The OpenAI Foundation funds research, fellowships, and programmatic partnerships that advance safe, beneficial, and widely accessible AI — with particular emphasis on AI safety/superalignment, AI’s societal impacts, and applied uses (journalism, mental health, cybersecurity, and community-focused AI). They fund a mix of individual researchers (residencies/fellowships), nonprofits and news organizations through multi‑partner initiatives, and resource/access programs (API credits) to broaden research capacity globally. Funding is delivered through both open calls and strategic partnerships, with grants ranging from small API credits to multi‑million programmatic commitments.
Hybrid model: program- and fellowship-driven giving that combines open rolling competitions (e.g., mental health grants), multi‑partner program grants (invite/partnership-based, e.g., Lenfest/Microsoft collaboration), fellowships/residencies with fixed awards, and in‑kind support (API credits). Grant sizes vary widely (small credits and $5k–$100k research grants up to $150k fellowships and multi‑million program commitments); some waves are time‑limited while others accept rolling applications.
Sign up free to see how well your nonprofit fits this funder, get an AI-generated pitch, and unlock similar foundations.
Review program webpages for specific eligibility and deadlines — AI & Mental Health is open through Dec 19, 2025 (rolling review); People‑First ran wave-based rounds (first wave closed Oct 8, 2025). Apply to the specific program that matches your work (research credits, fellowships, or program partnerships), expect varied award sizes, and highlight safety, societal impact, and concrete plans for using compute/API resources.
Current and upcoming funding from OpenAI Foundation that your nonprofit may be able to apply for.
Who can apply: Community-led hackathon organizers seeking OpenAI support for an event.
Deadline: No deadline stated in the content.
Who can apply: Projects must have clear public benefit and be intended to be licensed or distributed for maximal public benefit and sharing; applications from academic, nonprofit, government-affiliated, small-to-midsized companies, and other qualified research teams are welcome; proposals should be focused, technically credible, and responsible; review is on a rolling basis and the program will get in touch with applicants if they qualify.
Deadline: Rolling review
Who can apply: Active open-source project maintainers with meaningful usage, broad adoption, or clear importance to the ecosystem. Applicants can be primary or core maintainers and must provide a public GitHub repository and related details.
Deadline: Rolling review; no fixed deadline stated.
Who can apply: Thoughtful, focused ideas at the intersection of AI and security; offensive-security projects are not considered for funding. Projects should be licensed or distributed for maximal public benefit and sharing.
Deadline: Rolling review; no fixed deadline stated.
Track these deadlines, get reminders, and see how well your nonprofit fits — free with a Kindora account.
Create a free accountDeadlines and eligibility are summarized from public sources and may change — always confirm the details on the funder's official application page before applying.