Category Archives: International

Rockstart

Rockstart funds startups who are creating a sustainable future through Agrifood, Energy, and Emerging Technology. Applications are accepted from around the world on a continual basis.

Eligibility

This funding opportunity is open to early stage startups from anywhere in the world who are focused on one of the program areas.

Program Areas

Agrifood

The Agrifood Fund supports new technologies and business models to improve the food supply system. This includes:

  • Restoring soil and oceans for carbon capture
  • Reducing food waste
  • Increasing access to high quality, nutritious food

They are particularly interested in companies working on:

Image by Arturs Budkevics
  • Alternative packaging and proteins
  • Smart fulfillment and logistics
  • Bio-alternatives to chemicals and plastic
  • Precision food production
  • Data and vertical data libraries
  • Production capacity growth tools 
  • Upcycled products
  • Carbon sequestration
  • Supply chain traceability
  • Molecular farming and genomics
  • Impact certification in carbon markets
  • Human health

Energy

The Energy Fund supports new technologies and business models to slow climate change. This includes:

  • Optimizing renewable energy supplies
  • Helping energy-intensive industries reach net zero emissions
  • Making cities smarter

They are particularly interested in companies working on:

  • Renewable energy
  • Energy storage
  • Smart grid
  • Energy efficiency
  • Smart mobility
  • Decentralized energy systems

Emerging Technology

The Emerging Technology Fund supports new technologies and business models to solve universal problems. This includes:

  • Improving production facilities
  • Innovations in healthcare delivery
  • Data privacy and security

They are particularly interested in companies working on:

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  • ML / AI
  • Computer vision
  • web3 and Blockchain
  • Biometrics
  • Geospatial tech
  • IoT and Edge computing
  • Additive manufacturing

WSA Young Innovators Award

The WSA Young Innovators Award provides funding to young entrepreneurs and teams from UN Member States who have created a mobile or web-based solution. Products must have already launched and address a local issue while also meeting at least one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Applications will be accepted until October 15, 2024. The five winners will be announced during the WSA Global Congress, April 6-9, 2025 in Telangana, India.

Eligibility

This award is open to entrepreneurs, companies, student groups, and project teams from UN Member States. Teams may have up to 28 members.

At least one founder and the majority of team members must have been born on or before January 1, 1998.

Project Examples

Eligible projects may include:

  • Phone/tablet apps
  • Web pages
  • Apps for wearables
  • Kiosk installations
  • SMS based products
  • Games
  • Interactive productions

A Well-Fed World Sustainable Keys Global Grants

A Well-Fed World advocates for plant-based solutions to international food security to create a more sustainable, climate-friendly future. They work with nonprofits and non-governmental agencies in the U.S. and around the world to create top-down change.

Their Sustainable Keys Global Grants focus on bottom-up, grassroots movements for plant-based food and farming. Applications are accepted on a continual basis and awarded quarterly. Typical awards are $500 for individuals and $1,000 for organizations.

Eligibility

This grant is open to both individuals and organizations. A 501(c)3 status is not required.

Grant Priorities

  • Plant-based feeding programs in low-income communities in the U.S. and other countries
  • Plant-based food as outreach in communities of all income levels to increase plant-based purchasing habits
  • Plant-based farming including home and community gardens, education, and training
  • Social justice outreach projects that connect food justice, the environment, health, safety, and youth
  • Online and print advocacy that distributes information through videos, news, and social networking
  • Event advocacy such as organizing, sponsoring, attending, or presenting at events

Ignacio H. de Larramendi Research Grants

Ignacio H. de Larramendi Research Grants support international researchers whose work focuses on Health Promotion or Insurance and Social Protection.

Applications are due by October 7, 2024 at 11:59 PM CEST.

Eligibility

This grant is open to individual researchers or research teams, but only one Primary Investigator may be named.

Applicants may work independently or in a hospital, university, research center, or company.

Focus Areas

Health Promotion

Health Promotion grants are available for up to €30,000 and must investigate one of the following:

  • Strategies to change habits for obesity prevention and emotional well-being; may include the appropriate use of new technologies
  • Emergency response training for the general public
  • Asssessing the impacts of an event (traumatic or accidental, medical negligence, aggression or disease) on the health of the individual and their ability to perform everyday activities, as well as effects to personal development
  • Clinical quality and safety
  • Longevity and the impact lifestyle has on it

Insurance and Social Protection

Insurance and Social Protection grants are available for up to €15,000 and must investigate one of the following:

  • Insurance.
  • Risk management.
  • New technologies in the insurance field.
  • Social protection through pensions, savings, investments, asset liquidation, and longevity economics

Review Criteria

All applications will be reviewed based on:

  • Applicant or team experience
  • Innovation
  • Scientific and technical quality
  • Feasibility, applicability, and potential social impact

The Oak Foundation

The Oak Foundation is committed to the fight for social justice, environmental protection, and a safer more sustainable world. They fund programs in eleven different focus areas, all addressing difficult global, social, or environmental issues.

Although they are headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the Oak Foundation has a presence in Denmark, India, the United Kingdom, the United States and Zimbabwe. Each year they make over 300 grants in 40 countries, averaging $600,000 each.

Grantees are typically invited to apply, but any nonprofit organization that believes their work aligns with the Foundation’s funding priorities can submit a Letter of Inquiry. After review, an invitation to submit a concept note and/or full application may be extended.

Programs

March of Dimes Discovery Research Grants

March of Dimes Discovery Research Grants support established researchers on a global level making distinct improvements to clinical care for pregnant people and babies.

Applications for $200,000 over two years are due by September 6, 2024. Projects will start January 1, 2025.

