Digital Impact Grants fund research and innovation to strengthen the safe, ethical, and effective use of digital resources in civil society. A fundamental goal of the program is to support better data-informed decision making in philanthropy (particularly individual giving) and in the social sector writ large.
The program awards grants for two types of projects: scholarly research and sector advancement. Our aim is to foster innovations and research that have broad application for improving knowledge, practices, and outcomes across the social sector.
Research grants will be made to faculty or graduate students at universities in the United States and abroad. Priority will be given to research projects with either a demonstrated commitment to practical applications in the social sector or those that clearly articulate a plan to turn their research into practical knowledge. We welcome applications from any disciplinary perspective or methodology, as well as applications that bring together multiple disciplinary inquiries.
Sector advancement grants will be made to non-profit organizations in the United States and abroad. U.S.-based organizations must have 501(c)(3) status. Organizations based outside of the U.S. must have equivalent exempt status. Please note that the grant excludes activities with countries against which the United States maintains a comprehensive embargo unless such activities are fully authorized by the U.S. government under applicable law and specifically approved by the Gates Foundation in its sole discretion.
The deadline to apply is June 25, 2018.
In February 2018 the Digital Impact community identified six emerging thematic areas of interest. These are listed below and described in more detail here. Research or sector advancement proposals that align with any of these six are of special interest to Digital Impact. - Institutional and process innovation: Emergence of trusted data intermediaries – opportunities to invent new institutions to manage and govern digital data for civil society purposes. Multiple types of intermediaries (repositories, process, analytic intermediaries).
- New diverse, robust policy alliances: How to connect policy expertise across digital rights, intellectual property, and telecommunications to expertise in civil society, democratic process, civil liberties, and nonprofit law.
- Advancing digital norms for civil society: How to expand the reach of rights-based, civil society-values regarding use of digital data and infrastructure, even to the point of influencing new digital norms.
- Networking networks: Multiple layers and silos of communities – digital rights, digital tech, CSOs, policy, funding, alternative finance – present opportunities to expand alliances and engage global concerns.
- Collective civil society approaches to corporate allies: Opportunities to articulate civil society values and partner with corporate sector for support, scale and new defaults. Applies to existing dominant communications technologies and emergent ones.
- Funding strategies for alternative infrastructures: How to build, support, and sustain hardware and software that mimics civil society values.
All work must be done with the expectation of being publicly shared and geared toward improving practice in the field.
Participation & contribution
- Grantees are invited and expected to participate in and contribute to Digital Impact conversations and resources including the blog, virtual roundtable series, and toolkit at www.digitalimpact.org.
- Grantees will provide a final grant report (narrative and budget accounting) at the conclusion of the grant period.
More information here.