds research and development that moves the animal feed and flour milling industries toward a sustainable future. Its Call for Funding 2027 backs three kinds of work: feed technology that lowers energy use and emissions, new techniques that turn non-food and wet raw materials into viable feed, and projects that strengthen animal production chains in lower-income economies. The foundation reads innovation through an industry lens, rewarding plans with clear economic potential for producers alongside peer-reviewed rigor and co-financing. By routing selected projects onto the VICTAM LatAm stage, it signals that it wants work the sector can adopt, not findings that stay on a shelf. The strongest fits are researchers, universities, and feed companies with a track record, a credible budget, and a path from pilot to practical use.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Researchers, organisations, innovators, and eligible commercial companies whose projects contribute to developing the animal feed and flour milling industries. Applicants must specify one of three funding categories and may apply to multiple categories if clearly justified. Category 3 applicants must have a proven track record and networks in the lower/lower-middle-income recipient country, be skilled in the field, and secure local co-investment verified by audit statements.

• Funding amount: One-year projects: maximum EUR €50,000; multi-year projects: maximum EUR €40,000 per year. Awards are described as ‘Gifts’ and are VAT-inclusive (recipient pays any other taxes). No application fee.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Agriculture & Food Systems; Innovation; Science & Technology; Economic Development & Livelihoods.

• Deadline: December 31, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

HCLTech Global Grant for Climate Action (Edition IV), HCLTech. *New!*

HCLTech is scaling its Global Grant for Climate Action into a 24-country program, backing non-profits that cut emissions and restore ecosystems and biodiversity. The company is treating climate philanthropy the way it runs its other grant editions, as a competitive, multi-year commitment rather than a one-off donation, and it wants organizations with a proven model ready to deepen impact across a defined geography. By naming a single winner and three runners-up each year and running the program over five years, HCLTech is building a recognizable global prize with staying power, not spreading small grants thinly. The design rewards measurable environmental outcomes and the credibility to represent climate action on a global stage. The strongest fits are established non-profits in one of the 24 eligible countries with a track record in ecosystem restoration, biodiversity, or emissions reduction.

• Geographies: Australia; Brazil; Bulgaria; Canada; France; Germany; Guatemala; Italy; Japan; Malaysia; Mexico; Morocco; Netherlands; Philippines; Poland; Romania; Singapore; South Africa; Spain; Sri Lanka; Sweden; United Kingdom; United States; Vietnam.

• Who can apply: Impact-focused non-profit organizations working on climate action, ecosystem restoration, and biodiversity, legally established in one of the 24 eligible countries. One winner and three runners-up are selected each year.

• Funding amount: USD $5.5 million over five years; each annual edition awards one winner (USD $500,000) and three runners-up (USD $250,000 each).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Climate & Environment; Agriculture & Food Systems · SDG 13, 15.

• Deadline: January 24, 2027.

• Learn more and apply here.

RICH Hub Climate AI Innovation Open Call, Artificial Intelligence for Development (AI4D). *New!*

Artificial Intelligence for Development is inviting African innovators, researchers, startups, and organizations to submit climate and environmental solutions through its Research and Innovation for Climate Hub. The program backs AI and data-driven work that has already reached pilot stage, putting its scaling grants behind tools that strengthen climate resilience across the continent rather than ideas still on paper. It seeks solutions ready to grow, pairing funding with coaching, piloting opportunities, ecosystem connections, and scaling partnerships, signaling that it wants to move proven innovations toward real adoption. The rolling expression of interest, open to any eligible African innovator at any time, reads as a search for depth and readiness over polish. The strongest fits are African-led ventures with working, evidence-backed climate AI that are poised to scale.

• Geographies: Africa; Northern Africa.

• Who can apply: African climate AI innovators, researchers, startups, and organisations whose innovations use AI or data-driven technologies, address a relevant climate or environmental challenge, and have reached the pilot stage or beyond.

• Funding amount: Potential scaling grants of up to USD $200,000, subject to eligibility and available resources.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Climate & Environment; Innovation; Science & Technology.

• Deadline: Rolling. (This form will close temporarily on 30th October 2026 to allow the team time to review the Submissions received so far. )

• Learn more and apply here.

Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment

UNICEF FemTech Ventures: Second Call for Applications (Equity-Free Funding for FemTech Solutions Using Frontier Technologies), UNICEF Venture Fund (UNICEF Office of Innovation). *New!* *Closing soon!*

The UNICEF Venture Fund, through its Office of Innovation, has opened the second call of FemTech Ventures, backing for-profit startups that build frontier-technology solutions for the health, wellbeing, and sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls in the countries where UNICEF works. The fund puts equity-free capital and a year of technical mentorship behind early and growth stage teams with working prototypes, and asks them to open source what they build. It wants products ready for low-resource and emergency settings, across maternal care, reproductive health, and mental wellbeing and safety. Requiring safety-by-design and open licensing signals that UNICEF wants trustworthy, shareable public goods rather than proprietary apps. The strongest fits are women-led and youth-led startups registered in a programme country, already live with a demonstrable prototype.

• Geographies: Africa; Southern Asia; Eastern Asia; Oceania; Americas; Northern Africa; Western Asia; Europe; Central Asia.

• Who can apply: For-profit technology startups legally registered as a private company in a UNICEF programme country, with an impressive working/functional prototype, committed to open-source licensing (or willing to open source the solution), building frontier-technology (AI, machine learning, blockchain, data science) solutions for women’s and girls’ health, wellbeing and SRHR. Early-stage and growth-stage companies are both supported. Women-led startups and young founders (under the age of 35) are strongly encouraged to apply.

• Funding amount: up to US$100,000 in equity-free funding.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment; Innovation; Science & Technology.

• Deadline: November 11, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

WomenStrong International: Funding for Francophone West Africa (Call for Expressions of Interest), WomenStrong International. *New!*

WomenStrong International is inviting women-led grassroots organizations across eight Francophone West African countries to express interest in flexible, multiyear, unrestricted funding. The grants pair core support with co-designed organizational strengthening, so partners can build financial resiliency, diversify income, and steady their leadership rather than chase a funder’s agenda. WomenStrong wants locally rooted organizations run by in-country nationals, modest in budget yet already drawing more than one funder, that deliver gender-responsive services or advocacy for women and girls. The light expression of interest, the peer Learning Lab, and the trust-based terms all signal a funder shifting power toward the women leaders closest to the work. The strongest fits are small, nationally led nonprofits ready to share what sustains them and learn alongside peers.

• Geographies: Benin; Burkina Faso; Côte d’Ivoire; Guinea; Mali; Niger; Senegal; Togo.

• Who can apply: Women-led grassroots organizations in Francophone West Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo) that are led by women holding the majority of leadership positions, led by in-country nationals based in the country of operation, have a local governing body representing the communities they serve, are registered as a nonprofit or local equivalent, have an annual budget under US$1 million, have more than one funder, provide locally led gender-responsive services and/or advocacy for women and girls, and have at least two staff or volunteers.

• Funding amount: Up to US$50,000/year.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment; Philanthropy & Civil Society; Economic Development & Livelihoods.

• Deadline: December 1, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

International Trans Fund Grants for Trans-Led Organizations (SEED and THRIVE), International Trans Fund. *New!*

The International Trans Fund supports trans-led groups through its grantmaking cycle, backing organizing, advocacy, leadership development, and movement building rather than service delivery alone. As a participatory fund shaped by trans activists and donors, the International Trans Fund works to redistribute resources and power toward movements that receive only a sliver of global funding. Its two tracks, one for first-time grantees and one for returning partners, signal a strategy of accompanying groups over time as they grow collective power and build lasting infrastructure. The eligibility design, capping operating budgets and requiring majority trans leadership, shows the fund reaching deliberately toward small grassroots groups closest to their communities. The strongest fits are trans-led collectives and organizations confronting intersecting marginalization and working to change structural conditions.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Trans-led organizations, collectives, and informal groups whose primary work focuses on improving the lives and rights of trans people. At least 75% of staff, Board, spokespeople, and/or the decision-making body must be trans (or groups must clearly demonstrate trans people lead budget, strategy, and direction). Operating budget must be below US$100,000. Groups must contribute to broader trans movements through organizing, advocacy, community building, or capacity development. Individuals are not eligible.

• Funding amount: SEED grants: US$10,000 to US$25,000 (1 year); THRIVE grants: US$25,000 to US$50,000 (1 year).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing; Governance; Policy & Advocacy; Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment.

• Deadline: December 1, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Global Health & WASH

Architects of Trust: Community-Driven Demand Creation for New TB Vaccines, Treatment Action Group (TAG). *New!* *Closing soon!*

Treatment Action Group, with funding from Wellcome, is opening its Architects of Trust call to help communities prepare for the new tuberculosis vaccines now moving through late-stage trials. The money backs civil society and community-based organizations to raise awareness, surface local questions and concerns, and press policymakers toward equitable national rollout. By pairing each grantee with an advocacy mentor and running a strategy workshop alongside the Global TB Vaccine Forum, Treatment Action Group is building a durable advocacy bench rather than funding one-off outreach. The two-stage design, starting with a short expression of interest, signals that fit and community rootedness matter more than polished proposals. The strongest fits are locally trusted groups with real TB, immunization, or health advocacy experience and a committed project lead.

• Geographies: Brazil; Ethiopia; India; Indonesia; Kenya; Malawi; Mozambique; Nigeria; Peru; Philippines; South Africa; Tanzania; Vietnam; Zambia.

• Who can apply: National, subnational, or regional civil society organizations (CSOs) or community-based organizations based in one of the 14 eligible countries or in Eastern Europe/Central Asia regional networks, with experience in TB, immunization, or other health advocacy and in community engagement or policy advocacy; well integrated into stakeholder networks with membership or affiliation to other CSO or community networks; naming a dedicated project lead (’architect of trust’) who can attend the April 2027 Zaragoza forum in person; and holding (or committing to adopt) organizational policies on safeguarding (bullying, harassment, abuse, and harm), equity, diversity and inclusion, and legal compliance, research practice and governance.

• Funding amount: Grants of up to US$45,000 will be awarded to 8 CSO partners across 14 high-TB-burden countries plus regional networks in Eastern Europe and Central Asia; each grant funds 12 months of work.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Governance; Policy & Advocacy.

• Deadline: November 4, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Pilot Projects to Enhance the Human Virome Program (R03 Clinical Trials Not Allowed), National Institutes of Health. *New!* *Closing soon!*

The National Institutes of Health, through its Common Fund Human Virome Program, is inviting applications for Pilot Projects to Enhance the Human Virome Program, small grants that strengthen the tools, cohorts, and methods for studying the viruses that live in the human body without causing disease. The program treats this healthy virome as earlier work treated the microbiome, a largely uncharted layer of human biology worth mapping across diverse populations. These pilots validate and extend existing program tools against affiliated cohort specimens, adapt them with animal samples, and widen the biospecimen sites feeding virome characterization. Limiting support to a small research mechanism and barring clinical trials signals a preference for fast, method-building contributions to shared infrastructure. The strongest fits are domestic research teams improving how the field catalogs host-virus interactions.

• Geographies: United States.

• Who can apply: Domestic (U.S.) organizations, including public/State and private institutions of higher education; nonprofits with or without 501(c)(3) status; for-profit organizations including small businesses; State, county, city/township, special district, and federally recognized or other Native American tribal governments; independent school districts; public and Indian housing authorities; U.S. territories; and faith-based and community-based organizations. Foreign organizations and non-domestic components of U.S. organizations are not eligible; foreign components of eligible U.S. organizations are allowed.

• Funding amount: Award ceiling $100,000; award floor $50,000 per award. Total program funding $2,000,000; up to 13 awards expected.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Innovation; Science & Technology.

• Deadline: November 10, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Nexa Lighthouse: Transition to Scale Funding for Climate and Health Innovation in Asia and the Pacific, Grand Challenges Canada. *New!*

Grand Challenges Canada, co-leading the Nexa Lighthouse initiative with AVPN, is inviting proven climate and health innovations across Asia and the Pacific to apply for Transition to Scale funding. The program treats climate change as a health emergency already reshaping where mosquito-borne infections spread, how extreme heat harms people, and what polluted air does to communities. It backs two kinds of work: climate-informed early warning and monitoring systems, and climate-responsive patient care delivery. By asking innovators to implement in the region while opening eligibility to applicants incorporated anywhere, Grand Challenges Canada signals that it wants locally grounded solutions ready to grow, not early concepts. The strongest fits are growth-stage ventures with evidence behind them and a credible path to scaling health system resilience.

• Geographies: Asia; Oceania.

• Who can apply: Locally led, growth-stage climate and health innovators in Asia and the Pacific with a proven innovation ready to scale. Applicants can be incorporated or equivalent in any country but must implement in eligible Asia-Pacific countries. Both for-profit and nonprofit innovators are typically eligible under Grand Challenges Canada competitions; innovations may be a product, process, service, or delivery model.

• Funding amount: Approximately US$250,000 to US$2,000,000 per innovation (Transition to Scale), at the Nexa Lighthouse partners discretion depending on the maturity of the innovation.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Climate & Environment.

• Deadline: November 17, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund (Year 6/7) - Angus, Voluntary Action Angus. *New!*

Voluntary Action Angus administers the Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund, Scottish Government money distributed locally to grassroots groups across Angus that help adults stay mentally well. The organization is funding prevention rather than treatment, backing the small, community led activity that keeps isolation, loneliness, and the strain of poverty from hardening into crisis. It wants to reach people before they reach clinical services, which is why counseling and therapy sit outside the scope and why fun, connecting, locally rooted projects sit at the center. The short application form and the welcome extended to new and unconstituted groups signal that lived community knowledge counts for more than track record here. The strongest fits are small Angus organizations running early, preventive wellbeing work for residents aged sixteen and over.

• Geographies: United Kingdom.

• Who can apply: Voluntary, not-for-profit and community-focused groups delivering activities for communities in Angus, including SCIOs, unincorporated associations, companies limited by guarantee, trusts, not-for-profit or asset-locked companies and CICs, co-operative and community benefit societies, community councils and parent councils (where activities benefit people aged 16+). Groups must have a maximum annual income of GBP £400,000. New and existing groups of any size or experience may apply; unconstituted groups can receive small grants (up to GBP £2,000) or be supported to constitute.

• Funding amount: Just over GBP £42,000 total available for the Angus Year 6/7 round; no stated per-project maximum; small capital spends eligible up to GBP £5,000; unconstituted groups up to GBP £2,000.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing.

• Deadline: January 4, 2027.

• Learn more and apply here.

Humanitarian Aid, Emergency Programming & DRR

Technical Partners for the Global Protection Cluster Country Support, United Nations Children’s Fund. *New!* *Closing soon!*

The United Nations Children’s Fund is opening a call for expression of interest to place technical partners inside the Global Protection Cluster, the body that coordinates protection work for communities caught in humanitarian crises. UNICEF, as the cluster lead for child protection, wants an organization that can supply a roving protection coordinator and an information management specialist to support country level clusters remotely and through short deployments. It is backing the coordination backbone itself, the analysis, planning and quality assurance that keep protection responses coherent as emergencies shift and staffing thins. The light, expertise weighted selection signals that proven coordination and information management experience matter most. The strongest fits are humanitarian organizations with deep protection cluster and data skills ready to deploy quickly.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Qualified organizations able to provide a Protection Roving Coordinator and an Information Management Specialist with demonstrable cluster coordination and/or information management experience in at least two of Child Protection, Gender-Based Violence, Mine Action or Protection.

• Funding amount: Indicative Budget: not disclosed.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Humanitarian & Disaster Response; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing; Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment.

• Deadline: November 6, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). *New!*

The National Disaster Management Authority, under India’s Ministry of Home Affairs, invites nominations for the Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar, the country’s national recognition for excellence in disaster management. The authority uses this annual honor to surface the people and institutions whose work in prevention, preparedness, rescue, relief, rehabilitation, research, and early warning has measurably protected Indian communities. It seeks to reward demonstrated results, lives saved, risk reduced, and local capacity built, rather than plans or intentions. Self-nomination is welcomed alongside third-party nominations, signaling that the authority wants frontline responders and quiet institutional performers found, not only the already visible. The strongest fits are Indian nationals and Indian organizations, from voluntary bodies to uniformed forces, with a concrete record of reducing disaster harm on the ground.

• Geographies: India.

• Who can apply: Indian nationals (individuals) and Indian institutions/organisations that have done outstanding work in disaster management in India. Institutional applicants include voluntary organisations, corporate entities, academic and research institutions, uniformed/response forces, and other institutions. Self-nomination is permitted, and any Indian national or institution may also nominate a candidate.

• Funding amount: Institutions: Rs 51 lakh + certificate; Individuals: Rs 5 lakh + certificate (up to 3 awards per year).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Humanitarian & Disaster Response.

• Deadline: September 30, 2027.

• Learn more and apply here.

Education, Human Rights & Inclusion

K-12 AI Infrastructure Program: Integrating Digital Public Goods to Advance AI-Enabled Formative Assessment, Digital Promise. *New!*

Digital Promise is inviting proposals to its K-12 AI Infrastructure Program for a round focused on integrating digital public goods into AI-enabled formative assessment, the practice of gathering evidence of student understanding to decide what to teach next. Digital Promise is using these grants to build shared, openly licensed infrastructure that many developers can reuse, rather than one more proprietary classroom product. It wants to close the distance between the science of learning and how generative AI actually behaves in schools, backing datasets, models, and benchmarks that serve US students broadly. Requiring open licensing, developer engagement, and a classroom demonstration signals that reusability and real adoption matter as much as technical novelty. The strongest fits pair AI expertise with learning sciences and community engagement.

• Geographies: United States.

• Who can apply: Any US-based applicant, including edtech companies, for-profit organizations, nonprofits (including those under fiscal sponsorship), school districts, and higher education institutions; US territories included. Proposals must combine AI/technical expertise with educational/learning sciences expertise; partnerships that also add community-engagement expertise are strongly encouraged. Awardees must plan to engage at least three AI developers.

• Funding amount: Up to USD $600,000 per award; total pool of USD $1,000,000 funding up to two awards. Up to 15% institutional overhead allowable.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Education; Innovation; Science & Technology.

• Deadline: November 20, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

NIJ FY 2026 Research on the Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation of Elderly Individuals, National Institute of Justice (NIJ). *New!*

The National Institute of Justice, the research arm of the US Department of Justice, is opening its FY 2026 call for research on the abuse, neglect, and exploitation of elderly individuals. The agency wants science that the justice system can act on, funding work across four defined areas: how emerging technologies enable fraud and how they can expose it, forensic methods that strengthen investigation and prosecution, evaluations of prevention and response programs, and studies that sharpen financial fraud education for older adults. By naming these areas and excluding everything else, NIJ is signaling that it wants targeted evidence tied to practice, not open-ended inquiry. The strongest fits are universities, research institutions, and applied criminal justice organizations that pair rigorous methods with a clear path to protecting older adults.

• Geographies: united states.

• Who can apply: US state, county, city/township and special district governments; federally recognized tribal governments and other tribal organizations; public and private institutions of higher education; independent school districts; for-profit organizations including small businesses; and nonprofit organizations with or without 501(c)(3) status. Applicants must be able to administer a US federal award.

• Funding amount: Award ceiling $1,800,000; total program funding $1,800,000; up to 3 awards expected (award floor not specified).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Governance, Policy & Advocacy; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing; Innovation; Science & Technology.

• Deadline: November 30, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Transformative Research in Special Education (FY 2027, ALN 84.324T), Institute of Education Sciences (IES). *New!*

The Institute of Education Sciences, through its National Center for Special Education Research, is opening its Transformative Research in Special Education competition to fund bold, interdisciplinary research and development aimed at the preservice systems that prepare general and special education teachers. The center wants work that treats teacher recruitment, training, and retention as a design problem, not a staffing shortfall, and it structures the award in phases so teams first build and measure a solution before testing whether it moves student outcomes. Requiring co-design partners and a modest cost share signals that IES expects practitioner grounding and institutional commitment alongside scientific ambition. The strongest fits are universities, nonprofits, and research organizations ready to pair rigorous science with classroom realities and to carry an ambitious solution toward scale.

• Geographies: United States.

• Who can apply: Institutions with the ability and capacity to conduct scientifically valid research, including but not limited to colleges and universities and nonprofit, for-profit, public, and private organizations and agencies.

• Funding amount: Up to $3,750,000 for Phase One over three years (about $1,250,000 per year); a Phase Two continuation of up to $3,000,000 over two additional years. Cost share equal to 5% of federal funds required.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Education; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing.

• Deadline: December 11, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

EIT Higher Education Initiative Call for Proposals 2026 (Call 6), EIT Higher Education Initiative (EIT HEI). *New!*

The EIT Higher Education Initiative, the capacity building arm of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, is opening its 2026 Call for Proposals to help universities turn STEM talent and research into deep-tech and manufacturing innovation. It funds consortia led by a higher education institution, joined by other universities and industry partners, to run talent development, strengthen technology transfer and commercialization capacity, and embed each institution into regional and European innovation ecosystems. Requiring every proposal to address all three objectives while adapting to an institution’s own maturity signals that the initiative wants durable institutional change, not isolated activities. Pairing universities with businesses and associations signals that it expects research to reach the market. The strongest fits are entrepreneurial universities ready to coordinate cross border consortia toward lasting innovation capacity.

• Geographies: Europe.

• Who can apply: Consortia led by a higher education institution acting as project coordinator. Minimum of 5 partner organisations, all based in Horizon Europe eligible countries, including at least 3 HEIs from 3 different eligible countries (at least one in an EU Member State) and at least 2 business or industry partners (including networks and associations). Eligible partner types: HEIs, businesses, industry associations, research organisations, technology/knowledge transfer offices, public bodies, intermediaries, and social enterprises/NGOs.

• Funding amount: Up to EUR €1,250,000 per project (maximum grant); total call budget estimated at EUR €40,000,000.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Education; Innovation; Science & Technology; Economic Development & Livelihoods.

• Deadline: January 13, 2027.

• Learn more and apply here.

The Forbes Charitable Foundation Main Grants, The Forbes Charitable Foundation. *New!*

The Forbes Charitable Foundation runs its Main Grants to back UK charities and community interest groups that help adults with mild to moderate learning disabilities build independent, connected lives. The foundation puts multi-year money behind organizations working on supported employment, training, advocacy, day support, carer relief, and accommodation, favoring work that is not readily available from other sources. By inviting a short background submission first and holding it on file, the foundation signals that it wants to understand an organization before committing, and that it builds relationships rather than funding one-off projects at arm’s length. Its turnover band points to established mid-size providers. The strongest fits are specialist learning-disability organizations with a track record of helping people move toward work, voice, and community membership.

• Geographies: United Kingdom.

• Who can apply: UK registered or exempt charities and community interest groups (CICs) with an annual turnover of GBP £1m to GBP £20m whose services or projects principally support adults with mild to moderate learning disabilities. Smaller organisations and one-off needs are directed to the Townsend Discretionary Fund.

• Funding amount: Main grants: up to GBP £30,000 per year for up to 3 years (6 to 10 grants per round). Townsend Discretionary Fund: one-off grants up to GBP £5,000.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing; Economic Development & Livelihoods; Health.

• Deadline: September 30, 2027.

• Learn more and apply here.

Innovation, Research & Smart Cities

Sephora Beauty Grant (2027), Fifteen Percent Pledge. *New!* *Closing soon!*

The Fifteen Percent Pledge, in partnership with Sephora, runs the Sephora Beauty Grant to put cash behind underrepresented founders building consumer beauty brands in the United States. The Pledge’s work pushes retailers to stock more products from businesses owned by historically overlooked entrepreneurs, and this grant extends that mission upstream, funding the founders directly rather than waiting for shelf space to open. It backs companies that already sell, asking for a year of operating history and real revenue, which signals a preference for proven brands ready to scale. Pairing the award with pro bono consulting and introductions to Sephora merchants shows the funder cares about distribution, not just capital. The strongest fits are founder-owned beauty, skincare, haircare, or fragrance businesses with traction and a credible path onto retail shelves.

• Geographies: United States.

• Who can apply: US-based e-commerce businesses selling a consumer packaged good in beauty, haircare, makeup/makeup tools, skincare, fragrance, or bath & body; in business at least one year; minimum annual revenue of $100,000; at least 51% owned by a founder or founding team from a background historically overlooked in venture capital (including Black/African American, AAPI, Hispanic/Latino/Latinx, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, women, and first-generation immigrant founders). Non-citizens may apply if the business is incorporated and legally operating in the U.S. Service businesses are not eligible.

• Funding amount: $100,000 in grant funding (one recipient).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Economic Development & Livelihoods; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing.

• Deadline: November 6, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Green and Digital Employability and Enterprise programme (GDEEp): UK-South Africa consortium grant, British Council. *New!*

The British Council is opening its Green and Digital Employability and Enterprise program, a pilot grant for one UK and South African consortium to deliver student training where the green and digital economies meet. The British Council wants tertiary education tied directly to industry, so it asks for a UK higher education or vocational lead working with a South African college, university, and industry partners who co-own the design. The grant backs practical delivery for at least fifty South African students, not another research or mapping study, signaling that the funder values models that institutions can keep running after the pilot. The strongest fits are UK and South African tertiary institutions with real employer relationships and a credible plan to embed green-digital skills.

• Geographies: South Africa; United Kingdom.

• Who can apply: UK higher education and TVET/further education institutions can apply, as the UK Lead Partner of a UK-South Africa consortium. The consortium must include a UK HE or TVET/FE institution (UK lead); one South African TVET college and one South African university (one of which is the South African lead partner); and one or more South African industry partners. Only the lead UK institution can start and submit the application.

• Funding amount: GBP £150,000 (one grant awarded in total).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Economic Development & Livelihoods; Education; Climate & Environment.

• Deadline: November 17, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Driving Urban Transitions (DUT) Partnership Joint Call 2026, Driving Urban Transitions (DUT) Partnership. *New!*

The Driving Urban Transitions Partnership, co-funded by the European Commission under Horizon Europe, is opening its 2026 joint call for transnational research and innovation projects that move cities toward a climate neutral and resilient future. The partnership organizes the work around three transition pathways, the 15-minute City, Circular Urban Economies, and Positive Energy Districts, and it wants teams that treat the city itself as the unit of change rather than a single technology. By requiring a consortium drawn from several countries and at least one urban government authority, the call signals that it backs solutions cities can actually adopt and sustain. The strongest fits are research organizations, companies, local authorities, and civil society actors ready to co-design urban change across borders.

• Geographies: Austria; Belgium; Bulgaria; Croatia; Czech Republic; Denmark; Estonia; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Hungary; Netherlands; Latvia; Lithuania; Norway; Philippines; Poland; Portugal; South Korea; Romania; Slovakia; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; Tunisia; Turkey; Malta.

• Who can apply: Transnational consortia of research organisations, companies and commercial organisations, urban government authorities, consumers and civil society representatives, and culture and creative sector actors. National rules may further restrict eligibility by partner type (see Annex A of the call text).

• Funding amount: Total available budget approx. EUR €49 million committed by participating Funding Agencies; no fixed per-project minimum or maximum, most projects expected to request about EUR €1 to 2 million total; Malta cooperation partners reimbursed up to EUR €300,000; up to EUR €30,000 reserved per project for DUT programme activities.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Infrastructure & Urban Development; Climate & Environment; Energy.

• Deadline: November 17, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

EU-LAC Digital Accelerator - Open Call #6 for European, Latin American and Caribbean Corporate-Startup Partnerships, EU-LAC Digital Accelerator. *New!*

The EU-LAC Digital Accelerator is opening its sixth call for corporate-startup partnerships that pair an established company with a startup or innovative SME from a different region across the European Union, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Funded entirely by the European Union, the program puts acceleration services and modest cash behind one thing: turning a corporate digital challenge into a working proof of concept, with a particular pull toward partnerships building artificial intelligence solutions. By requiring partners from two different regions and a solution already at market readiness, the accelerator signals that it wants cross-border commercial traction, not early ideas. The strongest fits are revenue-generating startups with a proprietary technology and a named corporate partner ready to pilot it.

• Geographies: Europe; Americas; Caribbean.

• Who can apply: Private-sector corporate-startup partnerships: at least one corporate (more than 50 employees, annual turnover above EUR €10 million, facing a digital challenge and with resources to implement it) paired with at least one startup (2 to 50 employees, turnover EUR €50,000 to EUR €10 million, core business in developing or integrating digital technologies, existing customers, technology at TRL 7 or above) or innovative SME/scaleup (fewer than 250 employees, turnover under EUR €50 million). Each partner must be based in a different eligible region among the EU, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Public entities are not eligible.

• Funding amount: In-kind acceleration services valued up to EUR €30,000 (up to EUR €40,000 if a Caribbean partner is involved); plus cash grants to the startup of up to EUR €10,500 total (EUR €7,000 proof-of-concept development grant, up to EUR €2,000 travel grant, up to EUR €1,500 equipment transportation grant), limited number available.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Innovation, Science & Technology; Economic Development & Livelihoods.

• Deadline: November 30, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Small Community Grants (28 this cycle). The reachable money this month: local and community grants of roughly USD $25,000 and under, the kind a small charity or volunteer-led group can actually win, grouped by region so you can go straight to what is open where you work.

That is the month. If you tell me what you are building, I will keep watch for the calls that fit.

The big calls get the headlines, but most community work runs on smaller money. This page gathers the local and community grants of roughly USD $25,000 and under, the kind a small charity, a volunteer-led group, or a one-person organization can realistically win, grouped by region so you can go straight to what is open where you work.

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This month the biggest money is explicitly multi-sector. The Rockefeller Foundation, with the OpenAI Foundation, opened Cities Deliver across governance, public health and economic mobility, Grand Challenges Canada opened Nexa Lighthouse treating climate change as a health problem, and the Global Centre on Biodiversity for Climate funds biodiversity and climate together. The tell: these funders decline to name one sector, and they want proposals that work across several.

The headline funders are back at national-program scale. The US Department of State opened an Advancing Global Health program statement with an award ceiling of USD $250,000,000, the European Commission opened its Frontier AI Initiative at EUR €15,000,000 per project, and Breakthrough Energy opened its Fellows program for climate hard tech. The tell: the marquee is dominated by standing, large-envelope programs built for institutions and consortia, so read the biggest ceilings as signals of direction, not as grants most organizations can win.

