March Round Up of Impact Funding Opportunities
Monthly summary of the top impact funding opportunities for social enterprises and non-profits.
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Welcome to the March 2025 Edition of Impact Funding Opportunities
This curated list features funding and grant opportunities for purpose-driven organizations—both for-profit and nonprofit—around the globe, committed to creating positive impact. We cover a wide range of sectors, typically focusing on larger grant opportunities (USD $100,000 and above).
In this edition, you’ll find opportunities in:
Explore the sector-specific pages* for even more opportunities, including those with rolling deadlines and upcoming calls—perfect for planning your long term fundraising strategy.
*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.
We want to ensure this content is accessible to everyone who needs it, we’re happy to offer discounted rates / comped membership for nonprofits and individuals from LMICs (Low- and Middle-Income Countries). Message us below for more information.
Selected Opportunities
Multi-Sector / Sustainable Development
Lab and Collaborative Accelerator Programs, Morgan Stanley Inclusive & Sustainable Ventures. *Closing soon!*
Provide early-stage innovators with access to capital and resources to help them develop and scale. With a mission is to foster a more equitable and sustainable investment landscape. They run two programs: 1. The Morgan Stanley Inclusive & Sustainable Ventures Lab (MSISVL) is an in-house accelerator that provides early-stage innovators who may have experienced systemic barriers to accessing capital and/or have a focus on sustainability with access to capital and resources to scale innovative solutions globally. 2. The Morgan Stanley Inclusive & Sustainable Ventures Collaborative (MSISVC) is an in-house accelerator that provides emerging nonprofits that may have experienced systemic barriers to accessing funding and/or have a focus on sustainability with access to capital and resources to scale innovative solutions globally.
Geographies: Global, with programs in NYC and London.
Who can apply: Technology enabled start ups (within Seed and Series A) can apply to the Lab, and emerging non-profits advancing a high-impact scalable solution can apply to Collaborative.
Funding amount: $250,000 (for US based companies and non profits) or £250,000 (for London based companies and non profits).
Targeted Sectors/ SDGs: Multi- sector. Focus on sustainability and organizations that have faced systemic barriers to accessing capital.
Deadline: March 14, 2025.
Innovative Pilot Facilities for African Fund Managers, Small Foundation. *New!*
Small Foundation is launching two pilot facilities in 2025 to provide African fund managers with financial runway during the lengthy fundraising process, reach first close, and begin deploying capital to SMEs in underserved markets. Each facility will support fund managers operating at different scales:
1. US$2.5 million General Partner (GP) Working Capital Facility – Offering long-term debt (7–9 years) and quasi-equity funding to local fund managers raising micro funds (AUM under US$20 million) and operating in underserved markets. Priority will be given to emerging managers who are breaking new ground with innovative fund models that attract local capital; strategies for rural impact; or a focus on mobilizing capital in overlooked regions.
2. Partnering with a pan-African multi-strategy investment platform – This facility will support larger funds (AUM above US$20M) with working capital for pre-close and set-up expenses.
Geographies: Africa
Who can apply: Fund managers, ecosystem partners
Funding amount: Support starts from $2.5 million.
Targeted Sectors/ SDGs: Inclusion, Rural and underserved markets
Deadline: Inquires accepted on a rolling basis.
Learn more here. Relevant parties can reach out to the team via LinkedIn.
Social Justice and Environmental Justice Grants, The Impact Fund. *New!*
The Impact Fund awards recoverable grants to legal services nonprofits, private attorneys, and small law firms who seek to confront economic, environmental, racial, and social injustice. Two types of grants are available; 1. Social justice grants and legal support to assist in human and civil rights cases, 2. Environmental justice grants to support impact litigation in pursuit of environmental justice. These grants are for cases aiming to help people or communities who are affected by environmental harm or who lack access to basic environmental needs, such as clean water, clean air, adequate waste treatment, and green spaces.
Geographies: USA.
Who can apply: Legal services nonprofits, private attorneys, and small law firms.
Funding amount: Most grants range $10,000 - $50,000.
Targeted Sectors/ SDGs: Human rights, environment, social justice.
Deadline: Applications accepted on a rolling basis; grants awarded four times a year.
