Tuesday is equity & justice day on The Grant Brief.

One grant program worth a close look this week — and not for the dollar amount on the front page. New Profit's Catalyze Investments shows up in listings as a $100K to $110K cohort grant. That's the entry point, not the prize. The real story is what happens to the founders who make it through.

New Profit, Catalyze Investments

$100,000 to $110,000 / US-based orgs / Rolling (Discovery Form open year-round)

newprofit.org/catalyze-investments/

Funder profile: kindora.co/funders/043396766

What we know: New Profit made 83 grants in its most recent filing year, totaling $16.8 million at a median of $110,000. Across 270 grants from 2023 to 2025, the heaviest concentrations went to California (64 grants), New York (36), and Illinois (29). Sector mix skews toward higher education, human services, and community improvement, with youth development and employment well represented. Top recipients include Braven Inc. ($3.3 million across two grants) and Transcend Inc. ($1.5 million) — both education-adjacent.

The Catalyze cohort track is the entry point: $100K unrestricted plus $10K for leadership development. New Profit also makes much larger growth-stage awards in the $375K to $1.67M range. The cohort isn't the destination; it's the pipeline.

Realistic fit: founder-led nonprofits with $250K to $2M in annual expenses, at least two years old, working in democracy, economic mobility, mental health equity, or justice-impacted communities. You need a full-time leader (roughly 30 hours per week) and no prior New Profit funding.

One honest caveat: the Discovery Form is the front door and it's open year-round, but New Profit isn't running a selection cycle right now. A submission today is a bid for the next cohort, not a live application. Catalyze is built around cohort programming and real founder hours, not just a form — so submit when you're ready to commit those hours, not before.

#EquityInFunding #SocialEntrepreneurship #NonprofitFunding #GrantWriting #SocialJustice