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New opportunities:

Breakthrough Energy Fellows Program - Cohort 7, Breakthrough Energy. *New!* *Closing soon!*

Breakthrough Energy, the climate organization founded by Bill Gates, is accepting applications for the seventh cohort of its Fellows program, which backs scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs working to commercialize early-stage climate technology. The program sits inside Breakthrough Energy Discovery, the pre-venture end of its work, and it funds research and development rather than finished companies. What Breakthrough Energy seeks to back is step-change technology, not incremental gains: ideas capable of cutting or capturing emissions at a scale that moves the global number. The multi-stage design, from concept paper to deep-dive interview, signals that the team wants to pressure-test both the science and the founder’s commitment to building. The strongest fits are researchers and technical founders ready to leave the lab and carry a hard-tech climate solution toward market.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Scientists, engineers, researchers, and entrepreneurs working to commercialize early-stage climate technologies. The flagship Innovator Fellowship is for innovators committed to commercializing their technology (projects typically have raised less than $2M in dilutive funding and must be legally incorporated before the September 2027 program start). The Explorer track is for earlier-stage, higher-risk applied research, typically based in university labs and overseen by professors, faculty, or full-time researchers. Business Fellowships are for experienced business professionals who support Innovators. No citizenship or location restrictions.

• Funding amount: Innovator Fellowship: up to approximately USD $500,000 in research and development support plus extensive in-kind resources; Explorers: approximately USD $50,000 to $250,000 for R&D (per program descriptions). Exact Cohort 7 dollar figures are not published on the current application portal.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Climate & Environment; Innovation; Science & Technology; Energy.

• Deadline: November 2, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

International Program Call for Proposals: Peacebuilding and Mediation, Andrew Carnegie Foundation. *New!* *Closing soon!*

The Andrew Carnegie Foundation, formerly Carnegie Corporation of New York, is opening its International Program call for peacebuilding and mediation, funding organizations that use dialogue, diplomacy, and mediation to prevent armed conflict and political violence. The foundation treats peace as something built, not declared, and it wants credible actors who hold trust inside the regions where violence threatens to erupt. It is backing formal negotiation and grassroots engagement, along with action-oriented research that connects to policy and practice. The concept note design, short and focused on a window of opportunity, signals that the foundation values timing and relationships over polish. The strongest fits are US-based organizations, and their registered partners abroad, carrying deep local relationships and a clear theory of how their work shifts a live conflict.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charities with current IRS tax-exempt status; projects fiscally sponsored by a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) public charity; U.S. universities and academic institutions with 501(c)(3) status where the work has a direct policy or practice connection; and organizations registered in the U.S. or in the countries listed in Annex A. Non-U.S. organizations may apply in partnership with a U.S. organization. Carnegie cannot make grants directly to individuals.

• Funding amount: Grant Value: $500,000 to $1.5 million; Grant Term: 12 to 36 months.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Governance, Policy & Advocacy.

• Deadline: November 8, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

HMGCC Co-Creation: Multi-Terrain Micro Robotic Systems, HMGCC Co-Creation. *New!* *Closing soon!*

HMGCC Co-Creation, a national security partnership between HMGCC and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, is running a funded challenge for miniature robotic systems that move across water, land, and air. The sponsors want proof-of-concept demonstrations of machines agile enough to reach confined and elevated spaces that ground, aerial, or maritime robots cannot cross alone. They back this work through a short co-creation model, pairing providers with in-house delivery managers and access to government facilities rather than a distant customer relationship. Keeping project intellectual property with the provider and asking for a dual-use exploitation route signals that they want technology with a life beyond one contract. The strongest fits are innovators, companies, and research teams who can validate a working prototype quickly and carry a real payload.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Sole innovators, industry, academic and research organisations of all types and sizes. No security clearance required (work preferably at OFFICIAL; BPSS or equivalent checks may be requested). Providers or direct collaborators from UK-sanctioned/arms-embargoed countries are ineligible.

• Funding amount: Total budget (ex VAT), up to £60,000.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Governance, Policy & Advocacy; Innovation; Science & Technology.

• Deadline: November 12, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Blue Ridge Labs Catalyst Accelerator 2027, Robin Hood (Blue Ridge Labs). *New!*

Robin Hood’s Blue Ridge Labs runs Catalyst to turn early technology ideas into ventures that measurably improve life for low-income New Yorkers and Americans. The accelerator backs pre-seed startups and early-stage tech nonprofits that already have a working product and some traction, and it is built for founders close to the problem, capping eligibility to teams that have not yet raised much or earned significant revenue. By offering the same capital as an investment to for-profits or a grant to nonprofits, Robin Hood keeps the model open to whichever structure best serves the mission rather than forcing a commercial frame. The emphasis on a working product, technical capacity, and poverty-focused impact signals a funder looking for builders who can ship, not just pitch. The strongest fits are small, technically capable teams solving a concrete problem facing low-income communities.

• Geographies: United States.

• Who can apply: Pre-seed startups and early-stage tech nonprofits, solo founders or small teams with a working product and early traction, building scalable technology for low-income New Yorkers and Americans. Teams must not have earned more than USD $150,000 in revenue in any 12-month period or raised more than USD $500,000 excluding grants, and must have the technical capacity to build the product.

• Funding amount: USD $100,000 per venture (an investment for for-profit ventures or a grant for nonprofits), with possible follow-on funding.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Innovation, Science & Technology; Economic Development & Livelihoods; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing · SDG 1, 10.

• Deadline: November 13, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Driving Urban Transitions (DUT) Partnership Joint Call 2026,

The Driving Urban Transitions Partnership, co-funded by the European Commission under Horizon Europe, is opening its 2026 joint call for transnational research and innovation projects that move cities toward a climate neutral and resilient future. The partnership organizes the work around three transition pathways, the 15-minute City, Circular Urban Economies, and Positive Energy Districts, and it wants teams that treat the city itself as the unit of change rather than a single technology. By requiring a consortium drawn from several countries and at least one urban government authority, the call signals that it backs solutions cities can actually adopt and sustain. The strongest fits are research organizations, companies, local authorities, and civil society actors ready to co-design urban change across borders.

• Geographies: Austria; Belgium; Bulgaria; Croatia; Czech Republic; Denmark; Estonia; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Hungary; Netherlands; Latvia; Lithuania; Norway; Philippines; Poland; South Korea; Romania; Slovakia; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; Tunisia; Turkey; Malta.

• Who can apply: Transnational consortia of research organisations, companies and commercial organisations, urban government authorities, consumers and civil society representatives, and culture and creative sector actors. National rules may further restrict eligibility by partner type (see Annex A of the call text).

• Funding amount: Total available budget approx. EUR €49 million committed by participating Funding Agencies; no fixed per-project minimum or maximum, most projects expected to request about EUR €1 to 2 million total; Malta cooperation partners reimbursed up to EUR €300,000; up to EUR €30,000 reserved per project for DUT programme activities.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Infrastructure & Urban Development; Climate & Environment; Energy.

• Deadline: November 17, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Nexa Lighthouse: Transition to Scale Funding for Climate and Health Innovation in Asia and the Pacific, Grand Challenges Canada. *New!*

Grand Challenges Canada, co-leading the Nexa Lighthouse initiative with AVPN, is inviting proven climate and health innovations across Asia and the Pacific to apply for Transition to Scale funding. The program treats climate change as a health emergency already reshaping where mosquito-borne infections spread, how extreme heat harms people, and what polluted air does to communities. It backs two kinds of work: climate-informed early warning and monitoring systems, and climate-responsive patient care delivery. By asking innovators to implement in the region while opening eligibility to applicants incorporated anywhere, Grand Challenges Canada signals that it wants locally grounded solutions ready to grow, not early concepts. The strongest fits are growth-stage ventures with evidence behind them and a credible path to scaling health system resilience.

• Geographies: Asia; Oceania.

• Who can apply: Locally led, growth-stage climate and health innovators in Asia and the Pacific with a proven innovation ready to scale. Applicants can be incorporated or equivalent in any country but must implement in eligible Asia-Pacific countries. Both for-profit and nonprofit innovators are typically eligible under Grand Challenges Canada competitions; innovations may be a product, process, service, or delivery model.

• Funding amount: Approximately US$250,000 to US$2,000,000 per innovation (Transition to Scale), at the Nexa Lighthouse partners discretion depending on the maturity of the innovation.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Climate & Environment.

• Deadline: November 17, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

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AI is being wired into the climate and food transition at the platform level. The European Commission opened an Automated Scientific Discovery call for food (the RAISE pilot) at around EUR €3,000,000 and a large-scale AI-driven digital platform call for the energy system at EUR €15,000,000, while AI4D’s RICH Hub opened a climate AI innovation call. The tell: the money funds single large demonstrators that put AI underneath energy and food systems, not many small pilots.

Biodiversity money is backing the people and communities who sustain nature, not one-off projects. UNDP’s GEF Small Grants Programme in South Africa is seeking a National Catalytic Organisation to strengthen community-conserved areas in the Northern Cape at up to US$40,000. Afield Environmental opened its first Nature Communities Fund, paying up to £60,000 over two years for individuals leading community nature projects in London. The Global Centre on Biodiversity for Climate opened Research Grant Competition 4 at GBP £200,000 to £1,500,000 for research that puts nature to work for climate and development. The tell: the money pays for people’s time, local stewardship and evidence over several years, so the strongest fit is whoever already holds the community relationships.

Total Estimated Funding Pool: ~$23.2M across discrete grants.

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New opportunities:

Breakthrough Energy Fellows Program - Cohort 7, Breakthrough Energy. *New!* *Closing soon!*

Breakthrough Energy, the climate organization founded by Bill Gates, is accepting applications for the seventh cohort of its Fellows program, which backs scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs working to commercialize early-stage climate technology. The program sits inside Breakthrough Energy Discovery, the pre-venture end of its work, and it funds research and development rather than finished companies. What Breakthrough Energy seeks to back is step-change technology, not incremental gains: ideas capable of cutting or capturing emissions at a scale that moves the global number. The multi-stage design, from concept paper to deep-dive interview, signals that the team wants to pressure-test both the science and the founder’s commitment to building. The strongest fits are researchers and technical founders ready to leave the lab and carry a hard-tech climate solution toward market.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Scientists, engineers, researchers, and entrepreneurs working to commercialize early-stage climate technologies. The flagship Innovator Fellowship is for innovators committed to commercializing their technology (projects typically have raised less than $2M in dilutive funding and must be legally incorporated before the September 2027 program start). The Explorer track is for earlier-stage, higher-risk applied research, typically based in university labs and overseen by professors, faculty, or full-time researchers. Business Fellowships are for experienced business professionals who support Innovators. No citizenship or location restrictions.

• Funding amount: Innovator Fellowship: up to approximately USD $500,000 in research and development support plus extensive in-kind resources; Explorers: approximately USD $50,000 to $250,000 for R&D (per program descriptions). Exact Cohort 7 dollar figures are not published on the current application portal.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Climate & Environment; Innovation; Science & Technology; Energy.

• Deadline: November 2, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Velocity, The Climate Pledge. *New!* *Closing soon!*

The Climate Pledge, the net zero initiative co-founded by Amazon, runs Velocity alongside The Earthshot Prize, Amazon Web Services, and Plug and Play to help proven climate solutions move from pilot into commercial scale. The nine-month program supports late-stage ventures in materials innovation and energy independence, spanning circular supply chains, low-carbon materials, industrial electrification, energy storage, and renewable generation. Cloud credits come attached, but the real offer is adoption: introductions to Amazon business units, signatory customers, site visits, and events that turn a working technology into a purchased one. Eligibility runs through the Pledge’s ecosystem of signatories, fund investees, suppliers, and Earthshot finalists, signaling that network proximity is the entry condition. The strongest fits are commercially ready climate companies orbiting Amazon’s sustainability world and positioned to scale through it.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Late-stage climate solution companies with a proven pilot or prototype, at least one confirmed customer, and Technology Readiness Level 6+ (or nearly ready to scale commercially). Eligibility is limited to The Climate Pledge Signatories, Climate Pledge Fund investees, Amazon Suppliers, Earthshot Prize Finalists and Winners, and Plug and Play network affiliates; eligible applicants may also nominate solutions they already use or partner with. A general, unaffiliated external applicant cannot self-apply.

• Funding amount: Up to US$100,000 in AWS Promotional Credits per participant.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Climate & Environment; Energy; Innovation; Science & Technology.

• Deadline: November 6, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Call for Proposals: National Catalytic Organisation (ICCA-GSI), South Africa, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). *New!* *Closing soon!*

The United Nations Development Programme, through its South Africa GEF Small Grants Programme, is seeking a National Catalytic Organisation to strengthen how communities in the Northern Cape monitor and sustain the territories and areas they conserve. This sits inside the second phase of the global ICCA Support Initiative, which ties community conservation to the Kunming-Montreal biodiversity targets. Rather than run the community projects itself, the chosen organization trains grantees, reviews their data quality, and turns what they learn into shared knowledge, signaling that the Programme values durable local capacity over one-off delivery. The weighting toward technical approach and community engagement rewards applicants who can work respectfully with Indigenous Peoples and local communities. The strongest fits are South Africa based groups fluent in Afrikaans with real ICCA, FPIC, and evaluation experience.

• Geographies: South Africa.

• Who can apply: Legally registered organisations and entities based in South Africa, including NGOs, civil society organisations, consulting companies, and other eligible institutions, with demonstrated experience working with Indigenous Peoples and local communities, ICCA and FPIC knowledge, M&E and data management capacity, familiarity with the CBD and Kunming-Montreal GBF Targets 3, 21, 22 and 23 (or the ability to acquire it quickly), and working knowledge of Afrikaans.

• Funding amount: Maximum US$40,000 (budget to be provided in ZAR equivalent).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Climate & Environment; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing.

• Deadline: November 6, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

GCBC Research Grant Competition 4 (RGC4) - Concept Note Window, Global Centre on Biodiversity for Climate (GCBC). *New!*

The Global Centre on Biodiversity for Climate is opening its fourth Research Grant Competition, inviting concept notes for research that confronts the drivers of biodiversity loss across the Amazon, the Congo Basin, and the Coral Triangle. GCBC wants evidence that can move governance, markets, and finance, not studies that sit on a shelf, so it asks applicants to trace a clear path from research to decisions affecting nature, climate, and poverty. Requiring a partner rooted in an ODA-eligible country in each focal region signals that it values locally grounded knowledge and genuine co-development over extractive fieldwork. The strongest fits are not-for-profit research organizations that can convene cross-border teams, work on underrepresented ecosystems like coral reefs, wetlands, and peatlands, and build gender and social inclusion in from the start.

• Geographies: South America; Middle Africa; South-eastern Asia.

• Who can apply: Lead applicants must be not-for-profit research organisations meeting UKRI’s criteria for research organisations. UK-registered leads must be on the UKRI eligible organisations list (or have submitted their UKRI registration before 19 October 2026). Non-UK leads must be legally constituted with a research remit and a relevant research track record; leads based in ODA-eligible countries are especially welcome, and leads may also be based in other European countries or the US. Every application must include at least one organisation legally registered in an ODA-eligible country within a focal geography (Amazon, Congo Basin, or Coral Triangle), as lead or implementing partner.

• Funding amount: GBP £200,000 to £1,500,000 GCBC funding per project (grants of 2 to 4 years); up to around 12 grants in a mixed portfolio.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Climate & Environment; Economic Development & Livelihoods.

• Deadline: November 30, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

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UN agencies are funding women’s health delivery capacity, not awareness campaigns. The UNICEF Venture Fund opened a second FemTech Ventures call with up to USD $100,000 in equity-free funding, and UNFPA opened a sexual and reproductive health and rights partnership in Rajasthan. The tell: equity-free venture funding and a multi-year SRHR partnership both buy standing capacity to deliver care, not messaging.

The flexible, core funding is going to women-led and marginalized-led organizations directly. WomenStrong International opened multi-year funding for Francophone West African women’s organizations at up to USD $50,000 a year, and the International Trans Fund opened its SEED and THRIVE grants for trans-led groups from USD $10,000 to $50,000. The tell: both fund the organization rather than a project, and both route money to locally-led groups that larger funders usually reach only through intermediaries.

Total Estimated Funding Pool: ~$200K across discrete grants.

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New opportunities:

UNICEF FemTech Ventures: Second Call for Applications (Equity-Free Funding for FemTech Solutions Using Frontier Technologies), UNICEF Venture Fund (UNICEF Office of Innovation). *New!* *Closing soon!*

The UNICEF Venture Fund, through its Office of Innovation, has opened the second call of FemTech Ventures, backing for-profit startups that build frontier-technology solutions for the health, wellbeing, and sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and girls in the countries where UNICEF works. The fund puts equity-free capital and a year of technical mentorship behind early and growth stage teams with working prototypes, and asks them to open source what they build. It wants products ready for low-resource and emergency settings, across maternal care, reproductive health, and mental wellbeing and safety. Requiring safety-by-design and open licensing signals that UNICEF wants trustworthy, shareable public goods rather than proprietary apps. The strongest fits are women-led and youth-led startups registered in a programme country, already live with a demonstrable prototype.

• Geographies: Africa; Southern Asia; Eastern Asia; Oceania; Americas; Northern Africa; Western Asia; Europe; Central Asia.

• Who can apply: For-profit technology startups legally registered as a private company in a UNICEF programme country, with an impressive working/functional prototype, committed to open-source licensing (or willing to open source the solution), building frontier-technology (AI, machine learning, blockchain, data science) solutions for women’s and girls’ health, wellbeing and SRHR. Early-stage and growth-stage companies are both supported. Women-led startups and young founders (under the age of 35) are strongly encouraged to apply.

• Funding amount: up to US$100,000 in equity-free funding.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment; Innovation; Science & Technology.

• Deadline: November 11, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Technical Partners for the Global Protection Cluster Country Support, United Nations Children’s Fund. *New!* *Closing soon!*

The United Nations Children’s Fund is opening a call for expression of interest to place technical partners inside the Global Protection Cluster, the body that coordinates protection work for communities caught in humanitarian crises. UNICEF, as the cluster lead for child protection, wants an organization that can supply a roving protection coordinator and an information management specialist to support country level clusters remotely and through short deployments. It is backing the coordination backbone itself, the analysis, planning and quality assurance that keep protection responses coherent as emergencies shift and staffing thins. The light, expertise weighted selection signals that proven coordination and information management experience matter most. The strongest fits are humanitarian organizations with deep protection cluster and data skills ready to deploy quickly.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Qualified organizations able to provide a Protection Roving Coordinator and an Information Management Specialist with demonstrable cluster coordination and/or information management experience in at least two of Child Protection, Gender-Based Violence, Mine Action or Protection.

• Funding amount: Indicative Budget: not disclosed.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Humanitarian & Disaster Response; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing; Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment.

• Deadline: November 6, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Female Science Talents Intensive Track 2027, Falling Walls Foundation. *New!*

The Falling Walls Foundation runs the Female Science Talents Intensive Track as a year-long career program for twenty early-career women in science, drawn from any discipline worldwide. The Foundation uses the program to widen the path into scientific leadership for PhD candidates and postdocs, pairing online workshops and career talks with alumni mentoring and two gatherings in Berlin tied to its Science Summit. What it backs is not a single project but the person: researchers ready to grow their visibility, networks, and confidence to lead. The application asks for short written reflections, a video, and a CV, signaling that communication and self-presentation matter as much as research record. The strongest fits are outstanding women researchers who will contribute to the community, with applicants from the Global South especially encouraged.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Early-career women in science: PhD students in the final stages of their research, or postdocs who completed their PhD in 2021 or later. Applicants with equivalent qualifications or postdoc-level experience (such as medical degrees) are also welcome. Open to any discipline and any university or institution worldwide. Cis and trans women, genderqueer, and non-binary people are eligible. Women from the Global South are especially encouraged.

• Funding amount: No cash award. The one-year programme is free of charge; travel, accommodation, and catering for the two in-person gatherings in Berlin are covered (trains/flights/public transport reimbursed after the event, overseas flights booked by the Foundation). Not covered: taxis, travel insurance, visa expenses. No stipend.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment; Innovation; Science & Technology; Education.

• Deadline: November 15, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

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The US National Institutes of Health reopened its center and program-project machinery in force. NIGMS is funding Collaborative Program Grants for interdisciplinary teams, NIAID opened both its Immune Tolerance Network and a next-generation R&D call, the NCI runs its Carcinogen Hazard Assessment Monographs program, the National Library of Medicine is funding institutional training in biomedical AI and data science, and NIH reopened its Centers for AIDS Research. The tell: these pay for standing centers and multi-year consortia at institutions with an existing funded research base, not one-off projects, so the fit is an established US research institution, not a single investigator.

Disease-specific foundations are again funding the researcher, not just the research. The Parkinson’s Foundation opened its Paul Oreffice Innovations in Care Award and the National Ataxia Foundation its Research Seed Money Grant. The tell, the same one we flagged last cycle, is a named early-career or seed award that builds a pipeline of scientists committed to one condition, so what wins is a researcher willing to specialize.

The post-USAID global-health money is routing through a State Department program statement and multilateral innovation funds. The US Department of State’s Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy opened its Advancing Global Health Annual Program Statement, Grand Challenges Canada opened Nexa Lighthouse for climate and health innovation in Asia and the Pacific at USD $250,000 to $2,000,000, and CEPI opened a rolling call on vaccine-manufacturing analytics. The tell: the largest health money this cycle sits in a standing program statement and in staged innovation vehicles, not in a single bilateral grant.

Total Estimated Funding Pool: ~$35.4M across discrete grants. (Separately, large national-formula envelopes not counted in this total: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy (GHSD).)

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New opportunities:

Paul Oreffice Innovations in Care Award, Parkinson’s Foundation. *New!* *Closing soon!*

The Parkinson’s Foundation created the Paul Oreffice Innovations in Care Award to fund clinicians rethinking how people with Parkinson’s disease receive care. The Foundation is using pilot funding to move promising ideas into testable projects, backing work across four lanes: strengthening community clinician capability, redesigning care models, building patient-centered technologies, and defining the minimum clinical datasets that make better standards possible. It wants hypothesis-driven, clinically grounded projects that can generate evidence strong enough to attract further funding. By opening the door to clinicians at every career stage and strongly preferring projects that involve people with Parkinson’s in their design, the Foundation signals that it values practical, patient-shaped innovation over prestige. The strongest fits are US-licensed clinicians with a focus on Parkinson’s and an institutional home for applied care research.

• Geographies: united states.

• Who can apply: Clinicians of all career stages, from fellows to established faculty, who are licensed to care for patients in the United States and have a significant focus on Parkinson’s disease. Physicians must have completed a neurology residency (or justify how their training pathway benefits people with PD); allied health professionals must hold an advanced degree, typically a PhD. Fellows, those in mentored positions, and those within two years of starting an independent position require a mentor and a mentor support letter. The sponsoring institution’s grants office is the authorized recipient and funds are disbursed to the institution.

• Funding amount: Maximum of $200,000 over two years; up to three awards.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Innovation; Science & Technology.

• Deadline: November 1, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Design and Deliver the Next EIT Health Bootcamps, EIT Health. *New!* *Closing soon!*

EIT Health is opening its call for consortia to design and deliver the next generation of its health start-up bootcamps, funding the curriculum, masterclasses, mentoring, and investor engagement that turn early health ventures into fundable companies. The organization is using these learning paths to strengthen Europe’s health innovation pipeline across digital health evidence, deep tech and AI commercialization, cross-border investment, and patient access. What EIT Health wants to back is not a single course but durable delivery capacity built by partners who span industry, education, and research. Requiring multi-country consortia and a revenue-sharing stake in the programs signals that EIT Health expects these bootcamps to outlast the grant. The strongest fits are established training providers, universities, and industry partners with proven reach into health entrepreneurs.

• Geographies: Europe.

• Who can apply: Consortia only (individuals cannot apply), comprising a minimum of two and a maximum of five independent legal entities. Partners must cover at least two sides of the Knowledge Triangle (industry, education, research), including at least one industry organisation, and at least two entities must be legally established in different Horizon Europe countries.

• Funding amount: Foundational Learning Path: up to EUR €112,000; Thematic Learning Paths: up to EUR €124,500 per path (up to four thematic projects); up to EUR €610,000 total EIT Health funding available under the call.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Innovation; Science & Technology; Economic Development & Livelihoods.

• Deadline: November 2, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Technology Transfer Offices & Entrepreneurship Support Call (Beyond the Lab: From Research to Venture), EIT Health. *New!* *Closing soon!*

EIT Health is opening its Technology Transfer Offices and Entrepreneurship Support Call to fund consortia that will deliver the Beyond the Lab: From Research to Venture program for healthcare researchers. EIT Health is using the grant to build local capacity for turning laboratory science into incorporated start-ups, paying experienced technology transfer offices and entrepreneurship support providers to run masterclasses, structured mentoring, and a closing Pitch Day across two cohorts. It wants to back organizations that can walk researchers from discovery to company formation, not just teach theory. Requiring two transfer offices plus one venture-building provider signals that EIT Health values proven commercialization experience alongside academic reach. The strongest fits are European research-commercialization teams with a track record of moving health innovations toward investable ventures.

• Geographies: Europe.

• Who can apply: A consortium of two Technology Transfer Offices (representing higher education institutions or research organisations) and one Entrepreneurship Support Provider with demonstrated experience in venture building and start-up support. Applicants may apply for more than one learning path where they can demonstrate the required expertise and capacity for each.

• Funding amount: Up to EUR €77,000 in 2027 and up to EUR €77,000 in 2028 (up to EUR €154,000 total per consortium over two years).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Innovation; Science & Technology; Economic Development & Livelihoods.

• Deadline: November 2, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

EIT Health RIS Country Representatives Call (2027-2028), EIT Health. *New!* *Closing soon!*

EIT Health is seeking organizations to serve as Country Representatives across eleven Regional Innovation Scheme countries in central and eastern Europe for the 2027 to 2028 period. The money funds a national anchor in each country, an organization that maps the local health innovation ecosystem, connects startups and researchers to EIT Health programs, and builds the stakeholder relationships that let health ventures grow. EIT Health is backing local capacity rather than individual projects, which is why it accepts both single organizations and national consortia that span education, research, and industry. The requirement for co-financing signals that it wants representatives already embedded in their national systems. The strongest fits are established ecosystem builders with deep ties to health innovation stakeholders in one eligible country.

• Geographies: Croatia; Czech Republic; Estonia; Greece; Hungary; Latvia; Malta; Romania; Serbia; Slovenia; Turkey.

• Who can apply: Registered legal entities established in one of the eligible EIT RIS countries. Single organisations or national consortia may apply. Consortia must include at least two sides of the Knowledge Triangle (education, research and industry), and all consortium partners must be established in the same eligible country. Suitable applicants have demonstrated experience in healthcare innovation ecosystem development, innovation support and entrepreneurship, start-up acceleration, technology transfer, research and higher education, business support, and stakeholder engagement, with strong links to national innovation stakeholders.

• Funding amount: Up to EUR €182,000 per Country Representative (maximum funding per project); total call budget up to EUR €1,274,500; EIT Health funds up to 60% of total eligible project costs.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Innovation; Science & Technology; Economic Development & Livelihoods.

• Deadline: November 2, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Architects of Trust: Community-Driven Demand Creation for New TB Vaccines, Treatment Action Group (TAG). *New!* *Closing soon!*

Treatment Action Group, with funding from Wellcome, is opening its Architects of Trust call to help communities prepare for the new tuberculosis vaccines now moving through late-stage trials. The money backs civil society and community-based organizations to raise awareness, surface local questions and concerns, and press policymakers toward equitable national rollout. By pairing each grantee with an advocacy mentor and running a strategy workshop alongside the Global TB Vaccine Forum, Treatment Action Group is building a durable advocacy bench rather than funding one-off outreach. The two-stage design, starting with a short expression of interest, signals that fit and community rootedness matter more than polished proposals. The strongest fits are locally trusted groups with real TB, immunization, or health advocacy experience and a committed project lead.

• Geographies: Brazil; Ethiopia; India; Indonesia; Kenya; Malawi; Mozambique; Nigeria; Peru; Philippines; South Africa; Tanzania; Vietnam; Zambia.

• Who can apply: National, subnational, or regional civil society organizations (CSOs) or community-based organizations based in one of the 14 eligible countries or in Eastern Europe/Central Asia regional networks, with experience in TB, immunization, or other health advocacy and in community engagement or policy advocacy; well integrated into stakeholder networks with membership or affiliation to other CSO or community networks; naming a dedicated project lead (’architect of trust’) who can attend the April 2027 Zaragoza forum in person; and holding (or committing to adopt) organizational policies on safeguarding (bullying, harassment, abuse, and harm), equity, diversity and inclusion, and legal compliance, research practice and governance.

• Funding amount: Grants of up to US$45,000 will be awarded to 8 CSO partners across 14 high-TB-burden countries plus regional networks in Eastern Europe and Central Asia; each grant funds 12 months of work.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Governance; Policy & Advocacy.

• Deadline: November 4, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

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This cycle’s humanitarian money is operational, not programmatic. The World Food Programme opened two emergency food-assistance calls in Latin America, UNHCR opened a warehouse, workshop and fleet-management call and an asylum-strengthening call in Cyprus, and UNICEF is seeking technical partners for the Global Protection Cluster. The tell: partners are being sought to run delivery and logistics systems, with budgets negotiated after selection, so the fit is an operational partner with in-country capacity rather than a programme designer.

Total Estimated Funding Pool: ~$0.1M across discrete grants.

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New opportunities:

Asistencia alimentaria de emergencia para los hogares afectados por el Fenomeno El Nino (CFEI WFP/PER/2026/009), World Food Programme. *New!* *Closing soon!*

The World Food Programme is opening a call for expression of interest to line up cooperating partners in Peru before the next El Nino shock reaches the northern coast and southern highlands. The agency expects strong to extraordinary conditions through early 2027 to bring flooding, landslides, drought and sharp food price rises to communities that already face high food insecurity, and it wants partners ready to move fast. This funds emergency readiness, pairing unconditional cash assistance for the most vulnerable households with food cards that keep community kitchens running. The requirement to start within seven days of activation and the heavy, mandatory annex package signal that WFP is prioritizing operational speed and documented rigor. The strongest fits are organizations already working in these regions that can mobilize quickly.

• Geographies: Peru.

• Who can apply: Organizations able to serve as WFP Cooperating Partners (Asociados Cooperantes) to deliver emergency food assistance and unconditional cash transfers in the prioritized Peru regions; applicants must submit the mandatory Annexes 1 to 7.