Learn more and apply here.
Agriculture, Climate, Environment, Energy & Food
Support for Enterprise Development in Renewable Energy and Waste Management in Developing Countries 2025, NORAD. *New!* *Closing soon!*
Funding is available to private sector development in renewable energy and waste management. Grants can support feasibility studies for business establishment or renewable energy or waste management projects, or vital public infrastructure enabling grid connection. The energy portion of this call for proposals is only applicable to projects in the on-grid or mini-grid renewable energy sector. Applications for other sectors will be reviewed and may qualify for support only if linked to energy access or productive use of energy, for example for agriculture and food security. Prioritized sectors on waste management include the following: recycling of plastic waste in an environmentally sound manner, increasing reuse of plastic waste and increased use of recycled materials in new products, plastic waste to Refused Derived Fuels (RDF), co-processing of non-recyclable plastic waste in cement kilns, increased collection of plastic waste – aggregators, tracking of recycled material and the use of plastic credits, 4educed emissions related to plastic waste management, waste to energy
Geographies: All countries eligible for Norwegian development assistance (OECD DAC list). Renewable energy projects in Sub-Saharan Africa will be prioritized with consideration given to projects in Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda, as well as Nepal. Plastic waste management projects in Sub Saharan Africa and Indonesia will be prioritized with particular consideration given to projects in Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Mozambique and South Africa.
Who can apply: Any for profit, private or commercial companies.
Funding amount: Grants requests about NOK 5 million (around $500,000 USD) will be prioritized.
Targeted Sectors/ SDGs: Energy, waste management, waste-to-energy.
Deadline: March 4, 2024.
Grants for the application of the ICAT Transformational Change Toolkit, Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT). *New!* Closing soon!*
ICAT is seeking proposals from interested organizations to develop a series of case studies to expand the knowledge base on possible applications and benefits of the ICAT Transformational Change Toolkit. Proposed projects should seek to apply the Toolkit in developing countries. The case studies should also result in feedback that will contribute to improving the Toolkit and its usability. The Transformational Change Toolkit is a set of easy-to-use tools that support policymakers and other users to assess the potential transformational impacts of a wide range of climate policies, actions, and projects, covering both mitigation and adaptation. The toolkit is composed of the following tools: carbon market tool, investment tool, general assessment tool, and portfolio tool. The objective of this grant is to develop a series of case studies to expand the knowledge base on possible applications and benefits of the Toolkit.
Geographies: Developing countries.
Who can apply: Local organizations including governmental entities and non-governmental organizations, such as research institutions, think tanks, academic/university institutions or grass roots organizations.
Funding amount: Grants of up to $40,000 per project.
Targeted Sectors/ SDGs: Climate, carbon markets.
Deadline: March 12, 2025.
Learn more and apply here.
Open Call for Energy Projects, EEP Africa. *New!* *Closing this month!*
Seeking proposals from companies promoting the use of clean energy in Southern or Eastern Africa. EEP Africa supports early-stage, locally driven innovative clean energy projects that are in active development. All applications need to demonstrate a clear need and additionality for EEP Africa financing. Funding is provided to feasibility studies, pilot, replication or scale-up projects. All project activities need to have a clear path to profitability with reasonable expectation of further investment and sustainable commercialization. EEP Africa is technology agnostic as long as solutions are based on renewable energy sources (solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, hydro, other renewable energy sources) or energy efficiency.
Geographies: Botswana, Burundi, Comoros, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe
Who can apply: Private companies, start-ups and social enterprises from any country in the world with early-stage projects, projects must address priority countries. Applicants need to have strong local presence in the country(-ies) of application
Funding amount: Applicants can apply for grants and repayable grants between EUR €200,000 - €1 million.
Targeted Sectors/ SDGs: Energy, clean cooking, mobility.
Deadline: March 21, 2025.
