Our Ecosystem Grants programme is now open!
UPDATE (September 2023): the programme is now closed until 2024
The programme’s €200.000 budget has been fully allocated during the first selection round and the programme is now closed until 2024. To stay informed about future funding opportunities please subscribe to our newsletter.
The New Ecosystem Grants Programme
The European AI & Society Fund is opening a new funding stream with grants of up to €30.000 to support civil society organisations that want to shape Artificial Intelligence so that it better serves people and society.
Artificial Intelligence and automated decision making are transforming the world. But too often these technologies are developed without consideration for the needs of the individuals and communities they affect. With the launch of ChatGPT, AI has become a mainstream issue and there is new urgency to address its impacts. Now more than ever it is crucial that a diverse ecosystem of civil society organisations has the skills and capacity to drive that debate in the public interest.
The Ecosystem Grants programme is designed to be flexible and help organisations that want to respond rapidly in this dynamic and changing field.
Applications can be submitted on a rolling basis and decisions will be issued every two months. As well as receiving funding, successful applicants will have access to our skills and capacity building activities and will have opportunities to share and learn within our existing community of grantees.
Scope of the grants
The Ecosystem Grants programme offers project funding for a specific set of activities or objectives and the overhead costs associated with carrying them out. Funding is available for the following areas:
- Capacity building around AI
- Narrative building around AI
- Advocacy towards new policy developments around AI
- Research (AI-related topics)
- Organising or participating in AI–related events
The total amount available for Ecosystem Grants in 2023 is €200.000.
Individual grants can be up to €30.000.
The duration of the grant is flexible, but activities should be completed no later than the end of 2024.
How to apply?
Please download and complete the short application form and budget template and email these documents to the European AI & Society Fund’s team at info@europeanaifund.org
Applications can be submitted on a rolling basis and will be reviewed every two months. The application form and budget template are the only documents required for an application although we will have to do some financial due diligence checks for successful applicants before we issue grants. We will ask you for additional documentation at that stage.
While it’s a rolling call, we cannot guarantee that there will be funding left after the first round of applications are assessed. That means that we might close this call before November 30, 2023, depending on the amount and quality of received applications in the first funding rounds. For your application to be assessed in the first round, submit your application by 31 July 2023.
Once the total available budget of €200.000 has been allocated, the programme will be closed until 2024. We will update the information on this page after each submission period.
An initial assessment will be carried out by the Fund’s team. A second review will be conducted by a small committee drawn from our partner funders and community of grantees. You can read our reflections on reviewing our Open Call applications here.
Who can apply?
The European AI & Society Fund supports organisations from across Europe that want to shape policies so that Artificial Intelligence better serves people and society. Some of our grantees have previous expertise working on AI, digital rights and technology. Others represent particular communities or interests and want to address how AI is affecting their work. We think it’s important that a diverse spectrum of civil society has the knowledge and capacity to advocate for AI that supports a fair, inclusive and sustainable future.
We have some criteria for applications:
- Organisations must be registered in the EU, EEA, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia or the UK.
- This grant is not open to organisations that received funding through our two previous rounds of Open Calls.
- The grants are open to organisations with not-for-profit status.
- The organisations should carry out their activities in the European countries listed above.
If you are not sure if you are eligible or have other questions concerning the application process, please contact us on info@europeanaifund.org – we are happy to discuss.
Do you have more questions? Head to the Ecosystem Grants FAQ, to see if we got them covered!
More about the European AI & Society Fund
The European AI & Society Fund is a collaborative fund, which means a group of foundations have come together to pool their resources to support our mission. Since being set up in 2020, 14 partners have joined the fund and contributed almost €5.5 million to support our work. Our current partners are Adessium Foundation, Bertelsmann Stiftung, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Fondation Nicolas Puech, Ford Foundation, King Baudouin Foundation, Limelight Foundation, Luminate, Mozilla Foundation, Oak Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Porticus, Robert Bosch Foundation and Stiftung Mercator.
We support civil society organisations to build their capacity for policy and advocacy on AI through funding, learning and collaboration. And we share our expertise with philanthropic partners to increase their understanding and engagement on these issues.
The European AI & Society Fund’s governing body, the Steering Committee, comprises representatives from all partner foundations and is led by two elected co-chairs. The Fund is run day to day by the Director, Catherine Miller, Programme Manager Alexandra Toth, and Networks & Communications Manager, Līva Vikmane.
Please contact us at info@europeanaifund.org