• Funding amount: Indicative Budget: not disclosed.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Humanitarian & Disaster Response; Agriculture & Food Systems.

• Deadline: November 6, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

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AI is arriving in education and public services as infrastructure, funded to be built with institutions. Digital Promise opened a K-12 AI Infrastructure Program for AI-enabled formative assessment, and the Rockefeller Foundation, with the OpenAI Foundation, opened Cities Deliver to build frontier AI tools with city governments at USD $500,000 to $2,000,000. The tell: both fund teams to build and embed tools alongside schools and city agencies in multiple phases, a shift from last cycle, when the AI money was going to oversight of AI rather than its deployment.

Europe is funding the defense of the information space. The EACEA opened a cross-border Media Literacy call (NEWS) and a European Remembrance strand on democratic transitions, and the European Fact-Checking Standards Network runs a permanent call for protection grants for fact-checkers at up to EUR €20,000. The tell: the money backs media literacy, the physical and legal protection of fact-checkers, and democratic memory, treating civil-society information resilience as fundable infrastructure.

US federal justice money is flowing to courts and community institutions. The OJJDP opened its Family Treatment Court Program at up to USD $850,000, the National Institute of Justice opened research on the abuse and exploitation of elderly individuals, and the Bureau of Justice Assistance opened an Integrity in American Elections program. The tell: these are formula-style Department of Justice programs for courts, agencies and established nonprofits, not open innovation calls.

Total Estimated Funding Pool: ~$15.3M across discrete grants.

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New opportunities:

Community Asset Support Scheme Grants 2026/27, Reigate & Banstead Borough Council. *New!* *Closing soon!*

Reigate and Banstead Borough Council is opening its Community Asset Support Scheme to help voluntary, community, and not-for-profit organizations make physical improvements to the buildings and spaces their communities rely on. The council is funding capital work, accessibility upgrades, energy efficiency measures, and outdoor space improvements, because it wants these assets to stay in local hands and keep serving residents well after the council is abolished under local government reorganization. What it seeks to back is durable community control, not a one-off repair. Scoring that weights project impact and measurable outcomes above process signals that the council cares most about who benefits and how. The strongest fits are established local charities, community interest companies, and parish councils that own or securely lease a community asset and can deliver quickly.

• Geographies: United Kingdom.

• Who can apply: Registered charities (charitable company, CIO, or charitable trust); Community Interest Companies limited by guarantee that reinvest profits into the company or community; Town and Parish Councils within Reigate & Banstead; and other formally constituted non-profit clubs or groups with sound governance, finances and policies. The community asset must be in the borough and owned freehold or held on a lease of at least 10 years.

• Funding amount: Grants of £3,000 to £20,000 per project; up to £200,000 total available, around 25 grants expected.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing; Infrastructure & Urban Development.

• Deadline: November 2, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Access to Elected Office Fund: appointment of a delivery organisation (2026/27), Cabinet Office (Disability Unit). *New!* *Closing soon!*

The Cabinet Office is opening the Access to Elected Office Fund to appoint one organization to run a new fund covering the extra disability-related costs of standing for election, such as sign language interpretation and accessible transport. The government is commissioning delivery rather than running the scheme itself, placing a flagship inclusion commitment with a body that understands disabled people’s lives. It wants an administrator that can launch the fund quickly, reach candidates across general, local, mayoral, and Northern Ireland elections, and hold public money to high standards of impartiality and audit. The six-part application, weighing project plan, costs, risks, and evaluation, signals operational credibility matters as much as mission. The strongest fits are established, UK-based disabled people’s organizations and expert nonprofits ready to act as a lead accountable body.

• Geographies: United Kingdom.

• Who can apply: UK-based non-governmental, non-profit organisations with relevant disability expertise, such as a qualified Disabled People’s Organisation (DPO), charity, social enterprise, or co-operative. The organisation must have operated for at least two years, provide copies of accounts for the last two years, be legally constituted with sound governance and financial controls, and confirm that neither it nor its senior leadership or trustees have relevant unspent convictions (including electoral offences). Partnership and consortium bids are permitted provided one organisation acts as the lead accountable body.

• Funding amount: Up to GBP £500,000 for 2026/27 (covers both the administrator’s running costs and the candidate funding pot).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Governance, Policy & Advocacy; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing.

• Deadline: November 4, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Call for Funding Proposals for Library Reading Programmes, Gauteng Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation. *New!* *Closing soon!*

The Gauteng Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation is inviting registered non-profit organizations across the province to apply for funding that supports library reading programs. The department is putting public money behind a culture of reading, using community libraries as the base from which literacy work reaches children and adults who have been left behind. What it wants to back is not one-off events but organizations that can grow steady reading habits and chip away at illiteracy in their own neighborhoods. Routing the call through registered NPOs signals that the department trusts local organizations already rooted in these communities to deliver, rather than running everything from the center. The strongest fits are Gauteng-based nonprofits with a working track record in literacy, early reading, or library-linked community programming.

• Geographies: South Africa.

• Who can apply: Registered non-profit organisations (NPOs) operating in Gauteng Province that deliver or will deliver library reading and literacy programmes.

• Funding amount: See the call for funding details.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Education; Arts; Culture & Media.

• Deadline: November 7, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

International Program Call for Proposals: Peacebuilding and Mediation, Andrew Carnegie Foundation. *New!* *Closing soon!*

The Andrew Carnegie Foundation, formerly Carnegie Corporation of New York, is opening its International Program call for peacebuilding and mediation, funding organizations that use dialogue, diplomacy, and mediation to prevent armed conflict and political violence. The foundation treats peace as something built, not declared, and it wants credible actors who hold trust inside the regions where violence threatens to erupt. It is backing formal negotiation and grassroots engagement, along with action-oriented research that connects to policy and practice. The concept note design, short and focused on a window of opportunity, signals that the foundation values timing and relationships over polish. The strongest fits are US-based organizations, and their registered partners abroad, carrying deep local relationships and a clear theory of how their work shifts a live conflict.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit public charities with current IRS tax-exempt status; projects fiscally sponsored by a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) public charity; U.S. universities and academic institutions with 501(c)(3) status where the work has a direct policy or practice connection; and organizations registered in the U.S. or in the countries listed in Annex A. Non-U.S. organizations may apply in partnership with a U.S. organization. Carnegie cannot make grants directly to individuals.

• Funding amount: Grant Value: $500,000 to $1.5 million; Grant Term: 12 to 36 months.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Governance, Policy & Advocacy.

• Deadline: November 8, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Team London Bridge Building Bridges Fund 2027-2030, Team London Bridge. *New!* *Closing soon!*

Team London Bridge, the business improvement district serving the London Bridge area of Southwark, is opening its Building Bridges Fund to find one registered charity for a three-year partnership. The district is using a multi-year grant to help a single local charity build lasting financial sustainability while drawing its neighborhood’s employers and employees into the work. What Team London Bridge wants to back is community cohesion and pride of place for Southwark residents, carried by an organization whose activities run long enough to leave a mark. The staged selection, moving from a short statement of interest to a full budget and a presentation, signals that they are choosing a durable relationship, not a one-off recipient. The strongest fits are Southwark-serving charities ready to partner closely with a business community.

• Geographies: United Kingdom.

• Who can apply: Registered charities only (evidence of charitable registration will be sought). The charity need not be registered in Southwark but must operate in the borough and benefit its residents, and its project must engage the London Bridge business community of local employers and employees. One charity is selected per three-year partnership round.

• Funding amount: Grant award of up to GBP £25,000 per year supporting one registered charity over three years; GBP £75,000 total per funding round (2027-2030).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing; Philanthropy & Civil Society.

• Deadline: November 8, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Development, Validation and Institutionalization of Inclusive Education Materials for Pre-Service and In-Service Teacher Training in Guinea-Bissau, UNICEF. *New!*

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), through its Guinea-Bissau office, is seeking a civil society organization to develop, validate and institutionalize inclusive education materials for pre-service and in-service teacher training. Working alongside the national inclusive education directorate and the Polytechnic Institute of Setubal, the selected partner will co-create eight manuals across four thematic modules, pilot them in Portuguese, and build the systems that keep them in national use. The call rewards methodological rigor, accessibility and Universal Design for Learning above cost, signaling that UNICEF wants materials genuinely usable by teachers of children with disabilities and other learners facing barriers. It also asks for a model for a future inclusive education resource center. The strongest fits are organizations with deep teacher-training and inclusive-pedagogy experience and real roots in Guinea-Bissau’s education system.

• Geographies: Guinea-Bissau.

• Who can apply: Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). The selected CSO provides technical and operational leadership for co-development, contextualization, consultation, validation, piloting, documentation, revision and capacity-strengthening, working in close collaboration with DGEI/MENESIC, UNICEF and the Polytechnic Institute of Setubal (IPS).

• Funding amount: See the call for funding details.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Education; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing.

• Deadline: November 13, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Read more

The European Commission opened its Frontier AI build-out in a single sweep. Under the Horizon BRIDGING line the Commission opened the EU Frontier AI Initiative for advanced scaling frameworks at EUR €15,000,000, Autonomous Drive Ambition Cities at EUR €15,000,000, an EU AI Media Platform at EUR €10,000,000, plus calls to valorize Horizon results and to upscale venture builders. The tell: each expects a single large grantee to build a demonstrator, so these are consortium-scale bets on European AI capacity, not broad open calls.

Amazon keeps funding the research that hardens AI, not the models themselves. Amazon opened an AWS Cryptography call and an Automated Reasoning call in its Fall 2026 Research Awards, each with unrestricted funds up to USD $80,000 plus AWS credits. The tell, consistent with last cycle, is that the money goes to verification, cryptography and formal reasoning, the assurance layer around AI, rather than to building larger models.

Smart-city money is consolidating into large multi-country partnerships. The Driving Urban Transitions Partnership opened its 2026 Joint Call backed by roughly EUR €49,000,000 across participating agencies, and the EU-LAC Digital Accelerator opened its sixth cross-regional call. The tell: urban-transition funding is pooling into multi-agency, multi-country vehicles rather than single-city grants.

Total Estimated Funding Pool: ~$57.1M across discrete grants.

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New opportunities:

Autonomisation, inclusion économique et moyens de subsistance (HCR/CMR/2026/004), UNHCR. *New!* *Closing soon!*

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is seeking a partner in Cameroon to advance economic empowerment, economic inclusion, and sustainable livelihoods for refugees and the communities that host them. Based in the Centre region, the work moves households away from humanitarian assistance and toward self reliance through financial inclusion, microenterprise development, market and value chain access, employment, entrepreneurship, and skills building. UNHCR frames this as a progressive shift into national systems, favoring local organizations, refugee led groups, and public institutions that can sustain results after the project ends. Selection criteria reward proven livelihoods experience, multiyear project management, and a credible localization approach, signaling that the agency wants an operator who can hand capacity to local actors. The strongest fits are organizations with market oriented livelihoods programming and deep local presence.

• Geographies: Cameroon.

• Who can apply: Organizations able to partner with UNHCR to deliver livelihoods and economic inclusion programming for refugees and host communities in Cameroon’s Centre region, including local organizations, refugee-led organizations (RLOs), national institutions, local authorities and private sector actors, registered on the UN Partner Portal.

• Funding amount: Indicative Budget: - (not disclosed on the UN Partner Portal export).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Economic Development & Livelihoods; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing; Agriculture & Food Systems.

• Deadline: November 5, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Sephora Beauty Grant (2027), Fifteen Percent Pledge. *New!* *Closing soon!*

The Fifteen Percent Pledge, in partnership with Sephora, runs the Sephora Beauty Grant to put cash behind underrepresented founders building consumer beauty brands in the United States. The Pledge’s work pushes retailers to stock more products from businesses owned by historically overlooked entrepreneurs, and this grant extends that mission upstream, funding the founders directly rather than waiting for shelf space to open. It backs companies that already sell, asking for a year of operating history and real revenue, which signals a preference for proven brands ready to scale. Pairing the award with pro bono consulting and introductions to Sephora merchants shows the funder cares about distribution, not just capital. The strongest fits are founder-owned beauty, skincare, haircare, or fragrance businesses with traction and a credible path onto retail shelves.

• Geographies: United States.

• Who can apply: US-based e-commerce businesses selling a consumer packaged good in beauty, haircare, makeup/makeup tools, skincare, fragrance, or bath & body; in business at least one year; minimum annual revenue of $100,000; at least 51% owned by a founder or founding team from a background historically overlooked in venture capital (including Black/African American, AAPI, Hispanic/Latino/Latinx, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, women, and first-generation immigrant founders). Non-citizens may apply if the business is incorporated and legally operating in the U.S. Service businesses are not eligible.

• Funding amount: $100,000 in grant funding (one recipient).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Economic Development & Livelihoods; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing.

• Deadline: November 6, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) - Social Investment Gateway Programme, School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE). *New!* *Closing soon!*

School for Social Entrepreneurs is opening its Social Investment Gateway Programme, a fully funded year of support for England based charities, social enterprises and community organizations preparing to take on repayable finance. School for Social Entrepreneurs pairs a flexible grant with structured learning, business support panels and introductions to social investors, treating investment readiness as something built rather than assumed. What it wants to back are organizations with a working trading model and the ambition to grow it, not those fluent in managing loans. The choice between a Match Trading grant and a repayable grant signals a funder interested in how an organization earns, not only how it spends. The strongest fits are England based ventures with trading income, growth plans and a real intention to seek social investment.

• Geographies: United Kingdom.

• Who can apply: England-based charities, social enterprises and community organisations with an active trading model and plans to grow it, annual income above GBP £100,000 (total income, not only trading income), that intend to apply for social investment within the next three years. Organisations below the income threshold with a strong trading model can contact SSE. Primarily aimed at organisations preparing for social investment for the first time.

• Funding amount: Match Trading grant of up to GBP £18,000; or repayable grant of up to GBP £24,000 (average ~GBP £22,000).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Philanthropy & Civil Society; Finance & Investment; Economic Development & Livelihoods.

• Deadline: November 6, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Money Guiders Grant Fund 2026/27, Money and Pensions Service. *New!* *Closing soon!*

The Money and Pensions Service is opening its Money Guiders Grant Fund 2026/27, a pilot that backs partner organizations delivering money guidance across the United Kingdom. The funding supports two strands of work: one strengthens referrals, signposting, and collaboration so people reach the right money support at the right time, and another raises awareness of money guidance and shares what is working across the sector. The service is using small, time-boxed grants to connect a fragmented field rather than to launch new services, signaling that it values coordination and visibility as much as direct delivery. The strongest fits are established Money Guiders partners, including voluntary, community, and public sector bodies, that can run a focused project quickly and show how their work joins up the wider network.

• Geographies: United Kingdom.

• Who can apply: Current Money Guiders Partners with a valid Expectations and Commitments (E&C) Form with MaPS, legally registered and operating in the UK, from the not-for-profit, community, voluntary or public sectors and delivering some form of money guidance. Applicants must show sound financial standing (active UK bank account in the organisation’s legal name, not in insolvency proceedings), capability and capacity to deliver and spend all funding by 31 March 2027, Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR compliance, and appropriate insurance (public liability and/or professional indemnity) and safeguarding policies where relevant. Engaged partners must evidence active participation in Money Guiders activities during the current financial year. Consortium applications are allowed with a single named lead organisation.

• Funding amount: GBP £5,000 to GBP £25,000 per grant (total fund GBP £400,000).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Economic Development & Livelihoods; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing; Philanthropy & Civil Society.

• Deadline: November 10, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

AWS Cryptography Call for Proposals, Fall 2026, Amazon Web Services (AWS). *New!* *Closing soon!*

Amazon Web Services, through its Amazon Research Awards program, is opening its Fall 2026 Cryptography Call for Proposals to fund academic research that strengthens digital security and privacy. AWS cryptography engineering wants work it can eventually build on, so the call reaches across primitives and protocols, formal verification of open source libraries, quantum-resistant and fully homomorphic encryption, and the security of AI systems. The budget cap and the included promotional credits and engineering sessions signal that Amazon wants researchers close to its own cloud problems, not abstract theory alone. Reviewers weigh potential impact to Amazon alongside growing the cryptographic community and its diversity. The strongest fits are faculty and permanent researchers with active open source tools and a clear line of sight from theory to deployable security.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: The Principal Investigator must be either a full-time faculty member at an accredited academic institution or a permanent researcher at a non-governmental organization with recognized legal status, and at or above the age of majority where they reside. Each PI may submit only one proposal per call-for-proposals period.

• Funding amount: Unrestricted funds up to USD $80,000; AWS Promotional Credits up to USD $40,000; plus AWS training tutorials and hands-on sessions with Amazon scientists and engineers.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Innovation, Science & Technology.

• Deadline: November 11, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Read more

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to the mid-month top-up: everything here opened after the October roundup, it’s live now, and none of it repeats what we’ve already run.

Two things stand out. The money around AI keeps arriving as a method rather than a sector, landing wherever the problem is. Atlassian is funding education coalitions for the AI era, the Foresight Institute is funding AI safety and accountability work, Amazon has opened a whole slate of research awards on AI security and evaluation, and MIT Solve wants AI-capable solutions across health, climate and economic prosperity. If your work puts AI to use on a real problem, this issue runs deep for you.

The second is a strong run of cancer and health research. Cancer Grand Challenges alone is putting up to GBP £25 million behind global teams on gastroesophageal cancer, alongside the Pershing Square Sohn prize, amfAR’s HIV fellowships and two World Cancer Research Fund calls.

One shape to watch throughout: a lot of this money is a challenge or prize you enter, not a grant you apply for. Check the eligibility before you build a full proposal. Everything below is sorted by sector, soonest deadlines first.

Snapshot of what’s inside this update

• Cross-Cutting & Intersectional Impact (9 opportunities). The money here skews toward organizations betting on scale. The Atlassian Foundation puts up to USD $1,000,000 behind education coalitions reworking how learning happens in the AI era, and the Varkey Foundation’s Global Schools Prize runs a USD $1,000,000 pool with a USD $500,000 grand award for a single school. MIT Solve opens three of its 2027 Global Challenges at once, on health, climate, and economic prosperity, which is the clearest signal in this section that the large platforms are resetting their flagship calls for next year. Smaller and more specific: the Visa Foundation backs US small business at USD $100,000 to $250,000, Germany’s GIZ funds triangular cooperation in Latin America at EUR €300,000, and the Foresight Institute seeds AI-for-science nodes from USD $30,000 to $100,000. MediaTech Hub Potsdam is the outlier, an equity-free accelerator rather than a grant.

• Global Health & WASH (13 opportunities). This is the heaviest section in the update, and the range inside it is enormous. At the top, Cancer Grand Challenges opens a gastroesophageal cancer call worth up to GBP £25,000,000 per team, and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office puts up to GBP £12,000,000 into an SRHR applied research centre. Both want consortia, not single applicants. Underneath, the cancer-research money gets more reachable: the World Cancer Research Fund runs two lines, a Regular Grant up to GBP £500,000 and the smaller INSPIRE grant at GBP £75,000, amfAR offers HIV fellowships up to USD $230,000, and Pershing Square Sohn carries a USD $750,000 prize. The smallest door is Quartet Community Foundation in North Somerset at GBP £1,000 to £20,000, and Pfizer’s real-world-evidence call tops out at USD $50,000. South Africa’s SAMRC (up to ZAR R6,000,000) and UNICEF’s child-wasting work in Papua New Guinea (PGK 3,000,000) are both commissioned inside the countries they concern.

• Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment (10 opportunities). The UN agencies dominate, and most of this is protection and advocacy money rather than research. UN Women opens two lines on its SAFE West Africa advocacy work at USD $50,000 to $100,000, and UNICEF appears four times, on gender-based violence in South Sudan, migration and fragility at around USD $60,000, Skills4Girls, and a gender programme in Assam. The Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund opens a Sudan call with an unusually wide band, USD $2,500 to $150,000, which lets both small community groups and larger grantees apply to the same window. Hatch Blue’s Women in Ocean Food programme for Latin America and the Caribbean is the sector cross-over worth flagging.

• Education, Human Rights & Inclusion (8 opportunities). One line dwarfs the rest: Danida’s Sahel Future Generations programme runs 2027 to 2029 at roughly USD $26,000,000, a multi-year civil society envelope rather than a project grant. After that the section is a mix of fellowships and place-based schemes. The US Department of Energy Office of Science opens its Genesis Mission Graduate Fellowship, Princeton runs the Fung Global Fellows, and Canada’s Department of National Defence opens MINDS Targeted Engagement Grants. On the inclusion side, the London Marathon Foundation funds Active Spaces and EIT Urban Mobility funds New European Bauhaus work. The Heinz Endowments and the Sir Halley Stewart Trust close the section, both at the letter-of-inquiry or main-grant stage rather than a fixed call.

• Agriculture, Climate, Environment, Energy & Food (10 opportunities). This section is built around conservation and the blue economy. The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund opens its Indo-Burma call at up to USD $250,000, UNDP runs the fifth call of its Ocean Innovation Challenge, and the Marine Stewardship Council opens a recertification assistance fund for fisheries. Eni’s Award for Young Talents from Africa and Temasek Foundation’s 2027 Liveability Challenge are the prize-shaped entries, where you nominate rather than apply. The rolling doors matter here too: NorthX Climate Tech keeps an open intake, UNEP’s Small Grants Programme runs continuously, and the Effective Altruism Animal Welfare Fund takes applications on an ongoing basis, so these are worth bookmarking even if the fixed deadlines in this update pass.

• Humanitarian Aid, Emergency Programming & DRR (3 opportunities). A thin section, and worth saying so. The World Food Programme carries two of the three, and Sida opens a mine-action call in Ukraine running 2027 to 2029. Humanitarian calls cluster around the annual pooled-fund cycles, so a light month here is the norm rather than a gap in our coverage, and the November post should sit closer to those windows.

• Innovation, Research & Smart Cities (12 opportunities). This is the AI-and-compute section, and Amazon owns most of it: six separate research calls, on Trainium, AI for information security, synthetic data, Amazon Security, AWS agentic AI, and multilingual AI evaluation. Alongside them, Activate opens its 2027 US Fellowship for hard-tech founders, and the European Research Council opens its 2027 Consolidator Grant for mid-career researchers, which is the largest and most competitive research line in the section. At the other end, the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare opens a Centenary Research Award and Wilde Ganzen runs its standing grantmaking, the kind of money that starts a project rather than scales one.

This post is for paid subscribers only, but the monthly round-up will always remain free. I also regularly share updates on my LinkedIn.

Open Opportunities

Cross-Cutting / Intersectional Impact

2 new this cycle.

Visa Foundation U.S. Small Business Growth and Innovation Program, Visa Foundation. *New!*

Visa Foundation is opening its U.S. Small Business Growth and Innovation Program, a one-time grant round for nonprofit entrepreneurial support organizations that deliver direct services to small and micro businesses. The foundation is putting flexible, general-operating money behind the intermediaries that coach, train, and connect existing owners, rather than funding businesses one at a time. It wants to back organizations with real community trust, measurable results, and the ability to adapt their models as owners take up digital and AI tools. Requiring audited financials and a mid-size budget band signals that Visa Foundation is looking for established operators ready to scale, not idea-stage startups. The strongest fits are proven support organizations serving hundreds of active small businesses with clear, countable outcomes.

• Geographies: United States.

• Who can apply: U.S.-based 501(c)(3) public charities in good standing with an annual operating budget of $1M to $10M that provide direct business support (training, coaching, technical assistance, peer learning, or technology adoption support) to small and micro businesses, and have two years of audited financial statements and/or IRS Form 990s. Fiscally sponsored organizations are considered if the fiscal sponsor is a 501(c)(3); local chapters are considered if they hold standalone 501(c)(3) status. Past and current Visa Foundation and Visa Inc. grantees may apply.

• Funding amount: $100,000 to $250,000 per 12-month grant (sized by organizational budget); $2M total program budget.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Economic Development & Livelihoods.

• Deadline: October 21, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Atlassian Foundation Open Call for Proposals 2026 (Reshaping Education Takes Teamwork), Atlassian Foundation. *New!*

The Atlassian Foundation is opening its 2026 call for proposals to fund coalitions working to improve education for disadvantaged learners in the AI era. The Foundation is putting its money behind collective action rather than single implementers, backing groups of organizations that share goals, delivery, and learning to solve systemic problems that one player cannot. It wants to back education that helps emerging technology close opportunity gaps instead of widening them, with direct, measurable relief for a clearly identified beneficiary group. By pairing the grant with a peer learning cohort and free access to its teamwork tools, the Foundation signals that it values connected, capacity-building partnerships over isolated pilots. The strongest fits are registered nonprofits leading genuine multi-organization alliances serving under-resourced communities.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Registered nonprofit organisations globally that are working as part of a collective action initiative to improve education for disadvantaged learners in the AI era. Applicants from countries under international sanctions are excluded.

• Funding amount: Up to US$1 million over two years (capped at 25% of the lead organisation operating budget for the same period); total program envelope US$8 million over two years.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Education; Innovation; Science & Technology; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing · SDG4; SDG1; SDG10.

• Deadline: October 30, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Regional Fund for Triangular Cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean: 29th Call for Proposals (2026), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). *New!*

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, through its Regional Fund for Triangular Cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean, is opening its 29th call for projects that let one country adapt a proven policy or practice from another. Commissioned by Germany’s development ministry, GIZ uses the fund to back three-way partnerships in which a provider, a beneficiary, and a facilitator share responsibility for a development solution. It seeks to support demand-driven work that systematizes what the partners learn and turns it into knowledge products others can reuse, rather than one-off exchanges. Keeping the call sector-open and routing proposals through German embassies signals that GIZ wants durable cooperation relationships, not single deliverables. The strongest fits are public institutions, academic bodies, and civil-society actors ready to co-create and document their results.

• Geographies: Mexico; Brazil; Colombia; Ecuador; Bolivia; Peru.

• Who can apply: Multi-actor triangular partnerships combining a main (provider) partner, an applicant/beneficiary partner, and a facilitating partner. Eligible actors include public institutions and cooperation agencies, academic bodies, civil-society organizations, and private or philanthropic actors. At least one participating partner must be a BMZ partner country in Latin America and the Caribbean (Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, or Peru); the beneficiary partner must be ODA-eligible. Proposals require an endorsement letter from the body responsible for international cooperation and commitment letters from technical partners, and are submitted via a German Embassy (no direct submission to the Regional Fund).

• Funding amount: Up to EUR 300,000 per project (non-reimbursable financial contribution from the Regional Fund)

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Governance, Policy & Advocacy.

• Deadline: October 31, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

AI for Science & Safety Nodes: Request for Proposals, Foresight Institute. *New!*

Foresight Institute, a longtime nonprofit backer of frontier science, is opening its AI for Science and Safety Nodes request for proposals, funding researchers and builders working to keep the transition to capable AI open, secure, and aligned with human flourishing. The institute is assembling a decentralized network of physical hubs rather than funding from a distance, and wants work it can watch mature in person. Its coordination and accountability track seeks tooling for human-AI collectives, frameworks for when people should keep control, and insurance-style mechanisms that put risk assessment outside the labs. The open-source requirement and the preference for compute-smart teams over large payrolls signal who they trust to move fast. The strongest fits are mission-driven technologists ready to build at a Node and share what they make.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Individuals, teams, nonprofit organizations, and for-profit organizations. For-profit applicants must motivate why they need grant funding. Applicants who can be active, in-person contributors at the San Francisco or Berlin Nodes are strongly prioritized.

• Funding amount: USD $30,000 to $100,000 (typical per-grant range)

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Governance, Policy & Advocacy; Innovation; Science & Technology.

• Deadline: October 31, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

MediaTech Hub (MTH) Accelerator, MediaTech Hub Potsdam. *New!*

MediaTech Hub Potsdam is opening its accelerator to early-stage startups working at the intersection of media and technology, offering nine months of mentoring, office space in Babelsberg, and direct access to studios, broadcasters, and technology partners. The program is equity-free, so founders keep their stake while building toward either independent, sustainable growth or a first investment round. Two tracks let teams choose their path, signaling that MediaTech Hub cares less about forcing every company toward venture capital than about matching support to where a business actually wants to go. Public backing from Brandenburg and its partners points to a regional ambition: turning Potsdam and Babelsberg into a durable home for media innovation. The strongest fits are founding teams with a working prototype, a scalable B2B model, and roots in Germany.

• Geographies: Germany.

• Who can apply: Early-stage startups working at the intersection of media and technology, with at least two co-founders, an innovative and scalable B2B business model, and an initial MVP, based and operating in Germany. The program is free of charge for startups headquartered in Brandenburg.

• Funding amount: Equity-free accelerator; no cash award and no equity taken. Support is in-kind: 9 months of mentoring, office/coworking space in Babelsberg, and MTH network, media-industry and investor access. Free of charge for startups headquartered in Brandenburg.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Economic Development & Livelihoods; Innovation; Science & Technology; Arts; Culture & Media.

• Deadline: October 31, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

2027 Global Health Challenge, MIT Solve. *New!*

MIT Solve’s 2027 Global Health Challenge asks how technology can make good health and quality care more equitable, and it funds working solutions that expand access for the communities most often left out. Solve puts its money behind tech that keeps care going through outbreaks, climate shocks, and financing disruptions, that manages noncommunicable and mental health conditions and aging needs, and that reaches vulnerable communities by backing frontline workers and cutting cost and distance. The challenge accepts solutions already at prototype through scale, signaling that Solve wants evidence of traction rather than concepts on paper. The nine-month support program and partner prizes show a funder building a cohort, not just cutting checks. The strongest fits are health innovators with a tested solution ready to grow.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Team leads, solutions, or organizations developing technology-based solutions that increase access to good health and quality care. Solve encourages people of all backgrounds to apply. Solutions must be at the Prototype, Pilot, Growth, or Scale stage. ‘Technology’ is defined broadly (apps, SMS, software, AI, robotics, drones, blockchain, VR, and traditional or ancestral knowledge systems).

• Funding amount: Solver Award: USD $10,000 grant for all selected teams; Solver teams receive an average of ~USD $40,000 each; access to a pool of +USD $1M in prize funding; named prizes include AI for Humanity Prize up to USD $150,000, Philips Foundation Social Impact Award USD $100,000, E Ink Innovation Prize USD $100,000, Citizens Workforce Innovation Prize USD $100,000, Crescent Enterprises AI for Social Innovation Prize up to USD $100,000 across up to four teams.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Innovation; Science & Technology.