Forest & Biodiversity Venture Program, Brainforest. *New!*
Now accepting applications from startups for a hands-on acceleration program for forest & biodiversity solutions that positively impact nature, biodiversity, and food forests. With a particular focus on; 1. AI & Data for Nature Intelligence, 2. Regenerative Agriculture & Soil Health, 3. Monetizing Biodiversity, 4. Deep-Tech for Ecosystem Restoration. Applicants must be early stage but past market validation and ready to grow, must align with Brainforest’s mission to regenerate and protect 20M ha of biodiverse forests by 2030, and should promote groundbreaking technologies and innovative business models that offer original solutions and have the potential to disrupt markets and scale across sectors.
Geographies: Global.
Who can apply: Startups.
Funding amount: The selected team(s) at the end of the program will receive financial support of $125k for a 7% equity stake.
Targeted Sectors/ SDGs: Climate, biodiversity, food, forest, agriculture, AI, deep-tech.
Deadline: March 24, 2025.
Gender Equality & Women Empowerment
Unlock Her Future Prize, South Asia Edition, The Bicester Collection. *New!* *Closing soon!*
This annual start-up competition supports women social entrepreneurs to create sustainable businesses that make a real, lasting impact in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. For this session they are looking for women social entrepreneurs from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka with an innovative ideas that align with the SDGs to drive positive change in South Asia. Ideas can be in the validation phase (I.e. prototype testing) or in the Launch phase (I,e, growth, operating for less than three years with less than $1 million in revenue.
Geographies: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Who can apply: women social entrepreneurs from the priority countries.
Funding amount: Grant of up to US$100,000, leadership coaching, mentorship from global experts, academic support from Oxford University's Saïd Business School, and local guidance on social impact from Ashoka.
Targeted Sectors/ SDGs: Multi-sector, women’s empowerment
Deadline: March 10, 2025.
Call for Proposals in India: Empowering Women in STEM, Digital, and Clean Energy, UN Women. *New!* *Closing soon!*
Inviting proposals from organizations to strengthen the employability and economic opportunities of women and girls from marginalized backgrounds in technical and vocational institutes across Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra under the WeSTEM 2.0 project. The selected organization will provide targeted skilling, entrepreneurship training, and industry linkages to enhance access to STEM, digital, and clean energy careers, addressing gender barriers and leveraging private sector partnerships for mentorship and career development.
Geographies: India, focus on the states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
Who can apply: CSOs.
Funding amount: INR 1,20,00,000 - 1,50,00,000 (for 3 years).
Targeted Sectors/ SDGs: Gender, women’s empowerment, inclusion, STEM.
Deadline: March 10, 2024.
Global Health
Building Capacity for Health Advocacy, Rx Foundation. *New!*
This grant program aims to enhance the capacity and infrastructure of nonprofit organizations across the U.S to advocate for social justice through improved health and healthcare and create lasting networks to support advocacy, organizing, and civic engagement on health-related issues. Committed to health justice, this grant program envisions a future where all communities can address the root causes of poor health. Organizations that match one or more of the following descriptions are strongly encouraged to apply: nonpartisan, grassroots, and people-centered, organizations that function as hubs or coalition leaders to build advocacy, organizing, and civic engagement capacity and infrastructure among a network of members or partners, especially at the state level; and base-building and power-building organizations that address health and health care priorities in the context of a multi-issue agenda.
Geographies: USA.
Who can apply: Non-profits, grassroots, hubs and coalitions.
Funding amount: Annual grant of $150,000 for up to five years.
Targeted Sectors/ SDGs: Health justice, advocacy, and wellness.
Deadline: March 31, 2025, for letter of intent.
Discovery Research Grants, Worldwide Cancer Research. *Now open! Apply early- they will stop accepting proposals after 500 applicants.*
is seeking to fund novel, exciting and creative ideas that could help prevent, diagnose or treat cancer. Grants to support basic, fundamental or translational research into the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of cancer. They are looking for innovative research that takes intellectual risks, proposals with a creative approach to answering fundamental questions that could change how they think about cancer (that may be looked over by other funders), and support blue-sky thinking in research and want to direct funding towards projects that could transform an area of cancer research or one day have a major impact on the lives of people with cancer.
Geographies: Global.
Who can apply: Researchers, principal investigator and non-profit research institutions (grants are awarded to the host organization).
Funding amount: Grants typically 200,000- 275,000 GBP for 12-36 months.
Targeted Sectors/ SDGs: Health.
