Call for Proposals: AI Act Implementation Grants

Update for applicants

12 November 2024
The first application round has now closed and our team is reviewing the applications. We do not know yet if we will be reopening the grant for the second round, as it depends on how much of the available budget will be spent. Please come back mid-December for an update about that. Meanwhile, we advise all potential applicants to wait for the announcement before starting to write an application for the second round.

The European AI & Society Fund is pleased to invite applications for our AI Act Implementation Grants: up to €60,000 in funding to support immediate work to promote social justice objectives in the implementation of the European AI Act. Applications can be submitted on a rolling basis. The first review of applications will start on 10 November.

While the adoption of the European Union’s AI Act in 2024 was a significant milestone in itself, the implementation and enforcement phase that now follows will decide whether it can have a practical impact on how AI is developed and used. There is significant scope to influence this process and promote social justice priorities.

The AI Act Implementation grants aim to resource the immediate, time-sensitive needs of public interest groups and coalitions that want to play an active part in the implementation of the AI Act. Open from October 2024, these grants will be issued on a rolling basis until the total budget of €400,000 is spent.

Who can apply? Organisations that want to promote social justice outcomes within the AI Act’s secondary legislation and enforcement infrastructure.

How much will we award? €10,000 – €60,000

How long are the grants? Flexible, according to the needs of the project and the AI Act implementation timeline.

What’s the deadline? Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. The first review of submissions will start on 10 November with funding for projects selected in that round beginning on 15 December. The call operates on a first-come, first-serve basis and will be closed when the budget is exhausted.

Where? Organisations should be registered and carry out their work in the EU, EEA, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Switzerland and the UK.

We are also offering separate grants to support broader work on securing accountability over the use of AI in Europe outside of the confines of the AI Act implementation process. You can find information about those grants 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 AI Act Implementation Grants will support work that puts social justice at the heart of the AI Act’s implementation at EU and national levels. The Fund does not prescribe which approaches or tactics to use.

Examples of work that may qualify for funding include:

- Soliciting expert advice or commissioning research on a specific aspect of the AI Act implementation, for example the fundamental rights impact assessments
- Ad-hoc convening costs to coordinate among stakeholders involved in the implementation, including travel costs and venues
- Systematising coordination between organisations working in Brussels and at the national and regional level.
- Convening costs to engage with authorities responsible for the enforcement of the AI act
- Travel costs and compensation for experts and advocates that provide substantial input as part of the AI Act implementation process
- Compensation for time spent on one of the sub-committees of the Code of Practice, or in similar processes

This recent report from the European Centre of Non-Profit Law may be helpful to provide further examples of the type of work needed to make the AI Act an effective tool for social justice.

What work we will not fund?

Under this call, we won’t fund:

- Work focused on enforcing the EU AI Act and other regulations, please review the open call for AI Accountability Grants.
- General support and staff time requests to grow organisational capacity.
- Public awareness raising campaigns about the AI Act.
- Top-up requests adding to already ongoing grants provided by the EAISF, unless you can substantiate how the additional costs cannot be covered by the current funding.
- Work that focuses on hypothetical future risks of Artificial General Intelligence and other speculative technologies that have not yet materialised.

What funding is available?

Organisations can apply for grants between €10,000 – €60,000. The total budget is €400,000. We will allocate this on a rolling basis until all funding has been distributed.

Who can apply?

Organisations with a track record of work on AI and social justice.
Organisations should be registered and carry out their work in one or several of the following countries: the 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.

We particularly welcome applications that include collaborations with organisations on national level and / or that directly work on social justice issues.

If you are not sure if you are eligible, please check our FAQs below and join our ‘Ask Us Anything ‘ sessions.

How to apply?

UPDATE: The first application round has now closed and our team is reviewing the applications. We do not know yet if we will be reopening the grant for the second round, as it depends on how much of the available budget will be spent. Please come back mid-December for an update about that.

Please complete the application form, budget template and the due diligence information in English and submit it through Optimy, our online platform. The application process for the AI Act implementation grant has only one submission stage.

Applications can be submitted on a rolling basis and will be reviewed every three months until the budget is spent. It is possible that the full budget of €400,000 may be allocated during the first review of submissions from 10 November 2024. If this is the case the grants will be closed at that point.

How will we make decisions?

Funding decisions will be made by a selection committee made up of the European AI & Society Fund staff and representatives from our partner foundations.

We will assess applications against weighted 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

Documents

Call for Proposals

Application Form. Note: all proposals must be submitted through our online portal. This application form is informative and includes questions you’ll need to reply to on the online portal.

Due diligence questionnaire. Note: you will need to upload it on the online portal, when submitting your application along with other due diligence documents. Please consult the FAQ below.

Budget template. Note: you will need to upload it on the online portal, when submitting your application.

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.

Do I need a track record of previous work on the EU AI Act to apply for this grant?

No. We don't require that applicants have taken part in prior AI Act advocacy.

But it's likely that you will have some previous experience in working on the AI Act, national level law-transposition generally or concerning specific areas of interest, such as biometric recognition, or setting up an enforcement infrastructure.

Our application form asks you to explain why you are well placed to do this work. You should think about how your expertise and previous activities are relevant to working on the AI Act implementation process.

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.

Can the current Fund's grantees apply for this call?

Yes, as long as the proposed work is not covered within your existing grant and you can demonstrate that you are proposing new work in the scope of this call.

Is this funding flexible?

No. While the majority of our grants are flexible, this funding has a much more specific and targeted purpose. You will see in the selection criteria outlined in the Call for Proposals that clearly focused and articulated work on the AI Act implementation will be prioritised over broadly defined work.

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.

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.

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.

Which due diligence documents do I have to submit as part of the application?

When applying in the online portal, you'll see that you're asked to submit a set of due diligence related documents. This usually takes some time to gather, so we do not recommend leaving this for the last day.

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.

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 (template is available here).

For the organisational due diligence, you will need to fill in the due diligence questionnaire that you can download here. You will need to upload the form onto the online portal when filling in the application, along with other due diligence documents.

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.

We are asking for these documents at the start of the application process for the AI Act implementation grants because this allows us to issue funding as soon as we have reviewed your application, without running a second submission stage. So although it’s extra work now, in the end it will mean we can get money out of the door more quickly.

If you are struggling to meet these due diligence requirements, please let us know and we will try to find a solution. We do not want these requirements to create a barrier that prevents people from applying.

I am an individual with a fiscal sponsor that has a non-profit status, can I apply?

Yes. The fiscal sponsor can apply on behalf of the individual if it meets the eligibility criteria and meets the standards of the due diligence procedure. Please consult the Call for Proposals to see detailed eligibility and due diligence requirements.

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.