Call for Proposals: AI Accountability Grants
The European AI & Society Fund is pleased to invite applications for our AI Accountability Grants: up to €200,000 in funding for bold, adventurous projects that explore how to hold those responsible to account for harms caused by the use of AI in Europe. Proposals must be submitted by 6 January.
Over the past few years, the European Union has developed a range of tech legislation, with the ambition of becoming the home for ‘trustworthy AI’. Alongside Europe’s existing equalities, rights, consumer, and worker protection legislation, this creates a set of tools to challenge harms caused by the development and use of AI.
Public interest advocates from different fields need to come together to analyse and experiment with the new rules, demand redress for injustice and close gaps where there are insufficient protections.
The AI Accountability grants are part of our Making Regulation Work programme. They will support bold and experimental projects that seek to identify clear opportunities to address the negative impacts of AI systems on people and society in Europe.
- Who can apply? Organisations and coalitions that want to promote social justice by establishing accountability over the use of AI systems in Europe – at either European, national or local level. You do not have to be a technology expert to apply.
- How much will we award? Grants will be between €10,000 and €200,000
- How long are the grants? The duration is flexible, but activities must be completed by December 2026.
- What’s the deadline? Concept notes must be submitted by 6 January 2025 23:59 CET. The selected applicants will be invited to submit a full application by 24 February 2025. We will issue our final decisions by 24 March 2025.
- Where? Organisations should be registered and carry out their work in one or more of the following countries: the EU, EEA, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Switzerland and the UK.
Are you looking for funding for near-term work you are doing on the implementation process of the AI Act? You can find more information about our separate call for proposals dedicated specifically to the AI Act Implementation process here.
Key information
You’ll find some key information below. Please read the Call for Proposals for full information.
What work are we looking to support?
The focus of the AI Accountability Grants is to support work that will contribute to addressing how AI affects people and society.
The Fund does not prescribe which approaches, tactics and regulations to use. We have also not specified geographies or issue areas to prioritise – we want to hear from organisations and coalitions in the field where there are opportunities to make change happen.
Examples of work that could be funded:
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- Conducting research to identify provisions in labour and human rights laws that may provide a path to justice for communities harmed by algorithmic decisions in the workplace or when accessing welfare benefits.
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- Using transparency mechanisms to find evidence of AI harms that can be used in future campaigns, complaints, and legal cases.
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- Preparation of complaints on high-risk systems, to be submitted under the AI Act once it is in force.
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- Drafting and submitting complaints under EU regulations, such as the GDPR, that challenge the unlawful use of personal data for training AI systems, for example in healthcare.
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- Developing experimental litigation strategies to limit the harmful environmental impact of data centres, including pre-litigation research, evidence gathering and legal fees.
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- Strategies to challenge corporate power through antitrust mechanisms, such as investigations by competition authorities or actions under the Digital Markets Act. This could involve research to provide evidence to regulators and cooperation with consumer bodies.
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- Developing strategies to increase protections and close gaps where analysis shows that legal protections are missing, such as in policing and migration
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- Building coalitions and bridges to communities affected by AI harms and co-designing accountability strategies.
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- Creating connections to specialists (such as consumer movements, or technical, legal, standards or access to information fields) to develop accountability strategies.
Please note this list is illustrative only and we encourage applicants to propose your own approaches.
What work we will not fund?
We will not fund:
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- Policy and advocacy work focused solely on the implementation of the AI Act (please apply for our AI Act Implementation Grants)
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- Work on technologies not connected to AI and its supply chain
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- Public awareness raising campaigns that are not part of a wider accountability strategy
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- Organisational capacity building outside of a wider accountability strategy
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- Technology development, unless it is required for a specific need in an accountability strategy
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- Accountability approaches for hypothetical future risks of Artificial General Intelligence and other speculative technologies that have not yet materialised.
What funding is available?
Applicants can apply for a grant between €10,000 and €200,000, and the total funding we will allocate through this call is €2 million.
Who can apply?
We welcome applications from organisations and coalitions from across Europe that want to ensure that Artificial Intelligence is used fairly and does not lead to discrimination and violations of rights. Previously some of our grantees have had prior expertise working on AI, digital rights and technology while others represent particular communities or interests, including racial justice, labour rights, migration, disability, climate, and health.
For the AI Accountability Grants we particularly encourage applications from organisations and coalitions with prior experience in securing accountability in adjacent social justice fields.
Who is eligible?
- Organisations must be registered and carry out their work in one or more of the following geographies: EU, EEA, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Switzerland and the UK.