• Deadline: November 2, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

2027 Global Climate Challenge: Innovative Solutions for a Climate-Resilient Future, MIT Solve. *New!*

MIT Solve is inviting applications for its 2027 Global Climate Challenge, an open call for technology-based solutions that help communities adapt to a warming climate and decarbonize daily life. Solve runs the challenge as an open innovation platform, pairing selected teams with a nine-month support program. It seeks work across low-carbon resilient cities, hazard protection, resilient agrifood systems, and ocean restoration, favoring approaches that fit existing infrastructure and local capacity. The challenge accepts solutions from concept through scale and defines technology broadly to include traditional and ancestral knowledge, signaling that practical fit and community grounding weigh as heavily as technical novelty. Judges assess alignment, impact potential, feasibility, innovation, and human-centered design. The strongest fits are entrepreneurs and organizations with a working climate solution ready to grow through coaching and networks.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Innovators, entrepreneurs, and organizations with technology-based solutions that help communities adapt to a warming climate and decarbonize how people live and eat. Technology is defined broadly (apps, SMS, software, AI, robotics, drones, blockchain, VR, and traditional or ancestral knowledge). Solutions may be at concept, prototype, pilot, growth, or scale stage; a designated team lead must represent the solution. Past Solvers may apply only with a new solution.

• Funding amount: $10,000 Solver Award per team; ~$40,000 average combined funding per selected team; climate-aligned sponsor prizes up to $150,000; +$1,000,000 total prize funding across the 2027 Global Challenges.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Climate & Environment; Innovation; Science & Technology.

• Deadline: November 2, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

2027 Global Economic Prosperity Challenge, MIT Solve. *New!*

MIT Solve runs its 2027 Global Economic Prosperity Challenge as an open call for technology solutions that help people build lasting prosperity through quality work, affordable housing, and financial resilience. Solve pairs cash awards with a nine month support program, signaling that it backs teams it can accelerate rather than one time winners. It looks to fund solutions that reach workers shut out of formal labor markets, families managing financial shocks, and displaced or informally settled communities needing safe housing. The application rewards human centered design and evidence that a technology already works, so Solve is screening for proof over promise. The strongest fits are innovators with a working solution, real community relationships, and the capacity to scale across more than one place.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Any individual or team with a technology-based solution addressing financial resilience, quality employment, or affordable housing may apply, including for-profit, nonprofit, and hybrid organizations. Solutions at any stage are eligible: Concept, Prototype, Pilot, Growth, or Scale. Technology is broadly defined (apps, SMS technology, software, AI, robots, drones, blockchain, virtual reality) and also includes traditional, ancestral, and natural technologies. One team lead per submission.

• Funding amount: USD $10,000 base Solver grant funded by Solve for every selected team, plus sponsor-funded prizes up to $150,000-$200,000 each (AI for Humanity up to $150,000; Community Catalyst up to $200,000; Seeding the Future $150,000; E Ink, Citizens, Ocean Innovation, Schmidt Marine Wavemaker’s, Crescent Enterprises AI each up to $100,000); over $1,000,000 in total prize funding; selected teams receive an average of roughly $40,000 each.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Economic Development & Livelihoods; Innovation; Science & Technology; Finance & Investment · SDG1; SDG8; SDG11.

• Deadline: November 2, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Global Schools Prize 2027, Varkey Foundation. *New!*

The Varkey Foundation runs the Global Schools Prize to recognize schools that go beyond conventional teaching to deliver quality education, and the 2027 cycle invites schools worldwide across ten categories spanning AI transformation, inclusive education, sustainability, health and wellbeing, and teacher development. The foundation uses the prize to reward whole-school excellence rather than individual educators, building a visible network of standout institutions. It looks for schools that have measurably lifted outcomes for their students and communities, often under difficult conditions. Opening the award to every government-run and privately funded school teaching students up to age eighteen, in any country, signals that the foundation wants reach and diversity of context. The strongest fits are schools with a documented record of transformative practice in one or more of the named categories.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: All government-run and privately funded schools that teach students up to the age of 18, in every country in the world, subject to local laws, that are going above and beyond to deliver quality education. Schools may self-apply or be nominated, and may enter multiple categories.

• Funding amount: US $1 million total: ten category winners of US $50,000 each and one grand winner of US $500,000.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Education.

• Deadline: December 16, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Global Health & WASH

Read more

Hello everyone, and welcome to the October roundup!

Two hundred and twenty-six opportunities across the seven sector pages this month, 140 of them new since September, and more than half closing before the end of October.

The thread running through this edition is AI, and almost none of the money is for building it. The Citi Foundation is putting USD $25 million into preparing young people for AI. Humanity AI has USD $10 million for communities shaping how AI is used, and it fits two pages. OpenAI is funding research on AI and teenage development. The ILSS-Koita AI Awards reward Indian nonprofits that use it in their work, Ersilia runs an AI incubator for African drug discovery, and Digital Science’s Catalyst Grant asks for agentic workflows you can trust. Across these calls, funders care less about what AI can do than about who it happens to, and who gets a say.

The biggest cheques are European, and most of them are gated. The Clean Industrial Deal call has EUR €125 million for decarbonising energy-intensive industry. Horizon Europe’s Excellence Hubs call has EUR €100 million, FOREST has EUR €40 million and Water4All has EUR €34 million. The European Innovation Council will put up to EUR €4 million behind a single healthy-ageing project. All of it is built for multi-country research-industry consortia. If you are not already in one, look at the smaller layer underneath. It includes the H&M Foundation’s Global Change Award, the Harambeans prize for African manufacturers and IGAD’s youth innovation challenge in Sudan.

UN agencies are choosing national partners, at scale. The World Food Programme has opened emergency nutrition calls across all eighteen states of Sudan at once, plus Chad and Venezuela. UNHCR is selecting partners to deliver its 2027 to 2030 strategy in seven countries across the Balkans and Central Europe. UNICEF wants a preparedness partner in Zimbabwe and child protection partners in Assam and Tamil Nadu. UN Women is looking for a partner to support Bangladeshi women migrants returning home. None of these publish a budget, and you need to be registered in the country and on the UN Partner Portal. If you are, the WFP calls in particular tend to get too few applicants.

Before you apply, check whether the money is for a person or an organization. Much of this month’s money goes to individuals. The health research money goes mostly to early-career investigators, from the South African Medical Research Council to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. Tory Burch, Blackbird and Makers Mindset are backing women founders. A lot of the Education page is fellowships and prizes, not grants. Organizations get something rarer: flexible, multi-year core support. It comes from the Resilience Fund for Women, the adidas Foundation and the Doria Feminist Fund, and Doria will fund unregistered collectives with no bank account.

What’s inside

• Cross-Cutting & Intersectional Impact (6 new opportunities). AI and climate funded as things that happen to communities. On the AI side: Citi’s youth and AI challenge, Humanity AI and OpenAI’s research on AI and teenagers. On the climate side: the Resilience Fund for Women, the Clean Air Fund and the Global EbA Fund.

• Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment (5 new opportunities). Founder fellowships for individual women and flexible core support for organizations. The biggest pot is London’s GBP £6 million VAWG Grassroots Fund. Outside the US and Europe, the feminist funds are the money you can actually reach.

• Global Health & WASH (26 new opportunities). Research money, much of it for early-career scientists and organized by disease, so ask which foundation funds your disease. Also on the page: Water Research Foundation utility projects at USD $250,000 to $500,000, and HRSA community health center awards of up to USD $10 million.

• Education, Human Rights & Inclusion (30 new opportunities). The broadest page. It has UNICEF child protection partnerships in India, the European Commission’s dialogue with people living in poverty, and grassroots money from Sparkplug, Voqal and the Maypole Fund. Check whether “support” means money for you before you spend a week applying.

• Agriculture, Climate, Environment, Energy & Food (31 new opportunities). The biggest money of any page, mostly European industrial calls for consortia. There are real founder windows from Halcyon and Goumbook. Community adaptation money from the Global EbA Fund, Nature Connect and Forth Valley is here too, but small.

• Humanitarian Aid, Emergency Programming & DRR (27 new opportunities). Almost all UN partner calls: WFP nutrition across Sudan, UNHCR in the Balkans and UNICEF preparedness in Zimbabwe. You need to be a registered national NGO in the country to apply.

• Innovation, Research & Smart Cities (15 new opportunities). Two economies on one page. Horizon Europe’s EUR €100 million Excellence Hubs call is gated to consortia. Open founder money for local founders includes Harambeans, IGAD’s Sudan challenge and the ILSS-Koita AI Awards. NLnet funds open infrastructure, and J-PAL, AGNES and FAPESP offer fellowships.

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Selected Opportunities:

Cross-Cutting / Intersectional Impact

Citi Foundation Fourth Global Innovation Challenge 2026: Preparing Youth for AI, Citi Foundation. *Closing soon!*

The Citi Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the global bank Citigroup, has opened its fourth Global Innovation Challenge, a request for proposals backing community organizations that prepare low-income young people for an economy reshaped by artificial intelligence. The foundation reads the moment as a widening digital divide, where AI fluency and human-centric skills like critical thinking and resilience increasingly decide who reaches stable work. It wants nonprofits that help youth build both, connect them to jobs, and fold AI tools into existing employment programs. Restricting eligibility to locally registered nonprofits operating where Citi has a presence signals a preference for grounded, proven community actors over newcomers. The strongest fits are established youth-employment organizations ready to pilot or expand AI-focused skills work in their own communities.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Community organizations registered as nonprofit entities under local law (e.g., U.S. 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public charities) whose proposed program supports low-income communities and impacts one or more Citi Foundation target geographies where Citi has a presence.

• Funding amount: USD $500,000 to each of 50 community organizations; USD $25 million total commitment.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Education; Innovation, Research & Smart Cities · SDG4; SDG8.

• Deadline: October 6, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

OpenAI AI and Teen Development Research Grant Program, OpenAI. *New!* *Closing soon!*

OpenAI is opening its AI and Teen Development Research Grant Program to fund independent studies of how generative AI shapes the lives of young people ages 13 to 17. OpenAI wants a stronger evidence base on how teens actually use these tools and what that use does to their social and emotional development, so that product teams, policymakers, and regulators can act on findings rather than assumptions. It seeks work on emotion regulation, relationships, belonging, and the safeguards that keep teens safer, welcoming interdisciplinary teams and any methodology. That it will fund research whose conclusions may not favor AI providers, and prioritizes studies touching ChatGPT, signals a genuine appetite for credible outside scrutiny. The strongest fits are research groups grounded in adolescent development, well-being, and AI safety.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Researchers aged 18 or older who are affiliated with a research institution or organization, and/or have significant experience relevant to child or adolescent development, well-being, human-computer interaction, AI impacts, or a closely related field. Multiple institutions may collaborate. OpenAI is seeking to fund research rather than for-profit initiatives and will not prioritize for-profit organizations.

• Funding amount: Individual research grants up to USD $1 million, totaling up to USD $5 million; maximum 10% of each grant for overhead or indirect costs.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing; Innovation, Science & Technology.

• Deadline: October 6, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

International Social Finance Accelerator (ISFA) - 2027 Cohort, Accelerating Impact. *New!* *Closing soon!*

Accelerating Impact, the Luxembourg platform behind the International Social Finance Accelerator, is inviting emerging fund managers raising their first or second impact investment vehicle to apply for its 2027 cohort. The accelerator combines hands-on technical support with working capital because the hardest stretch for a new impact fund is the years before a first close, when a sound strategy can stall for want of runway. It backs managers whose capital will reach decent work, stronger living standards, and more inclusive communities across countries eligible for official development assistance. The three phase selection, narrowing many expressions of interest to a handful of managers, signals that readiness and conviction matter more than polish. The strongest fits are credible, locally grounded teams with a differentiated thesis and a clear path to launch.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Emerging impact fund managers - fund management or fund advisory companies raising their first or second impact investment vehicle - that focus on social impact and intend to be regulated in an EU Member State or an equivalent regime, with at least two key persons and capital deployed in ODA-eligible countries.

• Funding amount: EUR €100,000 support services envelope (reimbursable once the fund is launched) plus a possible working capital loan of up to EUR €200,000 from a partner Luxembourg bank (at the bank’s discretion), guaranteed by the Luxembourg State.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Economic Development & Livelihoods; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing.

• Deadline: October 11, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Communities Leading on AI: $10 Million Open Call for Grants, Humanity AI.

Humanity AI, a five-year collaborative grantmaking initiative backed by ten philanthropies, is opening its Communities Leading on AI call to fund U.S. work where people most affected by AI set the terms for how it is built, governed, and used. The initiative wants communities, not just companies, holding decision-making power across education, labor and economy, and the humanities, arts, and culture. It seeks efforts that strengthen guardrails, build AI on community terms, or challenge deployments that feel imposed, and it favors open-weight approaches over closed proprietary models. Structuring the call around community leadership and field learning signals that the funder cares more about who holds power over AI than about any single tool produced. The strongest fits are worker, student, artist, and advocacy organizations trusted by the communities they serve.

• Geographies: United States.

• Who can apply: U.S.-based organizations, collaborations, and individuals with proposals focused on U.S.-based communities. Lead organizations must hold 501(c)(3) status. Individuals and informal groups (artists, students, workers, scholars, technologists) must apply through a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor or as part of a collaboration led by a 501(c)(3). Tribal governments treated as States under IRC Section 7871 may apply on their own or within a collaboration. For-profit organizations may participate in collaborations but may not serve as lead applicants.

• Funding amount: Grants range from USD $75,000 to USD $1,000,000 across three tiers (Tier 1: USD $75,000 to USD $150,000; Tier 2: USD $150,000 to USD $500,000; Tier 3: USD $500,000 to USD $1,000,000); total USD $10,000,000 available.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Innovation, Science & Technology; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing.

• Deadline: October 21, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Call for Expressions of Interest: Research on the health and climate benefits of black carbon exposure reduction interventions in cold-climate settings, Clean Air Fund. *New!*

The Clean Air Fund is opening a call for expressions of interest under its Action on Super Pollutants and Health program, funding research into the health and climate benefits of cutting black carbon in cold-climate settings across low- and middle-income countries. The fund wants real-world evidence, not lab work: studies that measure what happens when cleaner space-heating and industrial technologies replace soot-heavy fuels under actual use conditions. It seeks proof that reducing this super pollutant protects lungs and slows glacier melt at once, and it asks applicants to weigh community acceptance so solutions actually stick. The two-stage design and its equity requirement signal a funder that wants research grounded in the places and people most burdened. The strongest fits are global south research institutions pairing atmospheric measurement with health outcomes.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Research institutes, higher education institutions, and not-for-profit or non-governmental research organisations. Applicants should demonstrate a track record of research in climate change mitigation and health, and experience of using research to influence policy or practice. Open to any region, with particular interest in global south-led research consortia.

• Funding amount: Up to GBP £220,000 (USD $300,000).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Climate & Environment; Energy.

• Deadline: October 23, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Global EbA Fund Medium-Size Grants Call for Proposals, Global EbA Fund.

The Global EbA Fund, administered by IUCN and the United Nations Environment Programme with support from Germany’s International Climate Initiative, is opening its medium-size grants call for ecosystem-based adaptation projects. The Fund wants adaptation to move past isolated pilots, so it backs work that strengthens enabling environments, draws private and blended finance into adaptation, and connects climate, biodiversity, land, and disaster-risk agendas into shared action. It seeks catalytic projects that scale existing efforts rather than start fresh, prioritizing innovative finance, human security in fragile settings, and policy coherence across the Rio Conventions. Requiring local partners, a clear theory of change, and core indicators signals that the Fund values systemic change grounded in communities. The strongest fits are experienced organizations translating proven EbA methods into replicable, investment-ready models.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Non-governmental organisations (NGOs), international NGOs (INGOs), intergovernmental organisations (IGOs), community-based organisations (CBOs), Indigenous Peoples organisations, universities and academic institutions, research institutes and think tanks, and private sector companies (under conditions). Consortia are welcome with a clearly defined lead Applicant Organisation as the responsible contract party. Government entities may partner or sit within a consortium but cannot receive Global EbA Fund money. Individuals are not eligible, though an individual’s legally established institution may apply on their behalf. UNEP and IUCN offices are not eligible to apply.

• Funding amount: Each grant up to USD $500,000.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Finance & Investment; Humanitarian & Disaster Response.

• Also home on: the Agriculture, Climate, Environment, Energy & Food page.

• Deadline: November 16, 2026 (submissions open October 12, 2026).

• Learn more and apply here.

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Agriculture, Climate, Environment, Energy & Food

Global Change Award 2027, H&M Foundation. *Closing soon!*

The H&M Foundation runs the Global Change Award to accelerate early-stage innovation that can help the textile and fashion industry halve its greenhouse gas emissions every decade and reach net zero by 2050. The foundation treats the earliest, hardest phase of an idea as the point where a grant and a structured program matter most, backing ten changemakers each year and asking nothing in equity or intellectual property. It looks for solutions across sustainable materials, responsible production, mindful consumption, and bold wildcards, and it values systems thinking over any single fix. The nomination-based design, open to anyone from anywhere, signals that the foundation wants overlooked ideas surfaced through a global network. The strongest fits are early-stage innovators ready to rethink how fashion is made and used.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Early-stage changemakers from anywhere in the world working on ideas that can help decarbonise the textile and fashion industry. Applicants may be an individual, a small/informal team, or an organisation; ideas can be technical, social, policy-driven or system-oriented. No registered company, revenue, customers or finished solution is required; ideas may still be in research, lab or concept phase. Most entries come through H&M Foundation’s global nominator network, but changemakers can self-submit through The Mills Fabrica, an official nominator, to be considered for nomination.

• Funding amount: EUR €200,000 grant per winner; ten winners selected annually; grant paid in two tranches (on announcement and on completion of the Changemaker Programme).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Innovation, Science & Technology · SDG12; SDG13.

• Deadline: October 2, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

LabStart Fellowship 2027 (Climate Tech Venture Launch), LabStart Innovations Inc. *New!* *Closing soon!*

LabStart Innovations Inc. runs the LabStart Fellowship to move breakthrough climate technologies out of American research labs and into companies, and it recruits the founders to do it. The organization uses milestone-based funding and a full-time cohort program to remove the financial risk that keeps talented, undercapitalized people from committing to a climate startup. It backs founders at the earliest point, including those without an idea yet, who want to license and commercialize technology sitting in universities and national laboratories. The design, from stipend to licensing support to mentorship by climate founders, signals that LabStart wants to widen who gets to build, prioritizing women, BIPOC, and first time founders. The strongest fits are entrepreneurs ready to work full time turning lab science into a venture.

• Geographies: United States.

• Who can apply: Non-traditional and diverse entrepreneurs (individual and aspiring founders, plus early-stage teams) in the U.S. seeking to build deep climate tech startups by commercializing technologies from universities and national laboratories, including applicants without a specific idea yet.

• Funding amount: USD $100,000 in milestone-based funding over the 12-month full-time Launch Phase, preceded by a four-month Discovery Phase (approximately USD $6,000).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Innovation, Science & Technology · SDG7; SDG9; SDG13.

• Deadline: October 9, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Redwood Research Grants (Revive the Range), Save the Redwoods League. *New!* *Closing soon!*

Save the Redwoods League is accepting applications for its Redwood Research Grants, funding scientists whose work advances conservation and restoration science for coast redwood and giant sequoia ecosystems. The League treats research as the groundwork for protection, backing studies that reveal how these forests hold up or falter in a changing climate. This year’s Revive the Range theme points to what the League most wants to support: findings that apply across a species’ full range, and work that clarifies redwood vulnerability or resilience. A two-stage design, a brief pre-proposal before any full proposal, signals that the League wants promising ideas surfaced before anyone writes at length. The strongest fits are nonprofit research institutions, universities, public agencies, and Tribal nations ready to turn a grant into catalyst funding for conservation science.

• Geographies: United States.

• Who can apply: Nonprofit organizations, including universities and public agencies, plus federally or state recognized Indigenous, Native, and Tribal nations and communities. Individuals are directed to the separate student starter grants program.

• Funding amount: USD $30,000 to USD $50,000.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: SDG13; SDG15.

• Deadline: October 16, 2026 (pre-proposal; invited full proposals due November 30, 2026).

• Learn more and apply here.

Coral Accelerator Program (CAP) 2026, G20 Coral Research & Development Accelerator Platform (CORDAP). *Closing soon!*

The G20 Coral Research and Development Accelerator Platform is opening its fifth Coral Accelerator Program, funding international teams to protect, restore, and strengthen the resilience of tropical and cold-water coral reefs. CORDAP treats reef survival as a race between discovery and deployment, so it backs projects that move quickly from early-phase science toward tested, scalable solutions. It wants breakthroughs that reach the communities most dependent on reefs, which is why every team must span at least two countries and include a low or middle-income partner, and why resulting intellectual property stays openly licensed. The two-stage concept note design lets bold ideas surface before full proposals are built out. The strongest fits are multidisciplinary consortia pairing serious coral R&D with a genuine commitment to affordable, openly shared tools.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: International collaborative teams. Each application requires a minimum of three applicants (one Lead Applicant plus at least two Co-Applicants) representing organizations from at least two different countries, one of which must be a low- or middle-income country (OECD DAC list). Eligible organizations include not-for-profit organizations, for-profit organizations, higher education institutions, research institutes, and government organizations in any country. Awards cannot go directly to individuals.

• Funding amount: Up to USD $1 million per project; total funding allocation of USD $3.2 million shared across CAP 2026 and the upcoming CORDAP High Reward call.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Innovation, Science & Technology · SDG13; SDG14.

• Deadline: October 19, 2026 (concept note).

• Learn more and apply here.

Africa Innovation in Agriculture and Food Security Accelerator (2027), Halcyon. *New!*

Halcyon is opening its Africa Innovation in Agriculture and Food Security Accelerator to early-stage founders across Sub-Saharan Africa who are strengthening farming and food systems with market-based solutions. The accelerator pairs an equity-free stipend with cloud credits, residencies in Accra and Nairobi, and access to a network of more than six hundred impact founders, signaling that Halcyon wants to build durable ventures rather than fund one-off pilots. It backs companies past the idea stage, with a working product and paying customers, and it reads the SDG requirement as proof that commercial traction and food-security impact can travel together. The design favors full-time, decisive founders. The strongest fits are post-revenue agri-tech ventures ready to scale climate-smart production, market access, and supply-chain reliability across the continent.

• Geographies: Angola; Benin; Botswana; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cabo Verde; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Chad; Comoros; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Djibouti; Equatorial Guinea; Eritrea; Eswatini; Ethiopia; Gabon; Gambia; Ghana; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Ivory Coast; Kenya; Lesotho; Liberia; Madagascar; Malawi; Mali; Mauritania; Mauritius; Mozambique; Namibia; Niger; Nigeria; Republic of the Congo; Réunion; Rwanda; Sao Tome and Principe; Senegal; Seychelles; Sierra Leone; Somalia; South Africa; Sudan; Tanzania; Togo; Uganda; Western Sahara; Zambia; Zimbabwe.

• Who can apply: Early-stage, impact-driven ventures across Sub-Saharan Africa that strengthen agriculture and food systems through market-based solutions. Ventures must be at paid-pilot or post-revenue (pre-profit) stage with a minimum viable product, led by a full-time CEO/founder holding primary decision-making authority, with at most one co-founder, English fluency, and founders aged 21 or older. Ventures must contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goals through a market-based approach.

• Funding amount: USD $10K equity-free stipend per venture plus USD $10K in AWS credits.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Economic Development & Livelihoods · SDG2; SDG8; SDG13.

• Deadline: October 23, 2026 (first-round eligibility form; invited applications due October 30, 2026).

• Learn more and apply here.

Comparison of PFAS Contributions to Agricultural Systems, The Water Research Foundation. *New!*

The Water Research Foundation is accepting proposals for Comparison of PFAS Contributions to Agricultural Systems, funding research that traces how biosolids, manure, compost, fertilizers, pesticides, seed coatings, irrigation water, and atmospheric deposition each carry PFAS into farmland. The Foundation is funding source apportionment rather than another treatment pilot, because utilities, farmers, and regulators cannot manage what they cannot attribute. It seeks work that measures compound-specific concentrations across inputs, soil, and plant tissue and follows their movement at field scale over a multi-year study. Requiring applicant cost share signals that the Foundation wants partners with institutional skin in the question, not contractors. The strongest fits are academic groups, research organizations, utilities, and consulting firms that can combine field sampling, analytical chemistry, and data synthesis to inform food safety and biosolids decisions.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Entities eligible to apply include, but are not limited to, academic institutions, research organizations, utilities, government agencies, and consulting firms. Open to both U.S.-based and non-U.S.-based entities.

• Funding amount: Up to USD $400,000 in WRF funding per project; applicant must provide additional resources equal to at least 33% of the project award.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Climate & Environment.

• Deadline: October 26, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

I3FLOAT 1st Open Call: Accelerating innovation in floating offshore wind, I3FLOAT Consortium. *New!*

The I3FLOAT Consortium, an interregional partnership co-funded through the European Union Interregional Innovation Investments Instrument, is opening its first cascade funding call for small and medium enterprises building floating offshore wind technologies. I3FLOAT wants to move promising solutions from advanced prototypes toward commercial deployment, and it structures the call around concrete challenges that turbine developers, cable makers, and port operators have flagged as bottlenecks in the European supply chain. Applicants choose one specific or open challenge, and cross-regional pairs of companies earn extra evaluation points, signaling that the consortium values stronger interregional ties as much as individual products. Reporting rests on technical deliverables rather than itemized receipts. The strongest fits are commercialization-stage SMEs rooted in the eligible regions with a technology ready to prove at sea.

• Geographies: Belgium; Bulgaria; France; Italy; Poland; Portugal; Spain.

• Who can apply: SMEs (per the EU SME definition) developing technological solutions for the floating offshore wind sector with projects close to commercialisation (TRL 6-8). Applicants may apply as a single SME or as two SMEs collaborating from different eligible regions. Each applicant must demonstrate financial stability and capacity, must have no ownership connection with an I3FLOAT consortium partner, and may submit only one proposal addressing exactly one of the 11 Specific Challenges or 44 Open Challenges.

• Funding amount: Up to EUR €60,000 per SME (100% grant intensity, lump sum against deliverables); ~EUR €2.52M available for the 1st Open Call; EUR €3,000,000 total cascade funding mobilised across both Open Calls, supporting up to 50 SMEs.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Innovation, Science & Technology.

• Deadline: November 10, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Water4All 2026 Joint Transnational Call: Sustainable Water Management, European Partnership Water4All.

European Partnership Water4All, co-funded by the European Union under Horizon Europe, is opening its 2026 Joint Transnational Call for research and innovation projects on sustainable water management, set apart from extreme events and circularity. Thirty-two national and regional funding organizations pooled money here because water resources cross borders and national programs alone cannot manage river basins, groundwater, and monitoring systems that span countries. Water4All wants proposals that strengthen integrated water resource management, nature-based approaches, secure water infrastructure, and inclusive governance, feeding evidence into EU and national water policy. Requiring consortia drawn from at least three countries, and adding an early-career researcher track, signals that the partnership is building durable cross-national research capacity, not one-off studies. The strongest fits are research teams already working across borders on water resilience.

• Geographies: Europe.

• Who can apply: Transnational consortia of 3 to 7 partners. Each consortium must include at least three eligible partners requesting funding from participating Funding Partner Organisations in three different countries, and at least two independent legal entities from two different EU Member States or Horizon Europe associated countries, with a maximum of seven partners including one self-funded partner. Eligible entity types (research organisations, universities, and depending on the country companies, SMEs and public bodies) are defined by each national/regional funding organisation. An additional modality targets early-career researchers who obtained their PhD less than 10 years before the call launch (after 8 September 2016).

• Funding amount: Approx. EUR €34 million total call budget across 32 funding organisations. Per-project funding set by national/regional funding organisations under country-specific ceilings (e.g. Estonia EUR €150,000 regular to 300,000 coordinator per project; UK up to EUR €312,500; Czech Republic up to EUR €160,000; Greece EUR €200,000-250,000).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: WASH; Innovation, Science & Technology · SDG6; SDG13.

• Deadline: November 10, 2026 (pre-proposal; full proposals due April 6, 2027).

• Learn more and apply here.

MENA Regenerative Agriculture Venture Programme (Cohort 2026/2027), Goumbook. *New!*

Goumbook, a MENA sustainability social enterprise, is opening the third cohort of its MENA Regenerative Agriculture Venture Programme, which backs research, science, and nature-based solutions for farming across the Middle East and North Africa. Goumbook runs this as an accelerator, pairing grant funding for three finalists with mentorship, incubation, courses, and access to its partner network, so early research can reach proof of concept. What it seeks to back is regional food and water security: healthier soils, restored biodiversity, carbon sequestration, and stronger farmer livelihoods under arid conditions. Opening applications worldwide while tying eligibility to MENA relevance signals that impact on the region, not the applicant’s address, is what counts. The strongest fits are researchers and early entrepreneurs building science-grounded, scalable regenerative solutions for MENA farms.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Researchers, scientists, students, and early-stage innovators/entrepreneurs developing research, science, or nature-based regenerative agriculture solutions and seeking to advance their work to proof-of-concept stage.

• Funding amount: Top 3 finalists each win one of three USD $20,000 grants.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Climate & Environment; Innovation, Science & Technology · SDG2; SDG6; SDG13; SDG15.

• Deadline: November 15, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Exploration Co-Lab 2027: Edges of Possibility, Unearthodox. *New!*

Unearthodox, a Swiss-founded organization working at the intersection of nature and society, is opening applications for the 2027 Exploration Co-Lab, an alternative incubator for early-stage initiatives reworking humanity’s relationship with the living world. The grant and ten-month cohort are built for edge-walkers whose work resists neat categories: people shifting worldviews, questioning extractive institutions, or deepening ties to the more-than-human world. Unearthodox pairs modest funding with coaching, systems mapping, and futures thinking, signaling that it backs the person and the process, not just a polished plan. The design rewards depth, collective learning, and root-cause thinking over speed or scale. The strongest fits are practitioners past the idea stage, already testing or pivoting, who want relational support for regenerative systems change.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Open to individuals, informal teams, community collectives, and nonprofit or for-profit organisations pursuing social and ecological impact. Applicants must be working on an early-stage initiative at the intersection of environmental and societal change, past the idea stage (some groundwork such as initial research and testing, a pilot, or active community engagement), and may be in a testing, proving, deepening, or pivoting phase.