Deadline: Round will close on 31st March 2025 at 16:00 UTC or if we reach our 500 applications limit.
Learn more and apply here. See their application handbook for more details.
2025 Global Health Challenge, MIT SOLVE. *New*
MIT Solve seeks exceptional solutions that leverage technology to increase access to good health and healthcare with a particular interest for 2025 in solutions that; 1. Ensure health-related data is collected ethically and effectively and that AI and other insights are accurate, targeted, and actionable in the real world, 2. Increase capacity and resilience of health systems, including workforce, supply chains, and other infrastructure, 3. Increase access to and quality of health services for all communities. Each Solver team receives $10,000 in unrestricted funding from Solve, an additional grant from Johnson & Johnson Foundation, and access to additional financing in the form of grants and investments, this includes access to a pool of +$1.5M in prize funding at selection and additional funding opportunities throughout the program and after.
Geographies: Global.
Who can apply: Applicants welcome from all organizations from any stages (concept, prototype, pilot, growth and scale).
Funding amount: $10,000 - $150,000.
Targeted Sectors/ SDGs: Health, AI, innovation.
Deadline: April 17, 2025.
The Trinity Challenge: Community Access to Effective Antibiotics, MIT SOLVE. *New*
Seeking innovative, low-cost data and technology solutions in LMICs to improve antibiotic stock control and reduce the sale and use of substandard and falsified oral antibiotics. The use and/or generation of community-level data should be integral to solutions. Solutions may relate to human and/or animal health and can respond to either issue of stock control or substandard and falsified oral antibiotics, or both. Solutions might respond to this Challenge by, for example leveraging citizen-related data, applying technology to improve the tracking of antibiotics along the journey from manufacture to patient, tracking community demand, and reporting on shortages and/or predicting stockout, innovation in data capture and/or data analysis relating to stock control or substandard and falsified antibiotics, developing (or updating) more accurate estimates of the prevalence of substandard and falsified antibiotics in a specific community or in a specific part of the supply chain, developing new or improved ways to authenticate antibiotics at the point of sale, developing technology to monitor the effect of climate factors on antibiotic quality, or applying existing technology from other sectors to this issue.
Geographies: Interventions must be in LMICs. Applicants from all over the world are encouraged to apply. This Challenge particularly encourages solutions from teams based in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and multi-disciplinary teams.
Who can apply: A wide range of applicants, solutions proposed must be at least proof of concept phase.
Funding amount: A prize fund of up to £1,000,000 will be awarded, with an aim to award a grand prize of £500,000 in each category of the Challenge (Stock Control and Substandard and Falsified Antibiotics).
Targeted Sectors/ SDGs: Health, antibiotic resistance.
Deadline: April 24, 2025.
Humanitarian Aid and Emergency Programming
The Foreign Aid Bridge Fund, Unlock Aid. *New!*
A new rapid response initiative to support organizations affected by the U.S. foreign aid freeze. This isn't a long-term funding source, but rather an emergency bridge to prevent the collapse of critical programs and services. To be considered for emergency funding applicants must meet rigorous criteria: 1. Demonstrated track record of delivering high-impact, cost-effective solutions, 2. Direct impact from U.S. foreign aid stop work orders, 3. Commitment to transparency and rigorous results reporting, 4. Direct work with communities rather than acting as intermediaries, 5. Sustainable revenue models, 6. Providing vital services in essential sectors like health, water, agriculture, education, livelihoods, and humanitarian response. Lastly organizations must outline a sustainable funding strategy.
Geographies: Global.
Who can apply: Social enterprises, non-profits and social benefit corporations.
Funding amount: No limits specified.
Targeted Sectors/ SDGs: Vital services: global health, water, education, agriculture and food security, sanitation, climate adaptation, livelihoods and economic prosperity and humanitarian response.
Deadline: Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
Challenge Fund, Network for Empowered Aid Response (NEAR). *New!*
NEAR is a movement of Local and National CSOs from the Global South rooted in communities who share a common goal of promoting fair, equitable and dignified partnerships in the current aid system. NEAR members can access the Challenge Fund, which is an innovative finance solution that aims to localize aid responses and ensure that local organizations can access funds to respond to emergencies quickly, more efficiently and more cost-effectively. The challenge fund has three windows for funding: emergency response, displacement, and bridge funding to support member organizations affected by the USAID freeze.
