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Monday is tech & innovation day on The Grant Brief.
Two contrasting angles on tech and social impact. One funder writes checks for research that proves what works for young people. The other writes checks for engineering teams that build tools low-income Americans can actually use. Both share a posture: show us the work is real before you ask us to fund the scale.
1. William T. Grant Foundation, Research Grants on Improving the Use of Research Evidence
$25,000 to $1,000,000 / United States / LOI deadline July 29, 2026 at 3pm EST
wtgrantfoundation.org/funding/research-grants-on-improving-use-of-research-evidence
Funder profile: kindora.co/funders/131624021
What we know: W.T. Grant made 454 grants totaling $47.1 million across 2023 to 2025, with a median award of $70,280. Latest year alone: 159 grants, $17.7 million. The portfolio is overwhelmingly academic, 251 of 454 grants went to higher-education recipients (about 55 percent), and the top grantees are all university research centers: New York University (14 grants, $2.0 million), University of California Irvine (10 grants, $1.6 million), and UC Berkeley (12 grants, $1.2 million). Geography concentrates in New York (84 grants), California (66), and DC (39). Officers' Research Grants are awarded on the LOI alone; Major Research Grants require an invited full proposal. One application per cycle as PI.
Realistic fit: research-affiliated US nonprofits or university research centers with a named PI and a focus on young people ages 5 to 25, building or testing strategies to improve how research evidence gets used in policy or practice decisions.
2. Draper Richards Kaplan plus NextLadder Ventures, Navigation Technology Initiative
Up to $300,000 over three years / United States / Rolling
Funder profile: kindora.co/funders/912172351
What we know: DRK has made 134 grants totaling $10.55 million across 2023 to 2025, with a median award of $100,000. The portfolio is tech-for-good: recent top grantees include Generation You Employed (workforce tech), Tarjimly (AI translation for refugees), and For The People (criminal justice tech), each receiving 3 grants of $300,000. California dominates geographically (39 of 134 grants, about 29 percent). DRK doesn't write ER grants, so the funding stays in the US. The Navigation Technology Initiative is a partnership with NextLadder Ventures focused specifically on software, AI, and data tools that help low-income Americans navigate housing, benefits, health, workforce mobility, and financial stability systems.
Realistic fit: early-stage for-profit social enterprises or tech-forward 501(c)(3)s with a working product, $600K to $3M in annualized revenue or committed funding, evidence of paying or contracted customers, and a credible path to sustained earned income. This is for teams that already have customers, not concepts.
If your work isn't focused on rigorous research evidence or building deployable software for underserved populations, neither of these is the right fight this week. W.T. Grant rewards research credentials and methodological rigor. DRK rewards post-revenue traction and a sustainable business model. Both gates are real.
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