• Funding amount: CHF 10,000 grant per initiative, plus access to a shared pool of up to an estimated CHF 60,000 in value of non-financial, tailored support.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing.

• Deadline: November 16, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

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Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment

The Next Move: Multi-Year General Support Grants (adidas Foundation, United by Sport), adidas Foundation. *Closing soon!*

The adidas Foundation, through The Next Move under its United by Sport program, is funding non-profit organizations that use sport to confront gender-based violence, discrimination, and harmful gender norms across Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina. The Foundation is putting multi-year general support behind whole organizations rather than single projects, giving grassroots teams the flexibility and time for change to take hold. It wants to back groups that treat sport as a way to build safety, trust, belonging, and equitable participation, especially for girls and young women. A two-stage process that opens with a short expression of interest, then a conversation and self-assessment, signals a funder trying to respect applicants’ time and judge fit over polish. The strongest fits are established, community-rooted sport-for-good organizations that deliver directly and can evidence safeguarding.

• Geographies: Brazil; Colombia; Argentina.

• Who can apply: Only non-profit organizations legally registered and operational for at least two years in the country of implementation (Brazil, Colombia or Argentina) that use sport or physical activity as the core vehicle to create social impact. This includes community-based sport and sport-for-good organizations, sport clubs or foundations with a demonstrated social impact mission, and women’s sport networks and advocacy organizations that combine advocacy with delivery of sport-based programs. Applicants must be direct implementers close to communities; no sub-granting.

• Funding amount: EUR €150,000 / EUR €200,000 / EUR €250,000 per organization over three years (three fixed tiers); total funding pool EUR €2,000,000.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing.

• Deadline: October 4, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

The Resilience Fund - 2026 Funding Round for Women/Non-Binary-Led Community Organizations, The Resilience Fund for Women. *Closing soon!*

The Resilience Fund for Women is opening a new grant round for women and non-binary-led community organizations across Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, and Vietnam. The Fund pools flexible, unrestricted, multi-year money and hands it to grassroots groups already embedded in the communities where global value chains meet climate stress. It wants to back organizations working where three things converge: women’s health and safety, community-led climate adaptation, and the factory and farming communities that supply the world. By trusting partners to spend as they see fit and asking for light reporting, the Fund is signaling that it values proximity and staying power over polished projects. The strongest fits are women-led groups helping women workers adapt, earn, and stay safe as the climate shifts.

• Geographies: Bangladesh; Cambodia; India; Vietnam.

• Who can apply: Women/non-binary-led, community-based, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India and Vietnam whose work addresses all three focus areas: women’s health, safety and economic resilience; community-led climate adaptation; and connection to global value chains. Applicants must be formally registered and legally authorized to receive foreign funding, embedded in and representative of the communities they serve, with an annual income of at least USD $10,000 (2024, 2025 or 2026 baseline).

• Funding amount: USD $15,000 to USD $50,000 total per organization over two years.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Climate & Environment; Economic Development & Livelihoods.

• Deadline: October 12, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Doria Feminist Fund Grantmaking Cycle 7 - Flexible Funding for Feminist Organizations Across the MENA Region, Doria Feminist Fund. *Closing soon!*

The Doria Feminist Fund resources feminist groups and collectives across the Middle East and North Africa through its seventh grantmaking cycle, offering flexible core support, project grants, and knowledge production grants. Doria funds registered and unregistered groups alike and invites applicants to write their own narrative rather than fit a rigid template. It wants to back the movements that outlast any single project, so core funding can cover rent, salaries, and the quiet costs that keep feminist organizing alive. Prioritizing groups never funded before, and this cycle emphasizing women’s health, economic empowerment, climate justice, and ending gender based violence, signals that Doria is building an ecosystem rather than shopping for deliverables. The strongest fits are women led and trans led collectives rooted in their own communities.

• Geographies: Algeria; Bahrain; Egypt; Iraq; Jordan; Kuwait; Lebanon; Libya; Mauritania; Morocco; Oman; Palestine; Qatar; Saudi Arabia; Somalia; Sudan; Syria; Tunisia; United Arab Emirates; Yemen.

• Who can apply: Feminist activists and feminist movement builders across the MENA region - collectives, groups, and organisations, whether registered or unregistered. DFF prioritises applications led by women and trans* groups and collectives, new and emerging groups, groups that have never been funded before, and established groups launching a new project. Individuals are not eligible (collective feminist work only). No age limit; a bank account is not required.

• Funding amount: Core/Flexible Grants up to USD $15,000; Project Grants USD $5,000 to USD $10,000; Knowledge Production Grants (per-award not published); all grants capped at USD $15,000.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Philanthropy & Civil Society; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing · SDG5; SDG3; SDG13.

• Deadline: October 19, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

MOPAC Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Grassroots Fund 2027-2030, The London Community Foundation. *New!*

The London Community Foundation, delivering the Violence Against Women and Girls Grassroots Fund on behalf of the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime, is funding grassroots and specialist organizations that support women and girls across London. This third round commits money over three years, a length that lets frontline services plan and hold staff rather than scramble each year. The funder wants to back the small, specialist providers closest to survivors, reserving most of the fund for organizations led by and serving Black and minority ethnic women and girls. Prioritizing groups under a modest income ceiling, and inviting partnerships of up to three organizations, signals that they value reach into communities over institutional scale. The strongest fits are established by-and-for organizations with a track record serving marginalized women.

• Geographies: Greater London; London.

• Who can apply: Grassroots and specialist organizations providing services addressing violence against women and girls in London, with a minimum of three complete years of operational history. There is no income threshold, but organizations under GBP £500,000 annual income are prioritized. Applicants must demonstrate a track record serving marginalized and minoritised service users. Partnerships of up to three organizations may apply jointly. Applicants must satisfy core London Community Foundation eligibility requirements.

• Funding amount: Single organizations: up to GBP £150,000 (GBP £50,000 per year). Partnerships of up to 3 organizations: up to GBP £180,000 (GBP £60,000 per year). Grants run three years (February 2027 to January 2030). Total fund GBP £6,000,000 (GBP £5,700,000 in grants over three years; GBP £300,000 for capacity building, evaluation and programme management).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing.

• Deadline: November 4, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Equality Fund Journalism Fellowship, Equality Fund. *New!*

The Equality Fund, a Canadian feminist funder, is opening its inaugural Journalism Fellowship with African Women in Media and Canadian Journalists for Free Expression. The fellowship supports working journalists in ODA-recipient countries to report on local solutions to global crises through a gender lens. The Equality Fund is using this cohort to shift whose solutions reach decision-makers, backing reporters who cover their own communities on climate, gender-based violence, authoritarianism, and the rollback of reproductive rights. It wants to surface the women already doing this work rather than parachute coverage in. The phased application, a request for editorial commitment from a newsroom, and required disclosure of any AI use signal a bar for published, accountable reporting. The strongest fits are freelance or staff journalists rooted in the communities they cover.

• Geographies: ODA-recipient countries (Global South).

• Who can apply: Working journalists (full-time staff or independent freelance) with at least three years of journalism experience and fluent English, based in ODA-recipient countries, across any platform (text, digital, video, audio), reporting on their own communities and geographies. Open to women, men, and LGBTQI+ people. Shortlisted applicants must submit a letter of editorial commitment from a news outlet (in some cases substitutable with a fact-checking plan).

• Funding amount: CAD $4,000 stipend; up to CAD $500 in reporting expenses (per fellow).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Governance, Policy & Advocacy · SDG5; SDG16.

• Deadline: November 8, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

European Prize for Women Innovators 2027 (powered by EIC & EIT), European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA).

The European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency, together with the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, runs the European Prize for Women Innovators to recognize women entrepreneurs behind Europe’s ground-breaking innovations. The two agencies use the prize to surface a wider pool of women founders, reward disruptive work, and put credible role models in front of women and girls considering science and enterprise. They back founders whose deep-tech and STEM companies address a real need with clear benefit to people and the planet, and who have led their organizations through genuine traction. Three criteria, breakthrough innovation, impact, and inspiration, signal that jury members weigh the leader as much as the technology. The strongest fits are women founders of two-year-plus European companies whose science is already changing something measurable.

• Geographies: EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories) and countries associated to Horizon Europe.

• Who can apply: Women who are founders or co-founders of a company or organisation, applying as natural persons and not as legal entities. The applicant must be legally established in an EU Member State (including OCTs) or a Horizon Europe associated country, and the company must be established in the same area and registered or incorporated at least two years before the call year. Rising Innovators applicants must be under 35 at the start of the call year. Applicants can apply to only one category and cannot receive a second EU or Euratom prize for the same activities.

• Funding amount: Nine prizes across three categories: EIC Women Innovators EUR €100,000 / EUR €70,000 / EUR €50,000; EIC Rising Innovators (under 35) EUR €50,000 / EUR €30,000 / EUR €20,000; EIT Women Leadership Award EUR €50,000 / EUR €30,000 / EUR €20,000.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Innovation, Science & Technology · SDG5; SDG9.

• Deadline: December 1, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

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Global Health & WASH

IBP Network SPARK Grant Program (Shifting Power through Action and Reciprocal Knowledge Exchange), World Health Organization. *Closing soon!*

The World Health Organization, through its WHO/IBP Network, is opening the SPARK grant program to fund community-based organizations led by youth, women, or indigenous communities and working on sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health. WHO is directing flexible money straight to local groups rather than routing it through institutions, pairing each grant with technical support and access to its communities of practice. What they want to back is not delivery of a set agenda but organizations that adapt WHO guidelines to their settings and move decision-making into community hands. Asking for a short concept note first, and prioritizing groups new to WHO funding, signals that they want fresh grassroots leadership. The strongest fits are community organizations that use WHO tools and can show real community accountability.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Youth-led, women-led, or indigenous-led community-based organizations working directly with the populations they serve. Applicants should have operated for at least 2 years and have prior implementation experience using at least one WHO guideline, tool or product. Priority is given to organizations new to WHO/IBP Network funding mechanisms that demonstrate strong community accountability and leadership.

• Funding amount: Up to USD $20,000 per grant; 5 to 10 grants.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing · SDG3; SDG5.

• Deadline: October 9, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Collaborative Network for Vaccine Research in West and East Africa (CONNECT-VAX), National Research Fund (NRF) Kenya. *Closing soon!*

The National Research Fund of Kenya, with the science granting councils of Uganda, Tanzania, and Sierra Leone, opened the CONNECT-VAX call to strengthen vaccine research across the region. The councils are pooling their grants to fund cross-country teams rather than single institutions, treating regional collaboration as the vehicle that can move vaccine research, regulation, community trust, and delivery forward at once. They want to back work that helps the region develop, approve, and deliver its own vaccines. Requiring every project to draw co-investigators from all four partner countries, plus a capacity-building component, signals that they are funding durable partnerships and a rising generation of scientists. The strongest fits are established and early career researchers at registered universities and R&D institutes in the four countries ready to lead genuinely joint work.

• Geographies: Kenya; Sierra Leone; Tanzania; Uganda.

• Who can apply: Researchers affiliated with recognized public or private higher-learning and R&D institutions legally registered in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, or Sierra Leone. Large Collaborative Research Grants require a Principal Investigator plus three co-PIs, one from each of the other three participating countries; lead applicants must hold a PhD or equivalent. Early Career Research Grants require a PI who earned a PhD within the last five years and is under 45 at the time of application, with collaborators from all participating countries and at least one senior researcher as mentor. Teams must be multidisciplinary and gender-responsive.

• Funding amount: Up to USD $156,750 per Large Collaborative Research Grant (up to 7 awards); up to USD $47,000 per Early Career Research Grant (up to 2 awards); total envelope USD $1,191,351.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Governance, Policy & Advocacy; Innovation, Science & Technology · SDG3; SDG9; SDG17.

• Deadline: October 14, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

AI Incubator - AI-Enabled Drug Discovery Fellowship for African Researchers, Ersilia Open Source Initiative. *New!* *Closing soon!*

The Ersilia Open Source Initiative, with the H3D Foundation, is opening its AI Incubator, a six-month mentoring program that helps African drug discovery researchers apply open-source AI tools to their existing infectious disease projects. The organizers are putting money and expert time into a specific gap, the practical AI skills that scientists on the continent rarely get to build inside their own labs. They want to back ongoing work on malaria, tuberculosis, Gram-negative infections, and neglected tropical diseases, not new lines of inquiry, which signals a preference for teams ready to move a real project forward. The requirement that data stays with the teams, under an African data framework, shows who they trust to lead. The strongest fits are African-based principal investigators with a clear, ready AI use case.

• Geographies: Africa (WHO African Region).

• Who can apply: Senior researchers (PhDs, Lead Researchers or Principal Investigators) at academic or non-profit institutions in the WHO African Region, applying individually or as teams of up to 4 scientists. PhD students may act as lead applicants with explicit PI support. Applicants must have an ongoing drug discovery project for global health with a clear AI use case and be able to work in English.

• Funding amount: USD $10,000 grant per selected project (50% disbursed before the program, 50% after), plus covered travel, accommodation and logistics for in-person activities.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Innovation, Science & Technology · SDG3.

• Deadline: October 19, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

ActHIVate Fund: Request for Proposals (Community-Led HIV Responses for MSM and Trans Communities), Aidsfonds. *New!*

Aidsfonds, the Netherlands-based organization working to end AIDS worldwide, has opened the first request for proposals under its ActHIVate Fund, a pooled financing mechanism for community-led HIV responses run by and for trans people and men who have sex with men. Aidsfonds is routing flexible money to registered local groups, and fiscal-hosted ones, in countries where these communities face severe barriers to care. It wants three things moving together: frontline HIV prevention and treatment, advocacy that turns service experience into policy change, and services stitched into public health systems. A community-led grantmaking committee decides, and organizational strengthening is built in, signaling that Aidsfonds is backing durable local institutions, not one-off projects. The strongest fits are established, community-rooted organizations already delivering HIV care and advocacy in a single eligible country.

• Geographies: Uganda; Nigeria; Morocco; Egypt; Lebanon; Ukraine; Kazakhstan; Kyrgyzstan; Moldova.

• Who can apply: Registered local community organisations led by and primarily serving MSM (men who have sex with men) and trans communities; unregistered organisations with an established fiscal host are also eligible. Applicants must demonstrate substantial experience providing HIV services to MSM and trans communities, conducting advocacy on their health and rights, engaging local and national governments and health systems, and addressing healthcare access barriers.

• Funding amount: Total call budget EUR €2,000,000 for this round; up to 20 organisations to be funded; per-award grant size not published.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing; Governance, Policy & Advocacy · SDG3; SDG10.

• Deadline: October 25, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Water Research Foundation applied-research RFPs, The Water Research Foundation. *New!*

The Water Research Foundation opened a run of applied-research RFPs through its outbound-grants portal, covering pathogen log-reduction credits, reverse-osmosis validation, membrane biofouling, nutrient-control frameworks, smart metering data, and sewer laterals. Each RFP below links to its own page on the WRF portal; apply against the exact RFP number. The strongest fits are teams with utility partners and a track record in applied water science.

• United States - October 26, 2026 - 5419: Crossing the Divide: Best Practices for Addressing Local and Privately-Owned Lateral Sewer Issues (USD $250,000)

• Global - October 26, 2026 - 5424: Adaptive Control Frameworks to Unlock Full-Scale BNR Potential (USD $300,000)

• United States - October 26, 2026 - 5409: Smarter Water Governance with AMI: Conservation, Affordability, and Rate Design (USD $275,000)

• Global - November 3, 2026 - 5433: Optimizing Membrane Biofouling Control in Potable Water Reuse Treatment Trains (USD $400,000)

• United States - November 3, 2026 - 5407: Enhanced Pathogen Log Reduction Value for Underground Retention and Transport (USD $250,000)

• Global - November 3, 2026 - 5432: Validating Reverse Osmosis Conductivity Profiling for Pathogen Log Reduction Value Credit (USD $500,000)

Who can apply: research teams responding through the WRF portal (organizations apply with portal login credentials); see each RFP page for requirements. Funding amount: USD $250,000 to $500,000 per RFP, as listed above. Deadlines vary, see the list.

Premios Carlos Slim en Salud 2027, Fundación Carlos Slim. *New!*

Fundación Carlos Slim runs the Premios Carlos Slim en Salud to recognize the institutions and researchers who have measurably improved public health across Latin America and the Caribbean. The foundation uses an award, not a grant, to spotlight work that already carries proof, honoring two paths: an exceptional nonprofit institution and a lifetime research trajectory. It wants solutions that spread, valuing innovation, sustained impact, and models that other communities can adopt. That the prize is nomination-only, requires third-party endorsement letters, and rejects self-nomination signals that the foundation trusts peer judgment and demonstrated benefit over self-promotion. The strongest fits are established Latin American and Caribbean organizations with a decade of health work behind them, and senior researchers whose findings have reached real populations.

• Geographies: Latin America; Caribbean.

• Who can apply: Nominations only (no self-application). Two categories: (1) Exceptional Institution: nonprofit public or private institutions legally constituted in a Latin American or Caribbean country with at least 10 years of demonstrable operation in health, nominated by a member of their governing board. (2) Research Trajectory: individual health researchers of any professional background who are nationals or permanent residents of a LAC country with at least 15 years of sustained professional contributions in health research, nominated by a third party (self-nomination is disqualifying).

• Funding amount: USD $100,000 plus a statuette per category (two categories).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Innovation, Science & Technology · SDG3.

• Deadline: November 30, 2026.

• Learn more and nominate here.

UNITE Second Open Call for Joint Interregional Projects (Digital Health Innovators), UNITE - European Digital Health Valleys. *New!*

UNITE, a pan-European digital health program funded under the European Union’s Regional Innovation Valleys initiative and led by 28DIGITAL, has opened its second call for interregional projects. The program backs digital and deep-tech solutions that widen access to care for elderly and disadvantaged populations and that ease a deepening health workforce shortage through automation, better clinical workflows, and staff training. What UNITE seeks is cross-border teams that carry proven ideas from testing into real clinical settings, not lab-stage promise. Requiring a company, a research entity, and an end user from three different regions signals that adoption in practice, rather than a finished product, is what earns support. The strongest fits are consortia that already span the digital health value chain across the eligible UNITE regions.

• Geographies: Italy; Greece; Spain; United Kingdom; Romania.

• Who can apply: Consortia of at least three organisations from three different UNITE partner regions, active across the digital health value chain. Each consortium must include at least one solution provider (company or close-to-market provider), one research entity, and one end-user organisation demonstrating the solution in real-life settings. Eligible applicants include startups, SMEs, companies, research and innovation organisations, innovation clusters, hospitals, testbeds, and living labs, legally established in one of the UNITE regions.

• Funding amount: Total call budget EUR €6,000,000; maximum EUR €1,000,000 per project; maximum EUR €600,000 per organisation (cumulative across all UNITE JIPs); regional per-partner caps range EUR €139,810 (Central Macedonia) to EUR €600,000.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Innovation, Science & Technology · SDG3; SDG10.

• Deadline: December 10, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Humanitarian Aid, Emergency Programming & DRR

Call for Expression of Interest: Strengthening Anticipatory Action, Emergency Preparedness, Community Resilience and Accountability to Affected Populations (CEF/ZWE/2026/008), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). *New!* *Closing soon!*

The United Nations Children’s Fund invites national civil society organizations in Zimbabwe to apply for a strategic partnership strengthening anticipatory action, emergency preparedness, and community resilience. UNICEF wants a local partner already trusted in high-risk districts, one carrying volunteer networks into hard-to-reach communities where cholera, climate shocks, and public health emergencies reach children first. The work spans early warning dissemination, risk communication, social listening, and community feedback systems that hold the response accountable to affected populations. Weighting prior experience with government ministries and UN coordination most heavily, and asking for a results framework with measurable targets, the call signals that UNICEF prioritizes operational reach and coordination discipline over fresh capacity. The strongest fits are established Zimbabwean organizations with proven grassroots presence and humanitarian delivery records.

• Geographies: Zimbabwe (Midlands province).

• Who can apply: National NGO or CSO with community trust, operational presence, and volunteer networks in Zimbabwe, with technical expertise in emergency preparedness, DRR, humanitarian response, RCCE, community engagement, SBC, AAP and disease outbreak preparedness.

• Funding amount: Not stated (indicative budget not published).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing.

• Deadline: October 2, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Education, Human Rights & Inclusion

Continuum of Care for Children and Young Persons in Conflict with Law (CEF/IND/2026/076), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). *New!* *Closing soon!*

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is inviting expressions of interest from implementing partners to build a continuum of care for children and young people in conflict with the law across Assam, India. UNICEF is using this partnership to move rehabilitation beyond institutional walls, funding integrated case management that carries a young person from an Observation Home through transition, aftercare, and independent life. What it wants to back is measurable reintegration: stronger life skills, employability, and social connection, delivered through sport as a structured rehabilitative tool rather than recreation. The call anchors work in specific homes and asks for age-appropriate plans across three cohorts, signaling that UNICEF values local presence and juvenile-justice experience over broad reach. The strongest fits are Assam-rooted organizations with child-protection and sports-for-development track records.

• Geographies: India.

• Who can apply: NGOs and civil society organizations with local presence in Assam and demonstrated experience in juvenile justice, child protection, and/or sports-for-development, able to work across the child protection ecosystem (DCPU, CCIs, Observation/Special/Correctional Homes).

• Funding amount: Indicative budget of 5,000,000 (currency not stated in the call).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Governance, Policy & Advocacy; Education · SDG16; SDG3; SDG8.

• Deadline: October 5, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Local Development and Municipal Project Management Support in Burundi (BDI23009-10220), Burundi, Enabel. *Closing soon!*

Enabel, the Belgian development agency, is opening a call under its Governance and Citizen Participation Project in Burundi, funding organizations that help five targeted communes plan and deliver local development investments. Enabel is channeling most of each grant into concrete investments identified through participatory territorial planning, with the remainder covering coordination, municipal support, and monitoring. What the agency wants to back is stronger local governance that citizens actually shape, not development decided in administrative offices alone. The design rewards proposals that tie every investment to a commune priority and to a real mechanism for community participation, signaling that Enabel values municipal capacity built to last. The strongest fits are legal entities with proven local presence in Busoni, Kirundo, Mugina, Cibitoke, or Bukinanyana that combine development delivery with governance strengthening.

• Geographies: Burundi.

• Who can apply: Legal entities including public actors, non-profit private organizations, foundations, and private entities whose primary objective is social in nature, aligned with Belgian Development Cooperation objectives, with the legal and operational capacity to implement the proposed action.

• Funding amount: EUR €550,000 to EUR €680,000 per application (total indicative call envelope EUR €680,000).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Economic Development & Livelihoods.

• Deadline: October 16, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Commonwealth Foundation 2026-27 Grants Call: Individual Organisation and Collective Action Grants, Commonwealth Foundation.

The Commonwealth Foundation runs its annual open grants call to help civil society across the Commonwealth influence the policies and decisions that shape people’s lives. This year it funds two tracks, one for individual organizations and a new one for networks and creative collectives, signaling that it wants collective and coalition work, not just single-organization projects. The Foundation backs advocacy and creative practice aimed at climate and environmental justice, economic inclusion, and freedom of expression, and it asks every applicant to show how gender and intersectionality shape the work. Its exclusion of service delivery and government training makes the intent plain: this money is for changing systems rather than filling gaps. The strongest fits are grassroots and small-state organizations with a real advocacy track record.

• Geographies: Australia; Bahamas; Bangladesh; Barbados; Belize; Botswana; Brunei; Canada; Cyprus; Eswatini; Gambia; Ghana; Grenada; Guyana; India; Jamaica; Kenya; Kiribati; Lesotho; Malaysia; Maldives; Malta; Mauritius; Mozambique; Namibia; New Zealand; Pakistan; Papua New Guinea; Rwanda; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Samoa; Seychelles; Sierra Leone; South Africa; Sri Lanka; Uganda; United Kingdom; Vanuatu; Zambia.

• Who can apply: Not-for-profit civil society organisations and creative organisations (Individual Organisation Grants), and not-for-profit networks, coalitions, alliances or platforms of civil society organisations, community-based organisations, groups, creative actors or creative collectives (Collective Action Grants), registered in eligible Commonwealth Foundation member countries. Applicants must have been registered and operating for at least three years with at least three years’ demonstrable experience relevant to the project and the Foundation’s strategic impact areas, plus significant experience in the communities where the project will be delivered. Average annual income over the past two years must be under GBP £2.5 million, and the requested grant must not exceed 70% of that average. Unregistered networks/collectives must nominate an eligible registered member as lead applicant. Organisations in the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand may only participate as partners, not lead applicants.

• Funding amount: Individual Organisation Grants: GBP £15,000 to GBP £30,000 per year for up to 2 years; Collective Action Grants: GBP £15,000 to GBP £20,000 per year for up to 2 years.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Climate & Environment; Economic Development & Livelihoods · SDG5; SDG8; SDG10; SDG13; SDG16.

• Deadline: October 26, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Structured dialogue with people with lived experience of poverty (ESF-2027-PEP-ENGAGEMENT), European Commission.

The European Commission, through the Employment and Social Innovation strand of the European Social Fund Plus, is opening a call to fund one consortium that will bring people with lived experience of poverty into EU policymaking. The money backs a new structured dialogue the Commission committed to under its Anti-Poverty Strategy, covering the outreach, preparation, travel, and trauma-informed support that let marginalized participants speak for themselves rather than be spoken for. By requiring networks that already reach all twenty-seven member states and can prove real experience facilitating this participation, the design signals the Commission wants trusted grassroots infrastructure, not a communications contractor. The strongest fits are established EU-level NGO networks and international nonprofits that can collectively cover the Union and turn lived experience into policy influence.

• Geographies: Europe.

• Who can apply: Non-profit legal entities (public or private bodies) established in EU Member States or EEA/ESF+-associated countries, applying as a consortium of at least two beneficiaries. Each applying member must be an EU-level network of NGOs or an international NGO (INGO) headquartered in an EU Member State. Natural persons and international intergovernmental organisations are not eligible.

• Funding amount: EUR €900,000 (total call budget; grant up to EUR €900,000 per project; 95% of eligible costs).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing.

• Deadline: October 29, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

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Innovation, Research & Smart Cities

Catalyst Grant 2026: Agentic Workflows You Can Trust, Digital Science. *Closing soon!*

Digital Science, a technology company serving the research ecosystem, runs its Catalyst Grant to back early-stage software tools that advance research itself. The 2026 round, themed Agentic Workflows You Can Trust, funds AI agents that plan, execute and review multi-step work across the research lifecycle, from writing and evidence synthesis to peer review, funding decisions and publication integrity. What Digital Science wants is trust that travels with the tool: audit trails, provenance and governance built in, so an institution can put an agent in front of real decisions. The application, which asks builders to name the decision their agent affects and where it breaks, signals a preference for embedded, accountable work over standalone demos. The strongest fits are founders, research teams and students with a prototype or a well-formed concept.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Anyone with an early-stage idea: individual founders, research teams, students, early-stage startups, research projects and moonshot thinkers, globally. Applicants may present a prototype, a working product or a well-formed concept; no revenue, finished build or complete business plan is required.

• Funding amount: Up to GBP £25,000 (equity-free; may be split across more than one recipient).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Innovation, Research & Smart Cities.

• Deadline: October 5, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Harambeans Africa Jobs Fund Prize, Africa Jobs Fund. *Closing soon!*

The Africa Jobs Fund, a philanthropic venture builder housed at Renaissance Philanthropy, runs the Harambeans Africa Jobs Fund Prize to recognize African entrepreneurs and members of the African diaspora building export manufacturing businesses on the continent. The fund believes higher-productivity jobs are the most durable path out of poverty, and that manufacturing goods for global markets is how economies grow rich. So it backs founders who see a product Africa can make and sell to the world, from light manufacturing and agro-processing to consumer brands and export enablers. Winners join the Harambeans Alliance, gaining a community, relationships, and a pathway to far larger scale-up capital. This fits ambitious builders who can execute, whether they hold an early venture or only a compelling idea worth backing.

• Geographies: Africa.

• Who can apply: Exceptional African entrepreneurs and members of the African diaspora building, or planning to build, export manufacturing businesses in Africa. Applicants must be born in an African country or be of African descent, and may have an early-stage venture, a compelling idea not yet incorporated as a company, an overlooked opportunity, or a vision that needs help becoming a company. No polished business plan is required.

• Funding amount: USD $20,000 grant to the winner, plus admission to the Harambeans Alliance and a pathway to up to USD $100,000 in scoping and pilot investment and USD $100,000 to USD $1,000,000 in scale-up investment (structured as debt or revenue-based financing).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Economic Development & Livelihoods · SDG1; SDG8; SDG9.

• Deadline: October 14, 2026 (regular deadline).

• Learn more and apply here.

AI for Science & Safety Nodes RFP: AI-first Science (Bio, Neuro, Nano), Foresight Institute. *New!*

Foresight Institute is opening its AI for Science and Safety Nodes call for the AI-first Science stream, funding frontier work across biotechnology, neurotechnology, and nanotechnology where artificial intelligence becomes the primary engine of discovery. The institute wants research that treats compute and automation as the core resource rather than large teams, backing projects in automated nanotechnology, whole brain emulation, and longevity science. It seeks high risk, high reward work that could reshape what science can build while reducing existential risks from advanced AI. The call favors open source outputs and in-person contributors at Nodes in San Francisco, Berlin, and Cape Town, signaling a commitment to decentralized, community-owned capability. The strongest fits are independent researchers and small teams ready to work AI-first at the scientific frontier.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Individuals, teams, and organizations, both non-profit and for-profit. For-profit applicants must justify the need for grant funding. Strong preference for applicants willing to be active, in-person contributors at the Nodes.

• Funding amount: Grants typically range from USD $30,000 to USD $100,000 (larger amounts possible for the right project).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Governance, Policy & Advocacy.

• Deadline: October 31, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Mabee Foundation Capital Challenge Grant, J. E. and L. E. Mabee Foundation.

The J. E. and L. E. Mabee Foundation runs its Capital Challenge Grant to help established nonprofits finish building, renovating, or equipping the facilities they work from. Rather than funding programs, the foundation steps in during a capital campaign as a challenge donor, covering up to a fifth of project cost once an organization has already raised a substantial share from its own community. Restricting eligibility to projects in six states, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas, and to public charities signals a funder focused on regional institutions with proven local backing. Quarterly deadlines mean there is always a next window. The strongest fits are educational, health, social-service, cultural and religious organizations in those states with a capital campaign already at least 40% funded.