- If you want to apply in partnership with other organisations, please choose one lead applicant who represents the coalition in this process.
- Organisations must have non-profit status.
- These grants are not open to organisations who are current grantees and have an active funding agreement that runs beyond March 2025, if you are not sure whether that applies to you, please contact us.
How to apply?
There are two stages in the application process:
- In the first round we ask for a short concept note to be submitted on Optimy, our online portal along with the overall budget amount you are requesting. It must be submitted by 6 January 2025 at 23:59 CET.
- If your application successfully passes the first stage, we will invite you to submit a full proposal, a completed budget as well as legal and financial information to complete our due diligence process.
Please consult the timeline below that outlines the different stages of the process.
How do we make decisions?
Funding decisions will be made by a selection committee made up of European AI & Society Fund staff, partner foundations and a group of external experts who bring diverse expertise to the committee. We will announce the selection committee in due course.
We will assess your application against weighted funding criteria outlined in the Call for Proposals.
“Ask Us Anything” sessions
Feel free to join any of the upcoming online “Ask Us Anything” information sessions with our team if you have any questions:
Wednesday, 23 October 11-12h CET, on Zoom. You can register here.
Tuesday, 5 November 14-15h CET, on Zoom. You can register here.
Wednesday, 27 November 15:30 – 16:30 CET, on Zoom. You can register here.
Timeline
*Notification of funding decision and grant start date is indicative and may be subject to changes.
Documents
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Application Form. Note: all proposals must be submitted through Optimy, our online portal. This application form is informative and includes questions you’ll need to reply to on the online portal.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do you define AI?
We deliberately do not use a technical definition of AI, to make sure our grants cover a broad range of impacts of AI systems, AI physical infrastructure and the economic dimension of the AI supply chain on people and society. It also allows us to be responsive as new technologies develop and definitions change over time.
What do you mean by social justice?
We approach social justice broadly. We consider how the use of AI systems, its physical infrastructure and supply chain affect social, economic and political rights, and people's ability to seek justice and challenge inequalities. We do not include in social justice hypothetical future risks of Artificial General Intelligence or other speculative technologies that have not yet materialised.
What do you mean by accountability strategies?
Accountability is about making sure that the people and organisations that create harms through the use and development of AI are held responsible. There are lots of different ways to make this happen, which is what we mean when we talk about strategies.
So an accountability strategy is an approach or tactic that can lead to the people and organisations that have caused harm being held responsible for their actions.
Our ambition with this funding is to experiment and find out which are the most effective strategies to achieve this goal. New tech regulation passed by the European Union has created potential new openings for accountability over AI use, alongside existing equalities, labour, privacy and human rights laws. These grants will resource public interest groups to find out what works and what doesn’t. We are open to ideas and expect applicants to explain persuasively in their proposals why they believe their strategy will be effective.
We want to shape an upcoming piece of legislation – does it fall under the scope of this call?
This call is not about advocacy for new laws, but about using existing laws and regulations to challenge AI caused harms.
What about areas like migration and policing?
We're aware that people on the move lack protections, and several harmful uses of AI impacting mostly racialised communities are not sufficiently covered by recent AI legislation. We expect that the proposed work on these areas will comprise many different tactics to address the lack of protection and challenge the harm.
Does this call only support newly developed work?
Not only. We can provide funds for a new project, contribute to a bigger line of work that is funded by multiple sources and are also happy to build on work that started elsewhere but needs further resourcing to be impactful.
Do you fund regranters and/or other pooled funds?
The European AI & Society Fund does not provide direct grants to other pooled funds or funding organisations that primarily focus on regranting to civil society. We advocate with our donors to directly support other pooled funds to make sure money is used efficiently and avoid incurring multiple layers of overhead costs. We work closely with other pooled funds to make sure that our strategies are complementary and that our respective grantees can benefit from available funding opportunities.
Subgrating that is part of the implementation of specific project objectives and coalition work is possible in line with the regranting policies of our hosting partner Network of European Foundations.
Can we apply for both open calls for proposals under the Making Regulation Work programme?
The AI Accountability Grants and AI Act Implementation Grants have different objectives. We expect the majority of applicants to apply for only one of these funding opportunities.
However, we recognise that in some instances there will be crossover, for instance, if you plan to work on AI Act implementation as part of a broader accountability strategy. If this is the case, please contact the Fund’s team (info@europeanaifund.org) to discuss your individual circumstances and we will consider whether it makes sense for you to apply to both grants' programmes or to submit a single application.
