Humanitarian Aid and Emergency Programming: February 2025 Funding Opportunities
Includes opportunities in humanitarian innovation, ECDiE and EiE, and anticipatory action.
The grants are organized into three categories:
Open Calls: Current grant and opportunities with a deadline. Grants are listed by closing date.
Rolling Applications: current grant and opportunities with rolling applications (but it’s still best to submit as early as possible).
Long term planning: Grants that have closed their current rounds, but are expected to open new windows.
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Open Calls:
Anticipatory Action Accelerator, Humanitarian Venture Lab, Mercy Corps Ventures. *New!*
This initiative seeks to usher in a new era of humanitarian aid, leveraging innovations in tech such as climate data analytics, AI/ML, and crypto payment rails. The Anticipatory Action Accelerator is focused on the intersection of advanced climate analytics, crypto payments, and humanitarian aid. With selected partners, they aim to push the boundaries to improve the lives and livelihoods of underserved users across the Global South.
Geographies: Africa, South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Pacific Islands, and Western Balkans.
Who can apply: Startups, NGOs, and more.
Funding amount: Equity-free grants of up to $100,000.
Targeted Sectors/ SDGs: Humanitarian response, climate, vulnerable communities, innovation, crypto.
Deadline: February 14, 2025.
Informing humanitarian response through research, learning and innovation, Novo Nordisk Foundation. *New!*
The purpose of the open call is to support humanitarian actors and the humanitarian system in identifying, adapting, or integrating research and learning, and innovative approaches to improve the quality of humanitarian response and deliver better outcomes for people affected by humanitarian crises. This open call will focus on improving health outcomes and food security. Preference will be given to applications containing one or more of the following approaches: nexus approach, localization approach i.e. strengthening the capacity and involvement of local organizations and communities in affected countries and furthering more equal partnerships, and approaches to promote inclusion, including gender mainstreaming. Proposed projects must directly relate to the provision of humanitarian assistance in emergencies, disaster prevention and preparedness, or recovery. It may also pertain to the provision of assistance to people affected by protracted and complex crises.
Geographies: OECD DAC List of ODA Recipients in the following geographies: sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East, South Asia, and Ukraine. For the categories Lower Middle Income Countries, the applicant must describe how the project will specifically focus on people in vulnerable situations or affected by crises from one or more of these geographies.
Who can apply: Non-profits only. International humanitarian organizations, with engagements in humanitarian settings in more than one country, are eligible to apply as main applicants. It’s encouraged to engage research or knowledge institutions, local organizations, regional networks or similar as co-applicants.
Funding amount: Grants between DKK 1 million and DKK 5 million for projects lasting up to 2 years. A total of up to DKK 35 million is available.
Deadline: April 16, 2025
Request for Proposals: Play Learn Thrive, Grand Challenges Canada and the Lego Foundation. *New!*
Grand Challenges Canada is launching a new portfolio, Play Learn Thrive, to respond to gaps in current Early Childhood Development in Emergencies (ECDiE) and Education in Emergencies (EiE) approaches. This funding call seeks solutions that create more robust support systems for children from birth to 12 years of age in complex crisis settings, with a focus on those who are left behind and whose developmental and educational needs are not being met. Two types of funding are available:
Proof of Concept (POC): POC funding supports early-stage innovations to test and refine bold ideas, in order to strengthen the pipeline of tested ECDiE and EiE innovations that focus on children from birth to 12 years of age in at least one of four countries,
Transition to Scale (TTS)
Funding for more mature innovations that have already achieved proof of concept and are ready to be implemented more widely.
Geographies: Jordan, Lebanon, Kenya, Uganda
Who can apply: Not-for-profit organizations that are legally incorporated in at least one priority country.
Funding amount:
POC grants of up to CAD $250,000, for a maximum of 24 months.
TSS grants between CAD $300,000-$1,500,000 per project, for a maximum of 24 months.
Deadline: POC grants: April 24th, 2025. Transition to Scale (TTS) grants will be accepted on a rolling basis between January 21, 2025 – November 27th, 2025.
Rolling Applications:
Creating Hope in Conflict: a Humanitarian Grand Challenge, Grand Challenges Canada.
Aims to identify, fund and accelerate ground-breaking solutions that are local or engage the local communities and draw from the experiences of affected communities. In this round CHIC is looking for innovation ideas for its Transition to Scale (TTS) program in 4 priority themes: 1) Access to energy, 2) Health Supplies and Services, 3) Life-saving information, and 4) Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH). Proposed innovations should focus on supporting people who have been affected by conflict with particular focus on the hardest to reach. Preference would be given to innovations that are locally owned or locally led with majority of the management and governance comprising of people from the affected communities. Relevant populations are: 1) Non-displaced people (i.e. people in conflict zones) 2) Internally displaced persons 3) Refugees.
Geographies: Conflict affected countries.
Who can apply: Innovators from a conflict affected country or serving people affected by conflict, internally displaced persons, or refugee populations. Must have proof of concept with sufficient evidence of the effectiveness and feasibility of your innovation, and have a plan for scaling up and sustaining the innovation.
Funding amount: Grants ranging from CAD $300,000 - $1.5 million.
Targeted SDGs/ Sectors: Access to energy, health supplies and services, life-saving information, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).
Deadline: Ideas accepting on a rolling basis.
Learn more and apply here.
Long Term Planning:
The Humanitarian Innovation Programme, Innovation Norway. *New!* *Launching April/May*
Seeking applicants from humanitarian-private sector partnerships with bold innovative projects that aim to improve humanitarian action, save lives, alleviate suffering, and sustain people’s dignity in one of the focus areas: 1) Green humanitarian response, 2) Health and sanitation, 3) Protection, 4) Innovative finance, 5) Food security. HIP supports innovation partnerships between the humanitarian and private sector, both at the early stage and after successful piloting.
Geographies: Global.
Who can apply: Lead applicants must be either UN Agency or Norwegian humanitarian organizations (but can include a wide consortium of actors, such as national NGOs).
Funding amount: Grants range 2-10 million NOK (total of 100 million available)
Targeted Sectors/ SDGs: Humanitarian response, heath, protection, food, innovative finance.
Deadline: The call is launched annually, in the spring - usually around April/May.
All content is currently open and free as we transition to Substack. Starting mid-February 2025, access to the full list of opportunities on this page will be available to paid subscribers. This helps support the time and effort it takes to curate and organize these opportunities. Thank you for being part of the Impact Funding community!
To keep this accessible to everyone who needs it, we’re happy to offer discounted rates for nonprofits and individuals from LMICs (Low- and Middle-Income Countries). Message us below for more information.