• Geographies: United States (Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas only).

• Who can apply: Non-profit 501(c)(3) organizations that are not private foundations under IRC section 509(a), undertaking a construction, renovation, or major-medical-equipment capital project located in one of the six eligible states, and that have already raised at least 40% of total project cost from other public donors. The Foundation supports educational, social and humanitarian, medical and health, and cultural and religious organizations.

• Funding amount: Up to 20% of total project cost, maximum USD $2,000,000.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing.

• Deadline: December 1, 2026 (quarterly deadlines: December 1, March 1, June 1, September 1).

• Learn more and apply here.

AI and the Workforce Faculty Research Grant Program, Institute for Humane Studies. *New!*

The Institute for Humane Studies is inviting academic scholars to apply for its AI and the Workforce request for proposals, funding research into how artificial intelligence shapes employment, productivity, occupational change, and economic opportunity over time. IHS frames the call around a gap in the debate, where opinion outruns evidence, and wants scholarship that supplies data rather than speculation. It backs rigorous, independent work, encourages proposals that bridge disciplines, and welcomes peer-reviewed articles, policy papers, and shareable databases. Eligible costs cover datasets, research assistants, specialized subscriptions, and dissemination, but not overhead or living expenses, signaling that money should move into the research while scholars keep full control of their conclusions. The strongest fits are faculty at accredited institutions with a clear question about work and a plan to publish.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Academic scholars, especially faculty, at accredited colleges or universities whose research examines how AI influences employment, productivity, occupational change, economic opportunity, and innovation over time. No prior IHS affiliation or support required; open to any eligible scholar at an accredited institution. Cross-disciplinary proposals are especially encouraged.

• Funding amount: Up to USD $20,000; larger awards may be considered for exceptional projects.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Innovation, Research & Smart Cities.

• Deadline: December 15, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Excellence Hubs (HORIZON-WIDERA-2027-04-WIDENING-01), European Research Executive Agency (REA).

The European Research Executive Agency, on behalf of the European Commission, has opened its Excellence Hubs call under the Horizon Europe Widening program. It funds consortia that connect innovation ecosystems across Widening countries, uniting universities, businesses, public authorities, and civil society around a shared research and innovation strategy. The agency wants regions that have historically sat at the edge of European research to become engines of it, translating results into local economies and stronger value chains rather than one-off projects. The design rewards cross-border teaming, a distinct research work package that does not dominate, and credible plans to attract private and public investment, signaling that durable institutional change matters more than short bursts of activity. The strongest fits are place-based consortia in Widening countries ready to build lasting innovation capacity.

• Geographies: Europe.

• Who can apply: Consortia of at least three independent legal entities established in different EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries. Each proposal must connect at least two innovation ecosystems in two different Widening countries, and each ecosystem should include the four quadruple-helix actor categories: academic institutions (universities and/or non-university research centres or labs), business entities (established firms with relevant revenues, including SMEs and start-ups), public authorities or authorised agencies, and societal actors (civil society organisations, associations, citizens, end users, media, cultural actors). Legal entities from non-Widening countries may join if the consortium demonstrates this is necessary to achieve the expected impacts.

• Funding amount: EUR €1.50 million to EUR €4.50 million per project (indicative); EUR €100 million overall indicative call budget for approximately 30 projects.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Economic Development & Livelihoods.

• Deadline: March 4, 2027.

• Learn more and apply here.

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14 opportunities on the Cross-Cutting page this cycle, 6 of them new. What lands here is money whose funder has not named a sector: the call names a purpose, a population or a method, and leaves the field of work open.

This is where the two biggest forces of the moment, AI and climate, are funded not as technical fields but as things happening to communities, and the money flows to the organizations closest to the ground. Citi is putting USD $25 million into youth and AI, Humanity AI USD $10 million into communities leading on AI, and OpenAI is funding research on AI and teenagers, none of it to build AI, all of it about who AI happens to. On the climate side, the Resilience Fund for Women, the Clean Air Fund and the Global EbA Fund all treat climate as a health-and-livelihoods problem for specific communities rather than an environmental one.

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Open Opportunities

Call for Proposals: Reintegration and Social Protection for Bangladeshi Women Migrants, UN Women. *Closing soon!*

UN Women is seeking a civil society organization, preferably a women’s rights organization, to carry out a project on the reintegration and social protection of Bangladeshi women returning from labor migration. The agency is using this partnership to move reintegration from one-off support toward durable government systems, funding work that builds the capacity of ministries and stakeholders to identify returning women’s longer-term needs and answer them with gender-responsive, migrant-centered plans. What it wants to back is a shift in who counts as a policy priority, not a menu of services. Choosing a women’s rights organization, and asking that social protection be strengthened rather than substituted, signals trust in locally rooted feminist institutions to hold government accountable. The strongest fits are Bangladeshi women’s rights groups with migration expertise and government ties.

• Geographies: Bangladesh.

• Who can apply: Civil society organizations (CSOs), preferably women’s rights organizations (WROs), able to implement the project in Bangladesh.

• Funding amount: Not disclosed.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Economic Development & Livelihoods; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing.

• Deadline: October 4, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Citi Foundation Fourth Global Innovation Challenge 2026: Preparing Youth for AI, Citi Foundation. *Closing soon!*

The Citi Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the global bank Citigroup, has opened its fourth Global Innovation Challenge, a request for proposals backing community organizations that prepare low-income young people for an economy reshaped by artificial intelligence. The foundation reads the moment as a widening digital divide, where AI fluency and human-centric skills like critical thinking and resilience increasingly decide who reaches stable work. It wants nonprofits that help youth build both, connect them to jobs, and fold AI tools into existing employment programs. Restricting eligibility to locally registered nonprofits operating where Citi has a presence signals a preference for grounded, proven community actors over newcomers. The strongest fits are established youth-employment organizations ready to pilot or expand AI-focused skills work in their own communities.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Community organizations registered as nonprofit entities under local law (e.g., U.S. 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public charities) whose proposed program supports low-income communities and impacts one or more Citi Foundation target geographies where Citi has a presence.

• Funding amount: USD $500,000 to each of 50 community organizations; USD $25 million total commitment.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Education; Innovation, Science & Technology · SDG4; SDG8.

• Deadline: October 6, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

OpenAI AI and Teen Development Research Grant Program, OpenAI. *New!* *Closing soon!*

OpenAI is opening its AI and Teen Development Research Grant Program to fund independent studies of how generative AI shapes the lives of young people ages 13 to 17. OpenAI wants a stronger evidence base on how teens actually use these tools and what that use does to their social and emotional development, so that product teams, policymakers, and regulators can act on findings rather than assumptions. It seeks work on emotion regulation, relationships, belonging, and the safeguards that keep teens safer, welcoming interdisciplinary teams and any methodology. That it will fund research whose conclusions may not favor AI providers, and prioritizes studies touching ChatGPT, signals a genuine appetite for credible outside scrutiny. The strongest fits are research groups grounded in adolescent development, well-being, and AI safety.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Researchers aged 18 or older who are affiliated with a research institution or organization, and/or have significant experience relevant to child or adolescent development, well-being, human-computer interaction, AI impacts, or a closely related field. Multiple institutions may collaborate. OpenAI is seeking to fund research rather than for-profit initiatives and will not prioritize for-profit organizations.

• Funding amount: Individual research grants up to USD $1 million, totaling up to USD $5 million; maximum 10% of each grant for overhead or indirect costs.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing; Innovation, Science & Technology.

• Deadline: October 6, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

IBP Network SPARK Grant Program (Shifting Power through Action and Reciprocal Knowledge Exchange), World Health Organization. *Closing soon!*

The World Health Organization, through its WHO/IBP Network, is opening the SPARK grant program to fund community-based organizations led by youth, women, or indigenous communities and working on sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health. WHO is directing flexible money straight to local groups rather than routing it through institutions, pairing each grant with technical support and access to its communities of practice. What they want to back is not delivery of a set agenda but organizations that adapt WHO guidelines to their settings and move decision-making into community hands. Asking for a short concept note first, and prioritizing groups new to WHO funding, signals that they want fresh grassroots leadership. The strongest fits are community organizations that use WHO tools and can show real community accountability.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Youth-led, women-led, or indigenous-led community-based organizations working directly with the populations they serve. Applicants should have operated for at least 2 years and have prior implementation experience using at least one WHO guideline, tool or product. Priority is given to organizations new to WHO/IBP Network funding mechanisms that demonstrate strong community accountability and leadership.

• Funding amount: Up to USD $20,000 per grant; 5 to 10 grants.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing · SDG3; SDG5.

• Deadline: October 9, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

The Resilience Fund - 2026 Funding Round for Women/Non-Binary-Led Community Organizations, The Resilience Fund for Women. *Closing soon!*

The Resilience Fund for Women is opening a new grant round for women and non-binary-led community organizations across Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, and Vietnam. The Fund pools flexible, unrestricted, multi-year money and hands it to grassroots groups already embedded in the communities where global value chains meet climate stress. It wants to back organizations working where three things converge: women’s health and safety, community-led climate adaptation, and the factory and farming communities that supply the world. By trusting partners to spend as they see fit and asking for light reporting, the Fund is signaling that it values proximity and staying power over polished projects. The strongest fits are women-led groups helping women workers adapt, earn, and stay safe as the climate shifts.

• Geographies: Bangladesh; Cambodia; India; Vietnam.

• Who can apply: Women/non-binary-led, community-based, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India and Vietnam whose work addresses all three focus areas: women’s health, safety and economic resilience; community-led climate adaptation; and connection to global value chains. Applicants must be formally registered and legally authorized to receive foreign funding, embedded in and representative of the communities they serve, with an annual income of at least USD $10,000 (2024, 2025 or 2026 baseline).

• Funding amount: USD $15,000 to USD $50,000 total per organization over two years.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Climate & Environment; Economic Development & Livelihoods.

• Deadline: October 12, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

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50 opportunities on the Agriculture, Climate, Environment, Energy & Food page this cycle, 31 of them new.

The money on this page is bigger than on any other, and most of it is about industry rather than the people living with the climate. The largest cheques are European and closed to almost everyone who is not a research-industry consortium: the Clean Industrial Deal call alone has EUR €125 million open for decarbonising energy-intensive industries, and separate Horizon Europe calls are putting tens of millions each into critical raw materials, remanufacturing, textile circularity and fusion energy, alongside the EUR €40 million FOREST and EUR €34 million Water4All joint calls. Around that sits a livelier layer of prizes and accelerators for climate-tech founders, from the H&M Foundation’s Global Change Award to NorthX’s energy call in Canada and lab-to-market fellowships like LabStart. Agriculture money runs mostly through research, with a few real enterprise windows like Halcyon’s African agri-food accelerator and Goumbook’s MENA regenerative agriculture programme. The money that actually reaches grassroots adaptation and Global South communities is here too, from the Global EbA Fund, Nature Connect and the Forth Valley community climate grants, but it is small and scattered next to the industrial money. If you are a community adaptation group, do not be fooled by the size of this page: most of it was never open to you.

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Open Opportunities

Global Change Award 2027, H&M Foundation. *Closing soon!*

The H&M Foundation runs the Global Change Award to accelerate early-stage innovation that can help the textile and fashion industry halve its greenhouse gas emissions every decade and reach net zero by 2050. The foundation treats the earliest, hardest phase of an idea as the point where a grant and a structured program matter most, backing ten changemakers each year and asking nothing in equity or intellectual property. It looks for solutions across sustainable materials, responsible production, mindful consumption, and bold wildcards, and it values systems thinking over any single fix. The nomination-based design, open to anyone from anywhere, signals that the foundation wants overlooked ideas surfaced through a global network. The strongest fits are early-stage innovators ready to rethink how fashion is made and used.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Early-stage changemakers from anywhere in the world working on ideas that can help decarbonise the textile and fashion industry. Applicants may be an individual, a small/informal team, or an organisation; ideas can be technical, social, policy-driven or system-oriented. No registered company, revenue, customers or finished solution is required; ideas may still be in research, lab or concept phase. Most entries come through H&M Foundation’s global nominator network, but changemakers can self-submit through The Mills Fabrica, an official nominator, to be considered for nomination.

• Funding amount: EUR €200,000 grant per winner; ten winners selected annually; grant paid in two tranches (on announcement and on completion of the Changemaker Programme).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Innovation, Science & Technology · SDG12; SDG13.

• Deadline: October 2, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Call for Expression of Interest: Promoting Youth-Led Green Actions, Green Skills and Green Livelihoods through YOMA and Green Rising (CEF/NGA/2026/018), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). *New!* *Closing soon!*

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), through Generation Unlimited Nigeria, opens this Call for Expression of Interest to find civil society partners who can grow youth-led climate and environmental action in Nasarawa State. UNICEF wants to connect practical green actions with green skills and pathways toward green livelihoods, using the Youth Agency Marketplace platform so young people can learn, act, document their work, and earn verifiable credentials. The initiative builds on the Green Rising program and treats World Cleanup Day as a launching moment for sustained mobilization. Applicants must deliver green actions and green skills as core tracks, with livelihoods optional, while prioritizing young women and young people with disabilities. The strongest fits are experienced NGOs, CSOs, and consortia with real youth networks and credible local presence.

• Geographies: Nigeria.

• Who can apply: Qualified NGOs and CSOs (civil society organizations), including consortia where appropriate, with technical capacity, operational presence in Nigeria and youth mobilization networks. Applicants should have a minimum of two years of experience in youth mobilization, climate/environmental action, green skills, livelihoods or related fields.

• Funding amount: Not disclosed.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Economic Development & Livelihoods; Education · SDG4; SDG5; SDG8; SDG13.

• Deadline: October 7, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

LabStart Fellowship 2027 (Climate Tech Venture Launch), LabStart Innovations Inc. *New!* *Closing soon!*

LabStart Innovations Inc. runs the LabStart Fellowship to move breakthrough climate technologies out of American research labs and into companies, and it recruits the founders to do it. The organization uses milestone-based funding and a full-time cohort program to remove the financial risk that keeps talented, undercapitalized people from committing to a climate startup. It backs founders at the earliest point, including those without an idea yet, who want to license and commercialize technology sitting in universities and national laboratories. The design, from stipend to licensing support to mentorship by climate founders, signals that LabStart wants to widen who gets to build, prioritizing women, BIPOC, and first time founders. The strongest fits are entrepreneurs ready to work full time turning lab science into a venture.

• Geographies: United States.

• Who can apply: Non-traditional and diverse entrepreneurs (individual and aspiring founders, plus early-stage teams) in the U.S. seeking to build deep climate tech startups by commercializing technologies from universities and national laboratories, including applicants without a specific idea yet.

• Funding amount: USD $100,000 in milestone-based funding over the 12-month full-time Launch Phase, preceded by a four-month Discovery Phase (approximately USD $6,000).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Innovation, Science & Technology · SDG7; SDG9; SDG13.

• Deadline: October 9, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

For Farmers Grants 2026, For Farmers Movement. *New!* *Closing soon!*

For Farmers Movement, a nonprofit that supports working American farms, is accepting applications for its annual For Farmers Grants. The program funds the practical things a farm needs to keep going and to grow, from infrastructure and equipment to supplies, innovation, and recovery after a loss. Alongside its foundational awards, the organization offers a land stewardship grant for farms tending soil and surrounding ecosystems, and a transformational grant for a project that reshapes a farm and its community. The application rewards farmers who engage their community and share candid input about their challenges, signaling that For Farmers wants relationship and voice, not just a budget line. The strongest fits are food, fiber, fuel, and flower producers selling what they grow and ready to name what would move their farm forward.

• Geographies: United States.

• Who can apply: Farmers whose farms are located in the 50 US states, Washington DC, and US territories and that sell most of their products (food, fiber, fuel, flowers, etc.). Applicants may apply as a solo farm or in collaboration with up to two other farms. Past For Farmers grant recipients remain eligible. Animal sanctuaries are not eligible.

• Funding amount: Foundational Grants: USD $500 to USD $1,000 (minimum 100 awards); Land Stewardship Grant: USD $5,000 (one award); Transformational Grant: USD $10,000 (at least one award).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Economic Development & Livelihoods.

• Deadline: October 12, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund Grants, Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund. *Closing soon!*

The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund backs targeted, in situ work to protect individual species of animal, plant, and fungus, with priority for those the IUCN Red List marks as Endangered, Critically Endangered, or Data Deficient. The Fund keeps its grants small and open to anyone directly involved in conservation, a design that reaches local and grassroots practitioners who rarely clear the bar at larger institutions. It wants field results tied to a clearly justified conservation status, not lab exercises or administrative upkeep, and it asks for reporting that turns funded projects into public conservation stories. The strongest fits are frontline conservationists and small organizations running species-specific field projects, anywhere in the world, who can show why their species matters and what their money will change.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Anyone directly involved in species conservation, including individual conservationists and organizations, with an emphasis on local and grassroots projects. Applicants may be based anywhere in the world; applications must be in English with budgets in US Dollars.

• Funding amount: Up to USD $25,000 per project.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: SDG15; SDG14.

• Deadline: October 15, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Redwood Research Grants (Revive the Range), Save the Redwoods League. *New!* *Closing soon!*

Save the Redwoods League is accepting applications for its Redwood Research Grants, funding scientists whose work advances conservation and restoration science for coast redwood and giant sequoia ecosystems. The League treats research as the groundwork for protection, backing studies that reveal how these forests hold up or falter in a changing climate. This year’s Revive the Range theme points to what the League most wants to support: findings that apply across a species’ full range, and work that clarifies redwood vulnerability or resilience. A two-stage design, a brief pre-proposal before any full proposal, signals that the League wants promising ideas surfaced before anyone writes at length. The strongest fits are nonprofit research institutions, universities, public agencies, and Tribal nations ready to turn a grant into catalyst funding for conservation science.

• Geographies: United States.

• Who can apply: Nonprofit organizations, including universities and public agencies, plus federally or state recognized Indigenous, Native, and Tribal nations and communities. Individuals are directed to the separate student starter grants program.

• Funding amount: USD $30,000 to USD $50,000.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: SDG13; SDG15.

• Deadline: October 16, 2026 (pre-proposal; invited full proposals due November 30, 2026).

• Learn more and apply here.

2026 AGNES-BAYER Science Foundation Research Grant for Biodiversity Conservation & Sustainable Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa, African-German Network of Excellence in Science (AGNES). *Closing soon!*

The African-German Network of Excellence in Science, funding this grant through the Bayer Foundation with support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, is opening its 2026 AGNES-BAYER Science Foundation Research Grant for doctoral researchers across sub-Saharan Africa. The grant covers field experiments, data collection, and laboratory work inside a PhD candidate’s biodiversity conservation or sustainable agriculture research. AGNES backs scientists it expects to lead, not only to finish a degree, which is why it asks for peer-reviewed publications indexed in Scopus or Web of Science and a proposal tied to home-country development. Requiring applicants to be enrolled and nationally rooted in the region signals an intent to keep research talent in Africa. The strongest fits are published African doctoral candidates doing fieldwork that advances conservation or farming outcomes at home.

• Geographies: Sub-Saharan Africa.

• Who can apply: Doctoral (PhD) students currently officially registered at a university or tertiary institute in sub-Saharan Africa who are nationals of a sub-Saharan African country, working in the field of biodiversity conservation and/or sustainable agriculture, and who have published at least one scientific paper in a non-predatory, peer-reviewed international journal indexed in SCOPUS or Web of Science. Completed PhD work is not eligible.

• Funding amount: EUR €7,000 (maximum per award).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Agriculture & Food Systems; Education.

• Deadline: October 16, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Nature Connect Small Grant Funding 2027, Nature Connect. *New!* *Closing soon!*

Nature Connect, acting as a small grants facility on behalf of the Table Mountain Fund, is opening its 2027 small grant call for new grassroots organizations and community groups working in and around Cape Town. The funding is meant to help first-time entrants step into the conservation sector and the wider green economy, backing biodiversity work, environmental education, sustainable livelihoods, and ecotourism. Nature Connect is deliberately prioritizing groups that have not been funded before, signaling that it wants to widen who gets to do conservation rather than reward established players. The short application and in-person panel presentation favor practical, community-rooted plans over polished proposals. The strongest fits are new, locally led community groups and registered nonprofits with a realistic project that leaves lasting conservation impact.

• Geographies: South Africa.

• Who can apply: New grassroots organisations and community groups entering the conservation or ecotourism sectors, registered NPOs in good standing proposing new initiatives, and individuals and community groups establishing conservation/ecotourism initiatives. Priority is given to applicants who have not previously received funding from Nature Connect. Projects must be based within 50 km of the Cape Town CBD.

• Funding amount: Grants of up to ZAR R36,250 per project.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Economic Development & Livelihoods.

• Deadline: October 19, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

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10 opportunities on the Gender page this cycle, 5 of them new.

The gender money open right now sorts into two kinds, and which one is yours depends on whether you are a person or an organization. For individual women it is almost entirely founders and innovators: the Tory Burch and Blackbird fellowships and the Makers Mindset grant back women building businesses, while the European Prize for Women Innovators rewards women behind breakthrough deep-tech and STEM companies. For organizations, the interesting move is how the money is being handed over. The Resilience Fund for Women, the Doria Feminist Fund and the adidas Foundation are all putting up flexible, multi-year core support instead of project grants, and Doria will fund unregistered collectives with no bank account required. The biggest single pot goes to one thing: survivor services. London’s MOPAC VAWG Grassroots Fund has opened GBP £6 million (roughly USD $8 million) for violence against women and girls services, open only to organizations working in London. If you are outside the US and Europe, the money you can actually reach is the feminist funds: smaller, but flexible and closer to how you already work

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Open Opportunities

Call for Proposals: Reintegration and Social Protection for Bangladeshi Women Migrants, UN Women. *Closing soon!*

UN Women is seeking a civil society organization, preferably a women’s rights organization, to carry out a project on the reintegration and social protection of Bangladeshi women returning from labor migration. The agency is using this partnership to move reintegration from one-off support toward durable government systems, funding work that builds the capacity of ministries and stakeholders to identify returning women’s longer-term needs and answer them with gender-responsive, migrant-centered plans. What it wants to back is a shift in who counts as a policy priority, not a menu of services. Choosing a women’s rights organization, and asking that social protection be strengthened rather than substituted, signals trust in locally rooted feminist institutions to hold government accountable. The strongest fits are Bangladeshi women’s rights groups with migration expertise and government ties.

• Geographies: Bangladesh.

• Who can apply: Civil society organizations (CSOs), preferably women’s rights organizations (WROs), able to implement the project in Bangladesh.

• Funding amount: Not disclosed.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Economic Development & Livelihoods; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing.

• Deadline: October 4, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

The Next Move: Multi-Year General Support Grants (adidas Foundation, United by Sport), adidas Foundation. *Closing soon!*

The adidas Foundation, through The Next Move under its United by Sport program, is funding non-profit organizations that use sport to confront gender-based violence, discrimination, and harmful gender norms across Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina. The Foundation is putting multi-year general support behind whole organizations rather than single projects, giving grassroots teams the flexibility and time for change to take hold. It wants to back groups that treat sport as a way to build safety, trust, belonging, and equitable participation, especially for girls and young women. A two-stage process that opens with a short expression of interest, then a conversation and self-assessment, signals a funder trying to respect applicants’ time and judge fit over polish. The strongest fits are established, community-rooted sport-for-good organizations that deliver directly and can evidence safeguarding.

• Geographies: Brazil; Colombia; Argentina.

• Who can apply: Only non-profit organizations legally registered and operational for at least two years in the country of implementation (Brazil, Colombia or Argentina) that use sport or physical activity as the core vehicle to create social impact. This includes community-based sport and sport-for-good organizations, sport clubs or foundations with a demonstrated social impact mission, and women’s sport networks and advocacy organizations that combine advocacy with delivery of sport-based programs. Applicants must be direct implementers close to communities; no sub-granting.

• Funding amount: EUR €150,000 / EUR €200,000 / EUR €250,000 per organization over three years (three fixed tiers); total funding pool EUR €2,000,000.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing.

• Deadline: October 4, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Blackbird Founders Fellowship, Blackbird Alliance. *New!* *Closing soon!*

Blackbird Alliance is opening its inaugural Blackbird Founders Fellowship, a six-week program for early-stage women of color founders building revenue-generating ventures in Los Angeles. The nonprofit is using the fellowship to pair hands-on curriculum with individualized coaching, a Blackbird House membership, and a completion stipend, then close with a Founder Showcase and Pitch Competition it co-hosts with Grid110. What Blackbird Alliance wants to back is the founder who can tell a sharp story about a scalable business and turn coaching into growth, keeping full ownership through non-dilutive awards. The revenue and capital caps, and the in-person requirement, signal a program built for founders early enough to shape and close enough to reach. The strongest fits are women of color founders with traction, ready to pitch and scale.

• Geographies: United States.

• Who can apply: Women of color founders, allies, and/or co-conspirators who are the founder or co-founder of an early-stage, revenue-generating venture (annual revenue no more than USD $1 million; no more than USD $500,000 raised in outside investment). Applicants must demonstrate a clear vision for growth and commitment to a scalable venture, be prepared to share current revenue and financial information, and be available in person in Los Angeles for all six sessions.

• Funding amount: USD $1,000 participation stipend; six-month Blackbird House membership (1 Oct 2026 to 31 Mar 2027); compete for USD $15,000 in non-dilutive pitch awards including a top prize of up to USD $10,000.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Economic Development & Livelihoods; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing.

• Deadline: October 7, 2026, or earlier if the cohort fills (applications are reviewed on a rolling basis).

• Learn more and apply here.

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41 opportunities on the Global Health & WASH page this cycle, 26 of them new.

The health money on this page is mostly research money, and much of it is aimed at people early in their careers. Funder after funder, from the TANGO2 Research Foundation’s Research Pathways grants to the South African Medical Research Council’s Early Investigators Programme to the National Ataxia Foundation and Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, is funding early-career investigators and the institutions that host them, with a clear tilt toward researchers based in or from the Global South, from AMBSO in Uganda to Kenya’s CONNECT-VAX network to Ersilia’s AI Incubator for African drug discovery. The money is organized by disease as much as by need: narrow foundations, the Parkinson’s Foundation, NTAP for neurofibromatosis, the RUNX1 Research Program for an inherited blood disorder, each run their own grant, so the question for an applicant is less which health problem you work on than which foundation owns your disease. The largest European cheques go to consortia only, with the European Innovation Council putting up to EUR €4 million behind a single healthy-ageing project and UNITE up to EUR €1 million behind each cross-border digital health team. Water sits apart, almost entirely in applied utility research: the Water Research Foundation’s cluster of USD $250,000 to $500,000 projects, each built around a utility problem from sewer laterals to reuse treatment. And the biggest single pot is public: HRSA is renewing community health center service areas with awards of up to USD $10 million each.

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Open Opportunities

2027 Building the Field of Health Advocacy Grant, Georgia Health Initiative. *New!* *Closing soon!*

Georgia Health Initiative, a nonprofit private foundation focused on health equity, is opening its 2027 Building the Field of Health Advocacy Grant to strengthen the organizations that push for healthier systems across the state. The Initiative treats advocacy as infrastructure, backing one-year projects that range from urgent responses to shifting federal policy to longer arc campaigns on housing, behavioral health, care access, and food security. It wants coalitions that elevate community voice, apply an equity lens, and arrive ready to deploy concrete strategies, and it deliberately seeks variety in issues, communities, and organizational size. The optional webinar and required lobbying training signal a funder investing in a durable field, not one grant cycle. The strongest fits are Georgia nonprofits and public agencies ready to turn advocacy readiness into systems change.

• Geographies: United States.

• Who can apply: Tax-exempt 501(c)(3) public charities, state or local government agencies, or coalitions/collaboratives using a 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor, that work in Georgia on behalf of Georgians and align with the mission, vision, and values of Georgia Health Initiative. Only one application per organization, though an organization may be listed as a partner or subcontractor on multiple applications.

• Funding amount: Organizations can apply for up to USD $80,000 per project; the Initiative anticipates investing a total of USD $1.36 million.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Governance, Policy & Advocacy · SDG3; SDG10.

• Deadline: October 2, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

TDD Research Pathways Grant, TANGO2 Research Foundation. *New!* *Closing soon!*

The TANGO2 Research Foundation, working with a founding gift from Tango2UK, is opening its TDD Research Pathways Grant to fund early-career investigators anywhere in the world who study TANGO2 Deficiency Disorder. The foundation is using this money to seed pilot work and to build a research community around a rare disorder that few labs currently study. It wants to back emerging scientists, clinicians, and trainees who will stay with this field, not one-off projects, which is why it requires a committed mentor and real institutional support and asks each applicant for a plan for future contributions. The design rewards promise and persistence over track record. The strongest fits are students, residents, postdoctoral fellows, and new investigators ready to commit to TANGO2 research.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Early-career investigators worldwide, including undergraduate, graduate, and medical trainees, postdoctoral fellows, residents, and clinical or research fellows. Early-career investigators must hold a PhD, MD, or equivalent doctoral degree and be within 10 years of that degree or within 5 years of initiating rare disease research, engaged in postdoctoral research at an academic institution, teaching hospital, or nonprofit research institute. Currently enrolled trainees and transitional PhD candidates beginning a postdoctoral appointment at a nonprofit institution by July 1, 2026 are also eligible. All applicants must identify a qualified mentor with relevant TDD or rare disease research experience and demonstrate institutional support.

• Funding amount: Up to USD $15,000.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Innovation, Science & Technology.

• Deadline: October 2, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Call for Expression of Interest (EOI): AMBSO Impact Research Initiative, Africa Medical and Behavioral Sciences Organization (AMBSO). *Closing soon!*

The Africa Medical and Behavioral Sciences Organization is inviting expressions of interest for its Impact Research Initiative, which funds early-stage pilot studies and proof of concept work on priority health challenges. AMBSO is a Ugandan research organization backing bold ideas that can grow into larger studies, and its tracks span antimicrobial resistance, epidemic preparedness, artificial intelligence for diagnostics, HIV prevention, climate and health, cancer, maternal and child health, and non-communicable diseases. The small award size and direct-cost-only rule point to a funder that wants evidence rather than overhead, and that favors projects able to attract follow-on money or use AMBSO’s own research infrastructure. Eligibility runs worldwide, welcoming researchers and institutions inside and outside Africa. The strongest fits are researchers with a feasible pilot that generates policy-ready evidence.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Open worldwide to researchers, academic institutions, and research organizations whose work aligns with generating high-impact health evidence. Independent researchers are eligible if affiliated with an academic or research institution. Doctoral students are encouraged to apply as part of a research team led by a faculty Principal Investigator. Community-based organizations and other eligible entities may apply. Projects may be implemented inside or outside Uganda.