Why can't some of the current grantees of the Fund apply for this call?
We recently ran a renewals process for the Fund’s policy and advocacy grantees. From this we have issued over €2m in funding to sustain the work of 21 organisations until December 2025. Many of the organisations who have received this funding are already planning work that is in line with the objectives of the AI Accountability Grants. They also have flexibility to reallocate funds to new priorities where that makes sense.
The Making Regulation Work programme aims to bring new, savvy practitioners with diverse expertise into the field that will complement the phenomenal work of our existing community.
What if my organisation is registered in Europe, but some of the beneficiaries of our work are outside of Europe? Can we still apply?
Yes, as long as your proposal falls under the scope of the call and is conducted in Europe. For instance, using European legal frameworks to challenge rights violations along the AI supply chain, as well as working on limiting export of surveillance technologies or other harmful AI to countries outside of Europe would be in scope.
Can entities that don't have a non-profit status be part of a coalition applying jointly?
As outlined in the eligibility criteria, lead applicants have to be registered non-profit organisations. However, other entities can be part of a coalition.
For example, in some cases non-profits applying will want to engage either legal or other expertise and it might entail working with entities that do not have non-profit status. You can collaborate and list them in your application. Please check if in that case you might need to pay a VAT to remunerate their work, and budget accordingly.
If you are a non-profit with a different registration and you're unclear about your eligibility, please contact our team. Such cases could include for instance, national human rights bodies.
How likely is it to actually get a grant if we apply?
The European AI & Society Fund was set up in 2020. Success rates on our previous calls have been as follows:
- 2020 Policy & Advocacy Grants Open Call €2.15m– 220 applications received, 16 grants issued: success ratio 1:13
- 2022 Policy & Advocacy Grants Open Call €1.9m – 143 applications received, 14 grants issued: success ratio 1:10
- 2023 Ecosystem Grants €200,000 – 159 applications received, 7 grants issued: success ratio 1:23
- 2024 Global Fellowships Programme $500,000 – 201 applications received, 8 fellowships issued: success ration 1:25
Each of our calls has been very different so it’s hard for us to anticipate what the success rate is likely to be for these grants.
We know that there is far too little funding in this field and that there are also far too few open applications for funding so we expect to receive a large number of applications. We are sorry that we will not be able to fund more of the excellent proposals that we are sure to receive. We continue to advocate among our philanthropic community for more resources to meet this need.
What does the due diligence process entail exactly, and which documents do I have to provide?
During the first stage of the application, you won't be asked to provide due diligence documentation. If you're invited to submit a full application, you will need to submit additional documents. This usually takes some time to gather. Below is a list of the documents we require so you know what it will involve, but please do not invest time in collating this information until you are invited to submit a full application in the second round.
The due diligence process has two parts: a financial and an organisational part. Here is a list of documents that you will need to provide if invited to the second round.
For the financial part:
- Proof of registration / articles of association
- Your 2022 accounts
- Your 2023 accounts
- Audit report 2023 (if applicable)
- Forecast annual budget for 2025
- Most recent operating budget (2024)
- Bank identification form
- Proposed budget for the project
For the organisational due diligence, you will need to fill in the due diligence questionnaire that you can find here.
These are requirements from our host institution NEF to ensure we meet our legal responsibilities and are confident the organisation has experience and processes in place to manage the requested amount.
How flexible is the funding?
The AI Accountability Grants have a specific objective to explore how to hold those responsible to account for harms caused by the use of AI in Europe. This means we are not issuing core funding under this grants programme. However, we aim for a balance between focused work and flexibility. We work in a fast-moving field and we expect plans to change and unexpected developments to crop up. Our grant agreements allow for flexibility and the team is always open to discussing our grantees’ needs.
Will the grants awarded under this call be renewed at the end of the grant?
No. These are foreseen to be one-off grants. Meanwhile, we will be launching other funding opportunities under the Breakthrough Initiative funding programmes. Our current strategy runs until 2025, after which we will embark on a new funding period. We will communicate about it in due course.
If you did not find an answer to your question, please join one of the ‘Ask us anything’ sessions or contact us on info@europeanaifund.org.
About the European AI & Society Fund
The European AI & Society Fund works to shape Artificial Intelligence to serve people and society, now and into the future. We pool resources from our philanthropic partners and use these to support public interest experts and advocates in Europe working towards AI policy and governance that secures fundamental rights, challenges social injustice and promotes fair, inclusive and sustainable societies.