Geographies: Global South.
Who can apply: Any local and/or national non-profit organization rooted in the Global South.
Funding amount: Grants range $150,000 - $250,000.
Targeted Sectors/ SDGs: Humanitarian crises, disaster response, refugees and IDPs, localization.
Deadline: Relevant organizations can apply to NEAR membership, applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
Education, Human Rights & Inclusion
Catalyst, CTIA Wireless Foundation. *Closing soon!*
CTIA Wireless Foundation is seeking ambitious early-stage social entrepreneurs who have developed mobile-first solutions to enhance lives and address challenges in American communities. Mobile-first solutions powered by 5G and leading edge wireless offer a significant opportunity to make meaningful advances and tap into a powerful infrastructure for social good to tackle pressing social issues.
Geographies: USA.
Who can apply: For-profit and non-profit social enterprises in early-stage development with a solution beyond ideation stage and with proof of concept.
Funding amount: Unrestricted grants range $10,000 - $100,000. Up to six winner will be supported.
Targeted Sectors/ SDGs: Mobile-first solutions to improve society.
Deadline: March 4, 2025.
Social Innovation and Disability Empowerment Awards 2025, SAB Foundation. *New!* *Closing soon!*
Seeking applications from South African innovators, entrepreneurs, institutions and social enterprises with prototypes or early-stage businesses that are making a positive impact in communities. These products, services, business models and processes should directly address social challenges, while simultaneously creating a sustainable business model.
Geographies: South Africa.
Who can apply: Individuals and organizations.
Funding amount: R300 000 to R1.3 million invested into solutions.
Targeted Sectors/ SDGs: Inclusion, innovation.
Deadline: March 12, 2025.
Impact-Linked Fund for Education, Roots of Impact. *New!*
Impact-Linked Fund for Education (ILF for Education) provides Impact-Linked Finance to companies that improve education outcomes for children and youth in developing countries and increase opportunities for employment and income generation. The funding window is jointly funded by Jacobs Foundation and the Swiss Agency for Development & Cooperation (SDC). Roots of Impact, one of the transaction managers for the Fund, is looking for impact organizations active in Vocational Skills Development(VSD) and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sectors in Asia to support them with Social Impact Incentives (SIINC) and/or Impact-Linked Loans (ILL). In addition to financial rewards, selected impact enterprises will receive tailored technical assistance (TA) in the form of training and support for impact measurement and management.
Geographies: Organizations should be active in or be looking to expand to Asia. Priority countries include: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan
Who can apply: Impact-driven SMEs, companies in growth and scaling stage, NGOs with market-based/entrepreneurial approaches, operational for 3 years.
Funding amount: Social Impact Incentives (SIINC) and Impact-Linked Loans. Average ticket size of USD 275,000-440,000 but will be specified for each transaction.
Targeted Sectors/ SDGs: VSD and TVET (incl. EdTech, supplemental education, educational products and services, support services, among others).
Deadline: Applicants reviewed on a rolling basis until March 31, 2025.
Learn more here. Interested enterprises that match the above criteria may reach out to Yevgeniya Bukshpun at ybukshpun@roots-of-impact.org.
See all opportunities in Human Rights & Inclusion.
Innovation & Smart Cities
Call for Open Source Frontier Tech Solutions, UNICEF Venture Fund, UNICEF Innovation. *Closing soon!*
The UNICEF Venture Fund invests in Open Source frontier technology solutions that have the potential to create radical change for children. They support company's leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), or blockchain that are registered in one of UNICEF’s program countries that have impressive working prototypes and a commitment to Open Source licensing and practices. 
Geographies: UNICEF’s program countries.
Who can apply: Early-stage, for-profit technology start-ups.
Funding amount: Up to USD $100,000 in equity-free funding. Potential for an additional USD $400,000 in follow up Growth funding.
Targeted Sectors/ SDGs: Open source frontier tech, blockchain, data science and AI, drones, VR and AR, eduction,
Deadline: March 7, 2025.
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