• Funding amount: Up to USD $10,000 per project, with no minimum funding threshold.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: SDG3.

• Deadline: October 2, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Entrepreneurs for Resilience 2027 (E4R27), Swiss Re Foundation. *Closing soon!*

Swiss Re Foundation is opening the tenth edition of Entrepreneurs for Resilience, which backs healthcare social enterprises expanding affordable, quality primary care for low-income communities across low- and middle-income countries. The Foundation is using catalytic, blended funding plus multi-year advisory to take risk out of scaling, helping proven models reach more people sustainably rather than stay stuck at pilot size. It looks to back brick-and-click enterprises that pair physical care with digital tools and build affordability through savings, payments, or microinsurance, ideally integrated with public health systems. Requiring earned revenue, real customer scale, and gender-inclusive teams signals that this is growth capital for commercially serious ventures, not seed money. The strongest fits are established, revenue-generating healthcare enterprises ready to scale access for underserved populations.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: For-profit and hybrid healthcare social enterprises serving low-income and underserved populations in low- and middle-income countries, using combined physical and digital (brick-and-click) healthcare delivery models. Applicants must demonstrate measurable social impact, generate at least 50% of income through earned revenue, have been established no later than December 2023, already serve at least 50,000 people with potential to scale, and have at least 30% low-income customers. Preference for gender-inclusive enterprises with at least one female founder or at least 30% women in management.

• Funding amount: Pilot funding of up to USD $45,000 for the 6-8 shortlisted social enterprises; up to USD $1 million in blended funding (up to USD $600,000 unconditional plus up to USD $400,000 conditional) shared among 3-4 finalists over a two-year implementation period; total programme funding approximately USD $1.3 million.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Innovation, Science & Technology · SDG3; SDG5.

• Deadline: October 4, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Horizon HealthTech 2026, IIITD Innovation & Incubation Center. *Closing soon!*

IIITD Innovation and Incubation Center is opening Horizon HealthTech 2026, a nine-month MedTech incubation cohort run under the aegis of BIRAC EDGE for founders building medical devices, diagnostics, surgical and interventional tools, or remote monitoring. The center is backing teams that already hold a validated proof of concept and want to reach a tested prototype, pairing each founder with a named expert and clinical validation through a hospital partner. What they seek to back is Indian health technology that can survive real clinical scrutiny and regulatory review, not slideware. The structure, with lab access, CDSCO guidance, IP support, and investor connects, signals a program built to make startups ready for follow-on capital. The strongest fits are early-stage MedTech teams with defensible IP and a working path from bench to bedside.

• Geographies: India.

• Who can apply: Early-stage teams/startups with a validated idea/proof of concept (TRL 3 onwards) working on medical devices, diagnostics, surgical/interventional technologies, or remote monitoring, holding IP or with potential to generate IP.

• Funding amount: No cash award amount is stated on the official program page. Benefits are in-kind: prototyping lab and equipment access, clinical/hospital validation (Max Healthcare), expert mentorship, CDSCO regulatory guidance, IP filing support, workspace, cloud credits and tools, and investor connects. Run under the aegis of BIRAC EDGE and builds a path to follow-on Government/VC/Angel funding.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Innovation, Science & Technology · SDG3; SDG9.

• Deadline: October 5, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

OpenAI AI and Teen Development Research Grant Program, OpenAI. *New!* *Closing soon!*

OpenAI is opening its AI and Teen Development Research Grant Program to fund independent studies of how generative AI shapes the lives of young people ages 13 to 17. OpenAI wants a stronger evidence base on how teens actually use these tools and what that use does to their social and emotional development, so that product teams, policymakers, and regulators can act on findings rather than assumptions. It seeks work on emotion regulation, relationships, belonging, and the safeguards that keep teens safer, welcoming interdisciplinary teams and any methodology. That it will fund research whose conclusions may not favor AI providers, and prioritizes studies touching ChatGPT, signals a genuine appetite for credible outside scrutiny. The strongest fits are research groups grounded in adolescent development, well-being, and AI safety.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Researchers aged 18 or older who are affiliated with a research institution or organization, and/or have significant experience relevant to child or adolescent development, well-being, human-computer interaction, AI impacts, or a closely related field. Multiple institutions may collaborate. OpenAI is seeking to fund research rather than for-profit initiatives and will not prioritize for-profit organizations.

• Funding amount: Individual research grants up to USD $1 million, totaling up to USD $5 million; maximum 10% of each grant for overhead or indirect costs.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing; Innovation, Science & Technology.

• Deadline: October 6, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

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29 opportunities on the Humanitarian page this cycle, 27 of them new.

Almost everything on this page is UN operational money, and it does not work like an open grant. It is UN agencies choosing implementing partners, at scale. The World Food Programme has carved Sudan into a single enormous slate, opening emergency nutrition calls across all eighteen sta…

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50 opportunities on the Education, Human Rights & Inclusion page this cycle, 30 of them new.

This is the broadest page, and it holds two kinds of money: grants to organizations doing rights, civic, education and community work, and a long tail of fellowships, scholarships and prizes for individuals. The pattern worth seeing is that the largest sums are institutional and tightly scoped. UNICEF and WFP are looking for implementing partners on child protection and family-based care in Assam and Tamil Nadu and on peacebuilding in Cúcuta, the European Commission is funding a structured dialogue with people living in poverty and a transatlantic think tank partnership, and the Commonwealth Foundation and Enabel are backing civil society advocacy and local governance. Alongside that, private funders are moving smaller, more flexible money: Humanity AI’s USD $10 million call for communities shaping AI, Sparkplug, Voqal and the Maypole Fund for grassroots and feminist organizing, and faith-based funders like the Crowell Trust. One thing to read carefully: a lot of what is offered here is a fellowship place, a training programme or a prize for someone you nominate rather than a cheque to your organization, so check whether “support” means money for you before you spend a week applying

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Open Opportunities

Development of Learning Tools and Training Facilitators for Children, Youth, and Justice Actors on Climate and Environmental Justice (CEF/PHL/2026/025), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). *Closing soon!*

The United Nations Children’s Fund is commissioning an institution to build age-differentiated learning modules, facilitator guides, and legal empowerment tools that help Filipino children and youth understand and claim their rights to climate and environmental justice. Under its LECEJ project, UNICEF is using this partnership to convert a solid legal and policy foundation into resources children can use, closing the gap between rights on paper and rights in practice. It wants to back a package co-created and validated with young people, academia, civil society, and justice-sector actors, plus a trained pool of youth facilitators to carry the work forward. Weighting sector expertise heavily in scoring signals that lived fluency in child rights matters more than polish. The strongest fits are organizations that pair legal empowerment craft with child-centered, disability-inclusive facilitation.

• Geographies: Philippines.

• Who can apply: An institution or organization able to develop age-differentiated learning modules, facilitator resources and legal empowerment tools and to conduct training of trainers. May include universities, NGOs and CSOs with expertise in child rights, climate and environmental justice, legal empowerment, disaster risk reduction, and child/youth participation.

• Funding amount: Not stated.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Climate & Environment; Education · SDG13; SDG16.

• Deadline: October 2, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Norden 0-30 Grant Programme, Nordic Culture Point (Nordisk Kulturkontakt). *Closing soon!*

The Nordic Committee for Children and Young People, through the Norden 0-30 program administered by Nordic Culture Point, funds cross-border projects that put children and young people up to age 30 at the center of Nordic cooperation. The committee backs work that young people help plan, run, and evaluate, treating their participation and influence as the point rather than a nice-to-have. It looks to strengthen democracy and build lasting relationships across the region through culture, social issues, and politics. The required Nordic partnership and the value placed on Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Åland, and Sápmi signal a funder investing in connective tissue across the whole region, not showcase events. The strongest fits are Nordic-based organizations that already do inclusive work with young people and can share real decision-making with them.

• Geographies: Denmark; Finland; Iceland; Norway; Sweden; Åland; Faroe Islands; Greenland.

• Who can apply: Organisations, local authorities, institutions, associations, and networks with a corporate identity number. The lead applicant must be based in the Nordic Region and represent an organisation that consists of, or has experience of involving, children and young people. Projects must involve cooperation between two or more Nordic countries. Not open to individuals, sports organisations, organisations without experience of inclusive work with children and young people, or organisations not based in the Nordic countries.

• Funding amount: Up to EUR €50,000 for projects with three or more Nordic countries; up to EUR €10,000 for two-country projects.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing

• Deadline: October 2, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Financial Support to Third Parties (FSTP) Sub-Grant under the Corporate Accountability Initiative - CSO-Led Engagement in Nigeria, International Code of Conduct Association (ICoCA). *New!* *Closing soon!*

The International Code of Conduct Association, working through the Corporate Accountability Initiative it co-leads with TRIAL International and OEARSE and co-financed by the European Union, is opening a Financial Support to Third Parties sub-grant for one Nigerian civil society organization. The money funds a single advocacy project that holds corporate actors and the private security providers they hire to account for human rights and environmental harm across extractive, forestry, agricultural, and financial value chains. The Association wants concrete movement in laws, regulations, and corporate due diligence practice. Requiring three years of operation, a working accounting system, and an external expenditure audit signals that they are backing established, locally rooted groups ready for EU-grade compliance. The strongest fits are Nigerian advocacy organizations engaging regulators and companies on business and human rights.

• Geographies: Nigeria.

• Who can apply: Registered Nigerian civil society organizations, NGOs, non-profit entities, universities, and think tanks operational for at least three years, with demonstrated capacity in advocacy, policy engagement and/or corporate accountability, and a functional accounting and bookkeeping system.

• Funding amount: EUR €10,000 per project.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Education, Human Rights & Inclusion.

• Deadline: October 3, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

French Republic Human Rights Prize ‘Liberty - Equality - Fraternity’ 2026, National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (CNCDH). *Closing soon!*

The National Consultative Commission on Human Rights, France’s independent national human rights institution, runs the French Republic Human Rights Prize to recognize and fund grassroots defenders working on one chosen theme each year. For 2026, that theme is the right to asylum and the fundamental rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and displaced people. The Commission is backing legal protection, advocacy, and administrative assistance rather than direct material relief, signaling that it wants to strengthen the rule of law that makes asylum real, not substitute for it. It also asks that affected people help shape the work. Five laureates share a grant, a medal, and lifelong French diplomatic protection. The strongest fits are NGOs and individuals defending asylum rights through law, advocacy, and integration, in France or abroad.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Non-governmental organisations and individual candidates, regardless of nationality or borders, carrying out grassroots human-rights initiatives on the 2026 theme (protecting the right to asylum and the fundamental rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and displaced persons), implemented in France or abroad.

• Funding amount: Overall grant of EUR €70,000 shared among five laureates.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Humanitarian & Disaster Response; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing · SDG10; SDG16.

• Deadline: October 4, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Call for Expression of Interest: Strengthening Alternative Care Reforms in Assam (CEF/IND/2026/075), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). *New!* *Closing soon!*

The United Nations Children’s Fund is calling for an implementing partner to carry its alternative care reforms in Assam into a final consolidation phase. UNICEF wants to move family-based care from a project run in scattered districts to a system owned by the state government, working across all 35 districts alongside the State Child Protection Society. The call seeks a partner that can strengthen gatekeeping, expand foster and kinship care, routinize aftercare for young people leaving institutions, and build the skills of child welfare committees and district units. The emphasis on convergence with government schemes and on transition planning signals a push for lasting systems rather than another pilot. The strongest fits are organizations with deep child protection experience and an established local presence in Assam.

• Geographies: India.

• Who can apply: NGOs and civil society organizations with demonstrated child protection and family-based alternative care experience and an established local presence in Assam.

• Funding amount: Indicative budget of 6,000,000 (currency not stated in the call).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Governance, Policy & Advocacy · SDG16; SDG10.

• Deadline: October 5, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Main Fund - International Projects (January 2027 round), Educational Opportunity Foundation. *New!* *Closing soon!*

The Educational Opportunity Foundation, formerly the British and Foreign School Society, runs its Main Fund International Projects to widen access to education for children and young people in marginalized communities and those displaced by conflict. The Foundation puts its grantmaking behind organizations that either open school doors for excluded children or lift the quality of what happens once they are inside, from teacher training to vocational and STEM learning. It wants durable change rather than one-off activity, favoring new or pilot work that communities can eventually own. The two-stage design, a short first application before a full proposal, signals that fit and clarity of purpose matter more than polish. The strongest fits are established UK registered charities with steady accounts and direct delivery in low income settings.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: UK-registered charities with annual income between GBP £100,000 and GBP £1.5 million in the most recent financial year, with at least three years of continuous accounts submitted to the Charity Commission for England and Wales, the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, or the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland. Organisations must be directly involved in the provision of the project activities.

• Funding amount: Grants of between GBP £30,000 to GBP £70,000 per project (maximum GBP £35,000 per year for multi-year projects); approximately GBP £450,000 to GBP £500,000 awarded to international projects each year (of ~GBP £700,000 total across UK and International).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing · SDG4.

• Deadline: October 9, 2026 (Stage 1 application).

• Learn more and apply here.

Continuum of Care for Children and Young Persons in Conflict with Law (CEF/IND/2026/076), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). *New!* *Closing soon!*

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is inviting expressions of interest from implementing partners to build a continuum of care for children and young people in conflict with the law across Assam, India. UNICEF is using this partnership to move rehabilitation beyond institutional walls, funding integrated case management that carries a young person from an Observation Home through transition, aftercare, and independent life. What it wants to back is measurable reintegration: stronger life skills, employability, and social connection, delivered through sport as a structured rehabilitative tool rather than recreation. The call anchors work in specific homes and asks for age-appropriate plans across three cohorts, signaling that UNICEF values local presence and juvenile-justice experience over broad reach. The strongest fits are Assam-rooted organizations with child-protection and sports-for-development track records.

• Geographies: India.

• Who can apply: NGOs and civil society organizations with local presence in Assam and demonstrated experience in juvenile justice, child protection, and/or sports-for-development, able to work across the child protection ecosystem (DCPU, CCIs, Observation/Special/Correctional Homes).

• Funding amount: Indicative budget of 5,000,000 (currency not stated in the call).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Governance, Policy & Advocacy; Education · SDG16; SDG3; SDG8.

• Deadline: October 5, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Cultivating Healthy Communities - Arts, Health, and Well-Being in Rural Communities (FY27), Washington State Arts Commission. *New!* *Closing soon!*

The Washington State Arts Commission, through its Cultivating Healthy Communities program, funds arts and culture projects that build social connection and well-being across rural Washington. The commission treats participation in the arts as an evidence-based tool for easing isolation, stress, and anxiety, and it wants that work rooted in the places where resources are thinnest. It backs collaborations, not solo programming, requiring a cultural organization to partner with the community and at least one service provider so projects reach people through trusted local infrastructure. Priority for prior pilot recipients and agriculture-based communities signals a commission building on what already works in rural economies. The strongest fits are small, community-rooted nonprofits, tribal governments, and local arts agencies that can show a public, participatory project deepening belonging in a rural place.

• Geographies: United States.

• Who can apply: 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations with a mission focused on arts, heritage, or culture; 501(c)(3) nonprofits with a social impact mission (project funding only, not regular programming); groups fiscally sponsored by an arts/heritage/culture or social impact 501(c)(3); faith-based organizations; officially designated Local Arts Agencies; and Tribal Governments. Organizations must have current Washington State corporate nonprofit status and current federal 501(c)(3) tax-exempt determination.

• Funding amount: Grants: USD $3,000 to USD $5,000 (reimbursement grant).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing

• Deadline: October 6, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Call for Expression of Interest: Pathways to Peace and Prosperity in Colombia Project: Capacity Development (CS), San José de Cúcuta (WFP/COL/2026/031), World Food Programme (WFP). *New!* *Closing soon!*

The World Food Programme is seeking a cooperating partner to help deliver its Caminos hacia la Paz y la Prosperidad project in Cucuta, Colombia, funding community leadership, sustainable livelihoods, and access to social protection in neighborhoods marked by violence and exclusion. The agency is pairing its own implementing team with a locally rooted organization, treating peacebuilding and social protection as one continuous effort rather than separate tracks. It wants a partner that can train community leaders as mediators, connect vulnerable families to state services through one-stop social windows, and keep participants engaged so gains hold. The application design, weighing clarity of activities and expected results, signals a preference for organizations with concrete field methods. The strongest fits are Colombian NGOs with proven experience in conflict prevention, livelihoods, and social protection.

• Geographies: Colombia.

• Who can apply: NGOs and civil society organizations with technical and operational experience in peacebuilding, sustainable livelihoods, and social protection, able to strengthen community leadership and appropriation of social protection mechanisms and to work in urban Cucuta and the corregimientos Palmarito and Banco de Arena under permanent accompaniment by the WFP implementing team.

• Funding amount: Not disclosed.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Governance, Policy & Advocacy; Economic Development & Livelihoods · SDG1; SDG2; SDG16.

• Deadline: October 6, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Strengthening Alternative Care System to Promote Family based Care in Tamil Nadu (CEF/IND/2026/080), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). *New!* *Closing soon!*

UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, is inviting civil society organizations to help strengthen the alternative care system for children in Tamil Nadu, moving the state away from institutional care and toward family based care. It advances the reform India set in motion through Mission Vatsalya and the Juvenile Justice Act, which treat institutionalization as a last resort. UNICEF wants a partner that can move children out of Child Care Institutions into kinship, foster, and community settings, while building the case management, gatekeeping, and workforce capacity that keep those placements safe and lasting. The application design, a state specific call to established organizations rather than a research pilot, signals that UNICEF wants proven local delivery. The strongest fits are organizations already working on deinstitutionalization and family reintegration across Tamil Nadu.

• Geographies: India (Tamil Nadu).

• Who can apply: Civil society organizations / NGOs with child protection and alternative care experience able to implement in Tamil Nadu, India. Applicants must be registered CSOs that meet UNICEF partner due-diligence requirements.

• Funding amount: Not disclosed.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Governance, Policy & Advocacy.

• Deadline: October 7, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Samhita-CGF Catalytic Grant Programme (India), Samhita-Collective Good Foundation. *New!* *Closing soon!*

Samhita-Collective Good Foundation is inviting Indian nonprofits working on education for underserved children and youth to apply for its catalytic grants. The foundation is putting multi-year funding behind organizations that improve learning outcomes for children aged nine to fifteen, deepen parental engagement, build adolescent life skills, and smooth the passage from school to work. By running a two-stage process that starts with a short expression of interest, the foundation signals it wants to lower the barrier for smaller, community-rooted groups rather than reward polished proposal writing. Its selection questions reward reaching the least-served, addressing gender barriers, and sound governance over scale alone. The strongest fits are education organizations with deep local roots, demonstrated impact, and the compliance record to steward a three-year grant.

• Geographies: India.

• Who can apply: Indian nonprofit organizations working in education for underserved children and youth, registered as a Trust, Society, or Section 8 Company for at least three years, holding valid 12A and 80G registrations, with audited financial statements for the previous three financial years and a minimum of three full-time paid staff (excluding founders). Organizations must not be debarred by Indian government authorities.

• Funding amount: INR ₹75 lakh to INR ₹1 crore (INR ₹75,00,000 to INR ₹1,00,00,000) per grant over the full grant period of up to three years.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Education; Economic Development & Livelihoods · SDG4; SDG8; SDG10.

• Deadline: October 9, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Brain Awareness Week Grants 2027, International Brain Research Organization (IBRO). *New!* *Closing soon!*

The International Brain Research Organization, working with the Dana Foundation, funds Brain Awareness Week Grants for outreach that brings neuroscience to the public. IBRO treats these small grants as seed money for local science communication, backing organizers who can turn curiosity about the brain into lasting community engagement. What it wants to support is not a single lecture but a bridge between researchers and the people around them, especially in regions where public understanding of brain science is thin. The application asks for a hosting organization, a visibility plan, and a diversity commitment, signaling that IBRO values events that reach beyond the usual academic audience. The strongest fits are neuroscience societies, universities, and community organizers outside Europe who can plan inclusive, well-documented events for 2027.

• Geographies: Global (outside Europe).

• Who can apply: Organizers of Brain Awareness Week outreach events and their hosting organizations, for activities taking place in countries outside Europe. Applicants describe a hosting organization (mission, objectives, national/regional membership) and provide the main organizer CV. Events must be held in 2027 and align with and promote the global Brain Awareness Week campaign.

• Funding amount: Maximum grant amount: USD $1,250 (up to USD $1,250 per event).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Innovation, Science & Technology.

• Deadline: October 15, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Santoor Women’s Scholarship 2026-27, Wipro Consumer Care and Wipro Cares. *New!* *Closing soon!*

Wipro Consumer Care and Wipro Cares run the Santoor Women’s Scholarship to help young women from low-income households in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra move from government schools into undergraduate study. The support is built for the long haul, renewing each year through degree completion rather than covering a single term, and it counts tuition and the small incidental costs that quietly end schooling as equally worth funding. The program reaches beyond professional courses, welcoming students of humanities, liberal arts, and the sciences, and gives weight to applicants from backward districts. Anchoring eligibility to government school graduates signals that the funder wants to reach girls with the fewest alternatives. The strongest fits are first-year undergraduates from government schools who would otherwise stall after grade 12.

• Geographies: India.

• Who can apply: Young women from underprivileged backgrounds in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra who have passed class 10 from a local government school, passed class 12 from a government school or junior college in the 2025-26 academic year, and are enrolled in the first year of an undergraduate program beginning 2026-27.

• Funding amount: INR ₹30,000 per annum (INR ₹30,000 per year), paid each year until completion of the undergraduate course.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment · SDG4; SDG5.

• Deadline: October 15, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

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32 opportunities on the Innovation, Research & Smart Cities page this cycle, 15 of them new.

This page runs two economies side by side. One is European and institutional, and it holds the biggest cheques: Horizon Europe’s Excellence Hubs call has EUR €100 million for around 30 projects, its Fast Track for industrial technologies puts EUR €20 million behind roughly eight breakthroughs, and the SYSTEMEU innovation-valley consortium is distributing EUR €7.55 million for digital health, energy and mobility. Almost none of that is reachable unless you are a multi-country consortium. The other economy is small, fast and mostly equity-free, and the movement worth watching there is homegrown Global South technology: funders backing local founders directly, from the Harambeans prize for African export manufacturers to IGAD’s youth innovation challenge in Sudan and the ILSS-Koita AI Awards for Indian nonprofits. Between the two sits a quieter layer of open-infrastructure and research-capacity money: NLnet’s Restack and CodeSupply calls for Europe’s open internet stack, Foresight’s AI-for-science nodes, and fellowship routes from J-PAL, AGNES and FAPESP that move researchers rather than products. The rule of thumb: the infrastructure money is European and gated, the founder money is increasingly local and open.

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Open Opportunities

Seventh Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme (PESP 7) for the Audio-Visual Industry, National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF). *New!* *Closing soon!*

The National Film and Video Foundation is opening its seventh Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme for South Africa’s audio-visual industry, funding production, skills training, and film marketing and distribution on behalf of the national government. This is an economic recovery instrument first: money moves fast, projects must start and finish inside a tight window, and every proposal is judged on how many jobs it will put on set. The foundation wants employment and a reactivated sector, so it rewards work that reaches youth, women, filmmakers with disabilities, and underserviced provinces far from Johannesburg and Cape Town. Scoring leans hard on team experience, budget realism, and transformation credentials. The strongest fits are South African producers, accredited trainers, and festivals ready to hire quickly and deliver at scale.

• Geographies: South Africa.

• Who can apply: South African audio-visual practitioners and companies, applying as registered companies (CIPC-registered, valid BBBEE certificate or sworn affidavit, tax compliance PIN, COR14.3) or as individuals (individual tax certificate, certified ID, CV). Stream 1 Production has three experience tiers (established, limited-experience, and new-entrant filmmakers); Stream 2 Skills accepts SETA/QCTO-accredited providers or non-accredited facilitators with 10+ years expertise; Stream 3 Marketing and Distribution has tiers for established, intermediate and emerging film festivals, markets and screenings. Government, entity, municipal and public-service employees are not eligible.

• Funding amount: Per-project caps by stream (ZAR): Stream 1 Production and Post-Production ZAR R400,000; Stream 2 Skills Development and Training ZAR R700,000 (training without production equipment for hire) to ZAR R1,000,000 (with equipment for hire); Stream 3 Marketing and Distribution ZAR R500,000 (public screening) to ZAR R1,500,000 (film festival and market hosting). Stream 2 minimum learner stipend ZAR R350 per day or ZAR R5,000 per month. Total PESP 7 2026/27 allocation ZAR R178,100,000; Project 1 (this call) sub-total ZAR R153,100,000.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Economic Development & Livelihoods · SDG8; SDG10.

• Deadline: October 5, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Catalyst Grant 2026: Agentic Workflows You Can Trust, Digital Science. *Closing soon!*

Digital Science, a technology company serving the research ecosystem, runs its Catalyst Grant to back early-stage software tools that advance research itself. The 2026 round, themed Agentic Workflows You Can Trust, funds AI agents that plan, execute and review multi-step work across the research lifecycle, from writing and evidence synthesis to peer review, funding decisions and publication integrity. What Digital Science wants is trust that travels with the tool: audit trails, provenance and governance built in, so an institution can put an agent in front of real decisions. The application, which asks builders to name the decision their agent affects and where it breaks, signals a preference for embedded, accountable work over standalone demos. The strongest fits are founders, research teams and students with a prototype or a well-formed concept.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Anyone with an early-stage idea: individual founders, research teams, students, early-stage startups, research projects and moonshot thinkers, globally. Applicants may present a prototype, a working product or a well-formed concept; no revenue, finished build or complete business plan is required.

• Funding amount: Up to GBP £25,000 (equity-free; may be split across more than one recipient).

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Innovation, Research & Smart Cities.

• Deadline: October 5, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Entrepreneurs Investment Program (EIP) 2026, Global Entrepreneurship Festival (GEF). *New!* *Closing soon!*

The Global Entrepreneurship Festival runs the Entrepreneurs Investment Program to find early-stage founders it can back with seed capital and business support, then bring them into its annual gathering in Cairo. The festival pairs money with coaching, legal and accounting help, branding and mentorship, and a live pitch in front of investors, so the capital is an entry point into a wider network rather than a one-time check. It wants founders ready to grow past their home market, whether they arrive with an idea, a prototype, or early sales. The staged, milestone-linked structure and the small equity stake signal a funder that wants coachable teams it can support toward incubation in 2027. The strongest fits are ambitious, globally minded founders who can show up in person and build in public.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Anyone with an innovative idea; startups at any stage (idea, prototype, or already selling); founders seeking to grow beyond their home market; and businesses needing funding to scale. Applicants must be at least 21 years old and able to attend the festival in person in Cairo (November 6 to 8, 2026).

• Funding amount: Up to USD $35,000 seed investment (approximately 50% cash and 50% non-cash business support); typical equity interest of 1% to 5%; disbursed in tranches against agreed milestones and KPIs.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Finance & Investment.

• Deadline: October 6, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Citi Foundation Fourth Global Innovation Challenge 2026: Preparing Youth for AI, Citi Foundation. *Closing soon!*

The Citi Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the global bank Citigroup, has opened its fourth Global Innovation Challenge, a request for proposals backing community organizations that prepare low-income young people for an economy reshaped by artificial intelligence. The foundation reads the moment as a widening digital divide, where AI fluency and human-centric skills like critical thinking and resilience increasingly decide who reaches stable work. It wants nonprofits that help youth build both, connect them to jobs, and fold AI tools into existing employment programs. Restricting eligibility to locally registered nonprofits operating where Citi has a presence signals a preference for grounded, proven community actors over newcomers. The strongest fits are established youth-employment organizations ready to pilot or expand AI-focused skills work in their own communities.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Community organizations registered as nonprofit entities under local law (e.g., U.S. 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public charities) whose proposed program supports low-income communities and impacts one or more Citi Foundation target geographies where Citi has a presence.

• Funding amount: USD $500,000 to each of 50 community organizations; USD $25 million total commitment.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Education; Innovation, Research & Smart Cities · SDG4; SDG8.

• Deadline: October 6, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

The ILSS-KCADT AI Awards 2026, India Leaders for Social Sector (ILSS) and Koita Foundation. *New!* *Closing soon!*

The Koita Foundation, together with India Leaders for Social Sector, is running the ILSS-KCADT AI Awards 2026 to recognize Indian nonprofits and social-purpose organizations that put artificial intelligence at the center of solving real social problems. The awards reward working solutions rather than concepts, asking that AI be core to the approach and tested with the communities it serves. Koita Foundation wants to surface practical, responsible AI that expands reach, improves beneficiary outcomes, and can be sustained and scaled by its team. By judging on adoption, community validation, cost efficiency, and responsible design, and by featuring winners on its Digital Toolbook for Social Impact, the program signals it values proven, shareable practice over novelty. The strongest fits are Indian social-sector organizations with a piloted, outcomes-backed AI tool ready to scale.

• Geographies: India.

• Who can apply: Registered Indian nonprofits and social-purpose organisations (Trust, Society, or Section 8 Company) whose AI solution is central to solving a social problem. The solution must have progressed beyond concept to real-world piloting with documented outcomes, follow responsible AI practices, and be capable of being sustained and scaled. Applicants must be willing to document their solution as an open case study on the Digital Toolbook for Social Impact. Finalists from the KF Tech Awards 2025 may reapply with a new or substantially different AI solution.

• Funding amount: Total prize pool INR ₹50 lakh: 1st Prize INR ₹20 lakh; 2nd Prize INR ₹10 lakh; 3rd Prize INR ₹5 lakh each (3 category winners); People’s Choice INR ₹5 lakh.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing.

• Deadline: October 11, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

International Social Finance Accelerator (ISFA) - 2027 Cohort, Accelerating Impact. *New!* *Closing soon!*

Accelerating Impact, the Luxembourg platform behind the International Social Finance Accelerator, is inviting emerging fund managers raising their first or second impact investment vehicle to apply for its 2027 cohort. The accelerator combines hands-on technical support with working capital because the hardest stretch for a new impact fund is the years before a first close, when a sound strategy can stall for want of runway. It backs managers whose capital will reach decent work, stronger living standards, and more inclusive communities across countries eligible for official development assistance. The three phase selection, narrowing many expressions of interest to a handful of managers, signals that readiness and conviction matter more than polish. The strongest fits are credible, locally grounded teams with a differentiated thesis and a clear path to launch.