Eligibility

This grant is open to anyone committed to research on maternal and infant health, including:

  • Health professional and researchers
  • Epidemiologists
  • Social scientists with a PhD and a faculty appointment or equivalent at a university
  • Hospitals
  • Research institutions
  • Pharmaceutical companies
  • Start-ups
  • Nonprofit organizations

Priority Areas

  • Spontaneous preterm birth – Research that focuses on improving clinical care through prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the causes of spontaneous preterm birth.
  • Racial inequities as they relate to morbidity, mortality, and access to care – Research that focuses on solutions to the impacts of racial inequality on maternal health outcomes.
  • Cardiovascular health conditions developed or exacerbated during pregnancy – Research that focuses on substantive methods to characterize, prevent, and/or mitigate the development of cardiovascular issues during pregnancy.

Requirements and Restrictions

All research projects must:

  • Have the potential to improve clinical care and decrease the rate of maternal and infant morbidity and mortality

Research projects may:

  • Include the periods of pregnancy, labor and delivery, and up to one year postpartum
  • Include human studies, studies with human tissue, or studies at the population level
  • Include improvements to information and communications technology
  • Include models systems research if it will validate novel human disease processes

Halton Foundation

The Halton Foundation supports research and other solutions for improving indoor air quality. Awards are available for single year, multi-year, and start up program grants of up to 30 000 € ($32,616) per year.

Applications are due by September 1, 2024.

Eligibility

This grant is open to nonprofits and other organizations from anywhere in the world who are working to improve indoor air quality.

Past Projects

Past grantees have included:

  • Investigating indoor air quality in schools and developing control strategies to mitigate effects of urban pollution
  • Providing clean burning, fuel efficient stoves to Himalayan families who used traditional stoves or indoor fire pits
  • Creating indoor environmental guidelines for Polish hospitals

Khyentse Foundation Ashoka Grant

The Khyentse Foundation was founded in 2001 to support Buddhist study and practice in all traditions. Although headquartered in San Francisco, CA they have assisted people and organizations in more than 30 countries.

The Ashoka Grant supports projects that are taking an innovative approach to preserving and promoting the dharma. Applications are accepted annually from January 15 – February 15 and July 15 – August 15. Awards are typically $1,000 – $5,000.

Eligibility

This grant is open to individuals and organizations anywhere in the world doing work specifically related to Buddhism.

Funding Limitations

Grant funds may not be used for:

  • Building and construction
  • Film projects

Example Projects

Applicants may request funding for projects such as:

  • Publishing a Buddhist story for children
  • Translating Buddhist texts
  • Researching a Buddhist topic

John Templeton Foundation

The John Templeton Foundation supports projects from around the world in 6 funding areas:

  1. Individual Freedom & Free Markets
  2. Character Virtue Development
  3. Life Sciences
  4. Mathematical and Physical Sciences
  5. Public Engagement
  6. Religion, Science, and Society

Online Funding Inquiries are due by August 16, 2024. If invited to submit, full proposals will be due January 17, 2025. Selected proposals may be due earlier. Grants are often for up to three years, but never more than five.

Eligibility

This grant is open to charitable entities from anywhere in the world. Individuals and for-profit businesses doing charitable work in line with the Foundation’s goals may qualify, but this is rare.

Funding Limitations

Grant funds may not be used for:

  • General operating support
  • Construction, renovations, or capital campaigns
  • Direct service
  • Scholarships
  • Disaster relief

Funding Areas

Individual Freedom & Free Markets

This funding area supports education, research, and outreach projects focused on individual freedom, free markets, and entrepreneurship.

Character Virtue Development

This funding area focuses on moral virtues such as humility, gratitude, curiosity, diligence, and honesty.

Life Sciences

This funding area supports research projects that seek to answer questions such as, What is life? How did it originate? What are its limits? to help us better understand our place in nature.

Mathematical and Physical Sciences

This funding area supports research on the fundamental concepts of physical reality. Projects that ask, What is the nature of the universe? How are physical systems more than the sum of their parts? and How do these various ideas come together?

Public Engagement

This funding area supports projects that spark conversations about how people can live lives of meaning and purpose. This may include content creation and campus programming.

Religion, Science, and Society

This funding area supports projects that engage with the interplay of spiritual and scientific questions.

Wildlife Acoustics Scientific Product Grant

Wildlife Acoustics offers eligible products from their bioacoustic research tools through the Scientific Product Grant. Applicants may request up to $4,000 in products and software.

Applications are reviewed on a quarterly basis and up to $12,000 in products dispersed per quarter. Applicants may also submit a request for only a Kaleidoscope Pro software license of which an unlimited number are available each quarter. Submissions are due by August 15, 2024 or November 15, 2024.

Eligibility

This grant is open to applicants associated with nonprofit, nongovernmental, charitable, and educational organizations.

Products cannot be shipped to Belarus, Crimea, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Sudan, and Syria or anyone who will take products to those countries.

Application Requirements

All applications must include:

  • A description of how the project will advance scientific knowledge and contribute to long-term conservation
  • An explanation of how the grant will significantly contribute to the success of the project
  • A detailed description of expected outcomes and how they will be evaluated
  • A plan to begin the project within one year of the award
  • A letter of recommendation
  • A copy of the organization’s certificate/tax exemption letter showing tax-exempt and charitable or educational status

Eligible Equipment

Not all Wildlife Acoustics products are eligible for this grant. Applicants may request:

Shipping costs will be covered by Wildlife Acoustics, but grantees are responsible for any applicable broker fees, duties, or taxes.