• Geographies: Global.

• Who can apply: Emerging impact fund managers - fund management or fund advisory companies raising their first or second impact investment vehicle - that focus on social impact and intend to be regulated in an EU Member State or an equivalent regime, with at least two key persons and capital deployed in ODA-eligible countries.

• Funding amount: EUR €100,000 support services envelope (reimbursable once the fund is launched) plus a possible working capital loan of up to EUR €200,000 from a partner Luxembourg bank (at the bank’s discretion), guaranteed by the Luxembourg State.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Economic Development & Livelihoods; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing.

• Deadline: October 11, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Tholoana Enterprise Programme 2026, SAB Foundation. *Closing soon!*

The SAB Foundation is accepting applications for its Tholoana Enterprise Programme, an eighteen-month business growth program that pairs grant funding with tailored mentoring for commercially proven South African entrepreneurs. The foundation is backing owners who have paying customers and recurring revenue but need stronger systems, financial capability and market access to reach larger or formal markets. It wants to convert proven demand into sustainable jobs and local economic value, not to rescue struggling firms. The application asks for trading history, verifiable financials and evidence of repeat demand, signaling that readiness to grow and coachability weigh as much as the idea. The strongest fits are majority black-owned, owner-led ventures trading for at least two years, especially those led by women, youth or persons with disabilities, or serving rural and township communities.

• Geographies: South Africa.

• Who can apply: South African citizens who are majority shareholders and key decision-makers, working full-time in their own commercially proven businesses. The business must be at least 51% black-owned and managed, registered and headquartered in South Africa (CIPC where applicable), SARS and/or VAT registered, and have traded consistently for at least two years with recurring commercial revenue, verifiable financial records and evidence of repeat customer demand over the past 12 months. The business must have a viable commercial model, a credible opportunity to reach additional customers or larger and more formal markets, and a credible pathway to job creation. Priority consideration is given to businesses owned by women, youth and persons with disabilities, and to businesses based in or meaningfully serving rural and township communities.

• Funding amount: Not disclosed.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Innovation, Research & Smart Cities.

• Deadline: October 13, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

17th NBG Business Seeds Innovation & Technology Competition, National Bank of Greece. *New!* *Closing soon!*

The National Bank of Greece runs its Innovation and Technology Competition through the NBG Business Seeds program, the longest-running contest in Greece, recognizing original ideas, business plans, and young companies in fintech, digital business, advanced technologies and artificial intelligence, health tech, proptech, and financial literacy. The bank pairs cash prizes with mentoring, thematic workshops, and four-day bootcamps in Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, and Heraklion, using the contest to grow an innovation ecosystem it can serve and finance. A three-phase design, moving from a short online proposal to a detailed plan and a final presentation before university faculty and bank executives, signals that maturity and feasibility weigh as much as the idea. The strongest fits are early-stage founders and teams across Greece, Cyprus, and the EU with a technology concept to develop.

• Geographies: Greece; Cyprus.

• Who can apply: Adult residents of Greece, Cyprus, Greeks living abroad, or other EU citizens. Participation on an individual basis or in teams of up to five members (a representative is designated for teams). Ideas, business plans, or existing companies are eligible.

• Funding amount: Total monetary prizes EUR €60,000: 1st prize EUR €20,000; 2nd prize EUR €12,000; 3rd prize EUR €8,000; Special PropTech award EUR €4,000; Special Health Tech award EUR €6,000; up to five Special Financial Literacy awards totaling up to EUR €10,000; plus 7 non-cash commendations.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Finance & Investment; Economic Development & Livelihoods.

• Deadline: October 14, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Read more

Hello everyone,

Sixty-eight opportunities arrived in the eight days since the mid-September update. Thirty nine of them close on or before October 6th. Total Estimated Funding Pool: ~$152 Million+ across this update. Most of that sits in a handful of European research partnerships that need consortia, roughly $134M between them. The money a single organization can apply for on its own comes to about ~$12 Million+, in awards running from USD $270 to USD $2.4 Million.

Three things in this batch

Five funders are buying knowledge that communities already hold, rather than delivering programs to them. Land is Life runs a fellowship for Indigenous women organizers. UNESCO is funding community-led climate adaptation inside the Cosmological Axis of Yogyakarta, a place whose value is the knowledge system attached to it. The IBP Network’s grant is called Shifting Power through Action and Reciprocal Knowledge, which is the whole argument in a title. The Rowell Fund backs Tibetan-led projects, and UNICEF in the Philippines wants learning tools built with children and justice actors rather than for them. If you have been writing proposals that promise to build capacity in a community, this is a week to notice that several funders have stopped asking for that.

Almost none of the arts money in this batch is for art. PhotoVogue’s open call is titled Creativity as Rebellion. The Prix Liberte asks young people to nominate a defender of freedom. France’s National Consultative Commission on Human Rights runs its Liberty, Equality, Fraternity prize. The Lipman-Miliband Trust funds socialist ideas and movements. Ars Biologica pairs artists with scientists in a laboratory residency. Six arts and culture calls, and the subject of five of them is rights, dissent or science. Photographers and writers who have been looking in the arts listings for arts funding should be reading the human rights ones.

Health research is being commissioned by institutions in the countries it is about. The Africa Medical and Behavioural Sciences Organisation opens its own impact research initiative. India’s Department of Biotechnology is funding T-cell vaccine work on infectious disease, cancer and autoimmune conditions. The IIITD Innovation and Incubation Center runs a health technology cohort. The Discovery Foundation funds rural and underserved healthcare inside South Africa. Four calls, four funders headquartered where the research will happen, none of them routing through a Northern intermediary.

Snapshot of what’s inside this update

• Cross-Cutting & Intersectional Impact (4 opportunities). Two embassy and foundation schemes that decide locally: the Embassy of the Czech Republic in New Delhi funds small-scale projects at CZK 250,000 to 500,000, and Denmark’s Hesse-Ragle Fonden gives DKK 50,000 to 100,000 a grant. The World Food Programme opens an integrated call in Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts covering disaster risk reduction, livelihoods, the mother and child benefit and school feeding under one partnership agreement. The Funders Network’s PLACES Fellowship is the outlier, because it invests $20,000 per fellow in kind and charges the fellow a participation fee.

• Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment (7 opportunities). The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office puts £500,001 to £1,000,000 into South African civil society working where gender equality meets health rights, and it wants a coalition rather than a single grantee. The Doria Feminist Fund opens its seventh cycle with flexible core funding up to $15,000 across the Middle East and North Africa, and the Resilience Fund backs women and non-binary-led community organizations at $15,000 to $50,000 over two years. UNESCO runs two WINGS fellowships for Caribbean women researchers, and the European Innovation Council closes the section with nine prizes for women innovators. Land is Life opens its fifth cohort for Indigenous women organizers, closing 24 September.

• Global Health & WASH (14 opportunities). Health research here is being commissioned by institutions in the countries it concerns. India’s Department of Biotechnology funds T-cell vaccine work up to INR 15 crore for network projects, the Africa Medical and Behavioural Sciences Organisation opens its own impact research initiative, IIITD runs a health technology cohort, and South Africa’s Discovery Foundation funds rural and underserved care at ZAR R250,000 to R500,000. UNICEF’s One Health call in Cameroon sits inside the $23.5M Pandemic Fund award the country won last year. Norad puts roughly NOK 10 million into evidence on comprehensive and safe abortion care, and the UAE’s Suqia opens a $1M global water award with individual prizes from $20,000 to $300,000.

• Education, Human Rights & Inclusion (18 opportunities). Almost none of the arts money here is for art. PhotoVogue’s open call is titled Creativity as Rebellion, the Prix Liberte asks young people to nominate a defender of freedom, France’s human rights commission runs its Liberty, Equality, Fraternity prize, and the Lipman-Miliband Trust funds socialist ideas and movements. Ars Biologica pairs artists with scientists in a laboratory. Alongside them, PATH subawards $3.35M across 22 countries for civil society voice in global health financing, the Commonwealth Foundation opens grants of £15,000 to £30,000 a year, and the Rowell Fund backs Tibetan-led projects up to $7,500.

• Agriculture, Climate, Environment, Energy & Food (17 opportunities). The two largest lines are European research partnerships that need consortia: the FOREST Partnership at roughly EUR 40 million and Water4All at roughly EUR 34 million. Underneath them the money gets small and specific. MedWet offers EUR 250 a project for World Wetlands Day events, which is the smallest award in this update. The Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund gives up to $25,000, UNESCO funds community-led climate adaptation inside the Cosmological Axis of Yogyakarta, and Fair Carbon’s Blue Catalyst Fund runs a staged package worth up to $520,000 for blue carbon projects, most of it as technical assistance rather than cash. The Coral Accelerator Program offers up to $1 million a project.

• Humanitarian Aid, Emergency Programming & DRR (2 opportunities). A thin section and worth saying so. The World Food Programme opens the Adamawa and North companion to its Cameroon nutrition call, and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts puts EUR 5 million into four regional grants for impact-based forecasting and early warning across Africa, at up to EUR 1.25 million each. That second one is the most substantial early warning money we have carried this cycle.

• Innovation, Research & Smart Cities (6 opportunities). The NLnet Foundation opens Restack, a EUR 7 million programme for a healthy open internet stack, taking first proposals from EUR 5,000. SYSTEMEU offers up to EUR 2.2 million a project from a EUR 7.55 million envelope for digital innovation across European regions. Sao Paulo Research Foundation opens its Young Investigator grant to international researchers willing to relocate to Brazil, with up to twenty awards. At the other end, IBRO’s seeding grants run from $2,000 in Asia-Pacific to $5,000 in Africa, which is the sort of money that starts a neuroscience group rather than funds one.

This post is for paid subscribers only, but the monthly round-up will always remain free. I also regularly share updates on my LinkedIn.

Cross-Cutting & Intersectional Impact

PLACES Fellowship 2027 Cohort, The Funders Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities. *New!* *Closing soon!*

The Funders Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities opens its PLACES Fellowship to grantmakers who want to embed racial equity and justice into how they move money. Rather than fund a project, this eight-month program invests in the person, pairing coaching and peer learning with four site visits to communities across the United States and Canada. What TFN seeks to build is a generation of philanthropic leaders who can trace how systemic racism and colonialism still shape the places they fund, then carry that into daily grantmaking practice. The required supervisor letter and application video signal the intent: learning should reach the institution, not stop with the individual. The strongest fits are grantmakers with at least a year of experience and an organization ready to change alongside them.

• Geographies: The United States and Canada, with fellows drawn from national, regional and local foundations and grantmaking intermediaries in both countries and four in-person site visits held in communities whose locations vary each year.

• Who can apply: Individuals working in philanthropy or at a grantmaking organization (national, regional and local foundations, grantmaking associations and grantmaking intermediaries) across the United States and Canada who are dedicated to supporting historically marginalized and racialized communities. At the time of the first site visit, the fellow must have at least 12 months of philanthropic grantmaking experience, and the fellow’s direct supervisor or CEO must commit to supporting their participation, with a letter of support required upon acceptance.

• Funding amount: The Funders Network invests approximately USD $20,000 per fellow, an in-kind programmatic value rather than a cash award to the applicant, covering coaching, training, speaker honoraria, facilitator fees and site visit costs. Accepted participants pay a participation fee of USD $1,500 for TFN members or USD $2,500 for non-members and cover their own travel and hotel, with limited travel sponsorships subject to availability.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Philanthropy & Civil Society; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing; SDGs 10, 16. Focus: racial equity, social justice, grantmaker capacity, place-based philanthropy, leadership development, community engagement.

• Deadline: September 28, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Addressing Root Causes in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT): Integrated Actions through Disaster Risk Reduction, Livelihoods, Mother and Child Benefit and School Feeding Programmes (WFP/BGD/2026/007), World Food Programme (WFP). *New!* *Closing soon!*

The World Food Programme is seeking a cooperating partner to deliver an integrated resilience program in Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts, a remote and climate-exposed region where recurrent hazards and deep poverty sustain chronic food insecurity. Rather than fund one activity, WFP is combining disaster risk reduction and early warning, resilient livelihoods, the government’s mother and child benefit scheme, and school feeding in Para Centres, with anticipatory action when disasters strike. The design signals a deliberate move from reactive relief toward durable community capacity, and the scoring weights relevance, sound project management, and gender, protection, and inclusion most heavily. The strongest fits are national and local organizations with real presence in these hill districts, prior UN delivery experience, and a credible plan to hand the work back to communities and government.

• Geographies: Bangladesh, locked to the Chittagong Hill Tracts within Chattogram, specifically the Rangamati, Bandarban and Khagrachhari districts, one of the country’s most geographically isolated and climate-vulnerable regions.

• Who can apply: Cooperating and implementing partners that are civil-society or NGO organizations, applying through the UN Partner Portal Call for Expression of Interest. The call is org-facing and individuals may not apply, while local and national presence in the defined CHT districts and prior experience working with WFP or other UN agencies are scored advantages.

• Funding amount: Not disclosed. The indicative budget is left blank in the UN Partner Portal export, and WFP published neither a per-partner amount nor a total envelope for this Call for Expression of Interest, with Other Information likewise left blank.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Economic Development & Livelihoods; Humanitarian & Disaster Response; Agriculture & Food Systems; Education; SDGs 1, 2, 13. Focus: climate-resilient infrastructure, livelihood diversification, maternal and child nutrition, school meals, cash-for-work, emergency preparedness, market access, community mobilization.

• Deadline: September 29, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Hesse-Ragle Foundation Grants, Hesse-Ragle Fonden. *New!* *Closing soon!*

The Hesse-Ragle Foundation, a Danish family foundation, funds concrete, measurable projects that build education, health, workforce capacity, and economic self-sufficiency for communities in developing countries, with a particular pull toward Africa and South and Southeast Asia. Its guiding idea is help to self-help, so it backs work where local people take an active part in realizing the change rather than receiving one-off relief. The application design signals what it values: applicants must be Danish-registered organizations, projects must finish and report within a single year, and results must be visible enough to evaluate. Newer groups must secure backing from an established organization before a grant is approved. The strongest fits are established Danish organizations running focused, community-rooted development work abroad who can show measurable results quickly.

• Geographies: Developing countries worldwide, with the foundation’s prior work focused primarily on Africa and South and Southeast Asia and a special emphasis on Africa, though not limited to those regions. The applicant organization itself must be registered in Denmark.

• Who can apply: Danish-registered associations, organizations, and companies with a CVR number. Private individuals are not eligible, and the foundation does not support projects run by foreign organizations. The project must be carried out by, or in cooperation with, a recognized organization, and a newer association without a track record may be required to secure backing from a well-established organization that vouches for the project. Implementation must take place in a developing country.

• Funding amount: Grants of DKK 50,000 to DKK 100,000 per award (roughly USD $7,200 to USD $14,500), drawn from an annual distribution stated as over DKK 1,000,000 (roughly USD $145,000), from which 10 to 15 projects are typically funded each year.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Economic Development & Livelihoods; Education; Health; SDGs 1, 3, 4, 8. Focus: education, health, workforce development, economic security, self-sufficiency, poverty alleviation, local capacity building, sustainable community development.

• Deadline: September 30, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Call for Submission of Small Scale Projects for 2027, Embassy of the Czech Republic in New Delhi. *New!*

The Embassy of the Czech Republic in New Delhi is opening its Small Scale Projects call for 2027, funding locally run development projects in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Maldives. The Embassy uses these small grants as a frontline instrument of Czech bilateral development cooperation, placing modest, verifiable resources directly in the hands of local organizations that know their communities. It wants to back tangible local priorities across democratic governance, natural resource and water management, and agriculture and rural development, while raising awareness of the Czech Republic as a donor. Requiring locally established partners, a capped administrative share, and clear links to Embassy knowledge signals a preference for grounded, accountable delivery over ambitious overhead. The strongest fits are established local nonprofits, cooperatives, and public-benefit institutions ready to deliver a focused, community-level project.

• Geographies: Bangladesh, Maldives and Nepal, explicitly not India. The implementing partner must be a local entity established in the country of implementation, so applicant and implementation locations coincide.

• Who can apply: Local entities established in Bangladesh, Nepal, or Maldives with legal subjectivity and authorization to receive funding from the Czech Development Cooperation programme (ZRS CR). Eligible partners may include educational, healthcare, social or cultural institutions, non-governmental non-profit organizations (NGOs), cooperatives, local or regional authorities, or other public-benefit organizations. The implementing partner assumes full responsibility for substantive implementation toward the Embassy as project guarantor.

• Funding amount: Per-project financial contributions of CZK 250,000 to CZK 500,000 (roughly USD $10,900 to USD $21,700), including the exchange-rate reserve. No total call envelope is disclosed.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Economic Development & Livelihoods; Agriculture & Food Systems; Climate & Environment; SDGs 2, 6, 13, 15, 16. Focus: small grants, ODA-eligible projects, local implementing partners, community infrastructure, training and capacity building, donor visibility, SDG-aligned projects, natural resource management.

• Deadline: October 31, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment

Indigenous Women’s Program Fellowship 2027: Cohort V, Land is Life. *New!* *Closing soon!*

Land is Life, a global coalition advancing Indigenous Peoples’ rights, is opening the fifth cohort of its Indigenous Women’s Program Fellowship, a year-long program for young Indigenous women leaders. The coalition designed this fellowship to be led by Indigenous women themselves, pairing project funding and a participation stipend with mentoring, bimonthly training, and access to international advocacy spaces. What Land is Life wants to back is a generation of leaders who can defend land and resource rights, strengthen community governance, and advance gender equality. Priority for applicants from countries not previously represented and for those without advanced degrees signals that the fellowship reaches emerging voices rather than established ones. The strongest fits are young Indigenous women running community-rooted projects who have not held this fellowship before.

• Geographies: Worldwide, open to Indigenous women from all seven sociocultural regions, with the program historically supporting Africa, Asia, the Americas and the Pacific and giving priority to applicants from countries not previously represented. Projects are implemented at community level in the applicant’s own territory.

• Who can apply: Indigenous women aged 18 to 35 from any of the seven sociocultural regions who are driving change in their communities. Applicants must be fluent in English, French, or Spanish and must not have previously been a Land is Life fellow. Priority is given to applicants who do not hold a master’s or doctoral degree and to those from countries not previously represented in the fellowship.

• Funding amount: Up to USD $3,000 in project funding plus a fixed USD $3,600 participation stipend, giving up to USD $6,600 per fellow. Approximately five fellowships are awarded per cohort and the total cohort budget is not disclosed.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment; Governance, Policy & Advocacy; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing; SDGs 5, 10, 16. Focus: indigenous peoples rights, women’s empowerment, community-level projects, land and resource rights, self-determination, climate resilience, food sovereignty.

• Deadline: September 24, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Read more

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to the second mid-month update this September, 66 opportunities arrived since our last weekly update went out six days ago. Total Estimated Funding Pool: ~$678 Million+ across this update, which is the largest figure this newsletter has carried and also the most misleading. Coefficient Giving accounts for $250M of it in two envelopes. Six European programmes account for another $353M and all of them need consortia. Strip those out and the money a single organization can apply for on its own comes to roughly ~$39 Million+, in discrete awards running from USD $1,000 to USD $16.2 Million.

Three things in this batch

AI safety money arrived at a scale nothing else in this database matches. Coefficient Giving opened Project Tailwind at $200M and, separately, Launchpad Funds at $50M. Humanity AI put up $10M explicitly for community organizations rather than labs. MATS is paying for residencies and Digital Science is funding tooling for agentic workflows. Four funders who agree on almost nothing else about how to give money away, all arriving in the same subject in the same week. Tailwind is the one to look at hardest, because it is open globally and declines to name the problem it wants solved, which is either the most generous framing of the year or the hardest brief in it.

Water turns up in five calls across three of the seven sections below, and no two of them are funding the same problem. In eastern Congo, UNHCR wants emergency WASH delivered and then handed over to national systems. In the United States, the Water Research Foundation is putting up $275,000 for machine learning on smart meter data, and the question underneath it is whether households can pay their bills. The Campbell Foundation is funding advocacy against agricultural runoff. UNICEF in India is buying groundwater monitoring and seasonal water tracking, and filing it as climate adaptation rather than as water. Fondation SUEZ runs a single call across thirteen countries that treats water access, sanitation and waste as one service. Water is not a sector here, it is five different problems sharing a noun, and the one you are working on decides which section you should have been reading.

UNHCR moved to Europe. Nine partnership calls across Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo under UNSCR 1244, all opened together and all closing 9 October. The agency has run African country slates every cycle this year, Burkina Faso and the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mozambique and Angola. This is the first European one. If you are a registered UN Partner Portal partner anywhere in the Western Balkans, this is your fortnight.

Snapshot of what’s inside this update

• Cross-Cutting & Intersectional Impact (3 opportunities). Three calls, and between them the largest figures in the database. Coefficient Giving opened Project Tailwind at $200M for ambitious AI safety work, globally, and deliberately declining to name the problem it wants solved, plus Launchpad Funds at $50M seeding new funds and regrantors rather than projects. Against that, Humanity AI’s $10M open call, up to $1M a grant, is written for community organizations rather than laboratories, and is the only one of the three that starts from who should be deciding rather than from what should be built.

• Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment (3 opportunities). The adidas Foundation’s The Next Move offers multi-year general operating support in three fixed tiers of €150,000, €200,000 or €250,000 over three years, drawn from a €2M pool, across Brazil, Colombia and Argentina. Multi-year core costs from a corporate funder are rare enough to be the pick of the section. Graham and Walker takes pre-seed to seed pitches continuously from women founders in the US and Canada. UNICEF Djibouti closes its final call on female genital mutilation elimination and gender-based violence response on 29 September.

• Global Health & WASH (14 opportunities). African research institutions are funding their own. The National Research Fund Kenya opens a vaccine research network across Kenya, Sierra Leone and Tanzania covering mRNA platforms and local manufacturing, the Science for Africa Foundation runs SHARPER across Cameroon, Kenya, Malawi and Nigeria, and the South African Medical Research Council backs early-career health researchers. The European Innovation Council’s Pathfinder Challenge on biotechnology for healthy ageing carries $4.32M per project. Laerdal funds newborn survival across Tanzania, Ethiopia, Malawi and Bangladesh, and the International AIDS Society opens CIPHER for Africa and Asia. On water, Fondation SUEZ runs one call across thirteen countries and UNHCR funds emergency WASH in DR Congo.

• Education, Human Rights & Inclusion (19 opportunities). The European Commission puts $972K into structured dialogue with people who have lived experience of poverty, funding the mechanism rather than research about them. UNICEF works three angles at once: coding and AI bootcamps in Mongolia, school readiness in Nepal, and a climate adaptation curriculum in India. The Beit Trust builds schools and clinics across Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi, Ashoka’s Carnegie Challenge runs civic seed grants in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, and the European Cultural Foundation opens a second round for Ukraine. Two Nordic mobility programmes close on 18 September, so read those first.

• Agriculture, Climate, Environment, Energy & Food (7 opportunities). The Research Fund for Coal and Steel’s low-carbon steelmaking call at $27M is the largest line. Education Cannot Wait installs clean cooking in Ethiopian schools at $2.5M and converts the emissions reductions into carbon credits, and the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency funds energy renovation markets at $2.16M. The Carbon to Sea Initiative opens participation grants for its ocean alkalinity enhancement field research network, a first for this database. Smaller and reachable: Weyerhaeuser on sustainable forests, New England Biolabs Foundation for community conservation in Belize, Guatemala and Nicaragua, and the Campbell Foundation on watershed advocacy and agricultural runoff.

• Humanitarian Aid, Emergency Programming & DRR (18 opportunities). UNHCR opens its first European country slate of the year: nine partnership calls across Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo under UNSCR 1244, all closing together on 9 October. Five more cover Angola’s Lunda-Norte and Lunda-Sul provinces, with a sixth added to the Mozambique slate that ran in the weekly. The World Food Programme funds flood recovery in Mozambique, and UNHCR Colombia names refugee-led and community-based organizations as the applicant for labour inclusion work.

• Innovation, Research & Smart Cities (16 opportunities). The Chips Joint Undertaking’s $16.2M call closes 17 September, the same day as ERC Proof of Concept. Excellence Hubs offers $4.86M for regional innovation ecosystems in countries that have historically drawn less from European research funding, the longest runway in this update. MATS pays $285K residencies for AI safety research and Digital Science funds tooling for agentic workflows you can trust. Citi Foundation opens $500K, Irish Aid $864K, and the SAB Foundation’s Tholoana programme backs growth-stage black-owned businesses in South Africa.

This post is for paid subscribers only, but the monthly round-up will always remain free. I also regularly share updates on my LinkedIn.

Latest Funding Opportunities:

Cross-Cutting & Intersectional Impact

Launchpad Funds, Request for Expressions of Interest, Coefficient Giving. *New!*

Coefficient Giving, the grantmaker formerly known as Open Philanthropy, is accepting expressions of interest for its Launchpad Funds, a request for proposals to seed new funds or scale existing ones that take on important, underfunded problems in global health and wellbeing. The funder is preparing for a wave of new philanthropic capital and wants more concrete, fundable plans ready to absorb it cost-effectively. It backs funds built around a single accountable general manager charged with solving a defined problem, not just making good grants. Two tracks, one to develop an idea and one to scale a running fund, signal that Coefficient wants both early concepts and proven operators. The strongest fits are outcome-oriented leaders who score well on importance, tractability, and neglectedness and can credibly grow toward major scale.

• Geographies: Global, with applicant location open and the underlying disease burdens concentrated in low and middle income regions.

• Who can apply: Individuals well positioned to become a general manager for an issue area, early-stage funds with established founding teams, existing funds with significant potential to scale, philanthropic funders, regrantors or incubators with fund concepts they could host, and implementing organizations with a vision to tackle a major problem, including by regranting.

• Funding amount: Two tracks, with pre-seed grants of USD $200,000 to $10 million over up to 24 months and seed and scaling grants of USD $10 million to $50 million or more over up to 36 months, and levels beyond $50 million possible for exceptional proposals. Coefficient expects at least ten pre-seed grants and at least three seed and scaling grants, possibly more, and publishes no total call envelope.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Economic Development & Livelihoods; Philanthropy & Civil Society; SDGs 1, 3. Focus: fund incubation, regrantor funds, global health research and development, lead exposure, vaccine development, air quality, neglected diseases and income interventions.

• Deadline: October 2, 2026. Expressions of interest are due for both tracks, with decisions made on a rolling basis thereafter.

• Learn more and apply here.

Communities Leading on AI: USD $10 Million Open Call, Humanity AI. *New!*

Humanity AI, a five-year collaborative grantmaking initiative backed by ten philanthropies, is opening its Communities Leading on AI call to fund U.S. work where people most affected by AI set the terms for how it is built, governed, and used. The initiative wants communities, not just companies, holding decision-making power across education, labor and economy, and the humanities, arts, and culture. It seeks efforts that strengthen guardrails, build AI on community terms, or challenge deployments that feel imposed, and it favors open-weight approaches over closed proprietary models. Structuring the call around community leadership and field learning signals that the funder cares more about who holds power over AI than about any single tool produced. The strongest fits are worker, student, artist, and advocacy organizations trusted by the communities they serve.

• Geographies: United States, with lead applicants required to be United States based and every eligible proposal focused on United States based communities, so both applicant registration and implementation are locked to the country; non-U.S. entities may take part only within collaborations.

• Who can apply: United States based organizations, collaborations, and individuals with proposals focused on United States based communities, where lead organizations must hold 501(c)(3) status; individuals and informal groups such as artists, students, workers, scholars, and technologists must apply through a United States based 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor or as part of a collaboration led by a 501(c)(3), Tribal governments treated as States under IRC Section 7871 may apply on their own or within a collaboration, and for-profit organizations may participate in collaborations but may not serve as lead applicants.

• Funding amount: Grants of USD $75,000 to USD $1,000,000 across three tiers, Tier 1 at USD $75,000 to $150,000, Tier 2 at USD $150,000 to $500,000, and Tier 3 at USD $500,000 to $1,000,000, drawn from a total of USD $10,000,000 with no preallocation between tiers; grants run up to three years and, where feasible, are disbursed at the start of the grant period.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Governance, Policy & Advocacy; Innovation, Science & Technology; Social Inclusion & Community Wellbeing; SDGs 9, 10, 16. Focus: community-led AI, AI governance, public-interest technology, open-weight models, AI and labor, AI in education and the arts.

• Deadline: October 21, 2026.

• Learn more and apply here.

Project Tailwind: A Call for Ambitious AI Safety Initiatives, Coefficient Giving. *New!*

Coefficient Giving, the philanthropic funder formerly known as Open Philanthropy, is opening Project Tailwind, a call for founders to launch ambitious new AI safety initiatives under its Navigating Transformative AI fund. The premise is that the world lacks a safety ecosystem for AI, the certification bodies, auditors, and oversight institutions that mature industries take for granted, and that talent, not money, is the binding constraint. Coefficient wants philanthropic founders who care more about reducing catastrophic risk than turning a profit, and it structures funding across pre-seed, seed, and scale stages so a validated idea can grow quickly. The rolling intake and rapid pitch-to-decision process signal a funder optimizing for speed and conviction. The strongest fits are technically credible builders ready to own an unsolved problem.

• Geographies: Global, with the work centered on the United States. Coefficient can generally support projects internationally, though non-U.S. individuals and entities may face longer funding timelines or additional requirements.

• Who can apply: Philanthropic founders, meaning individuals, founding teams and organizations aiming to launch new AI safety initiatives that reduce global catastrophic risks from transformative AI; no legal entity is required at pre-seed, seed applicants need a legal entity or a 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor, nonprofits are the best fit, and public-benefit corporations are considered where a charitable purpose is clear.

• Funding amount: Three per-award tiers, with pre-seed at USD $200,000 to $2 million, seed at USD $2 million to $20 million, and scale at USD $20 million to $200 million or more. No total program envelope is disclosed.

• Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Innovation, Science & Technology; Governance, Policy & Advocacy; SDGs 9, 16. Focus: AI alignment, interpretability, AI governance, auditing and assurance, red-teaming and AI policy.

• Deadline: Rolling. Intake is continuous with no fixed date, and the funder may pause submissions during periods of high volume.

• Learn more and apply here.

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