Entries open: D-Prize Challenge for Social Entrepreneurs – $20,000 Grants

May 5, 2025 BusinessTrumpet

This year’s edition of the D-Prize Challenge is now open to applications from social entrepreneurs. It’s targeted at founders who are launching new organisations to solve problems related to poverty. These may be for-profit ventures, NGOS, or charities that can improve lives in lower-middle-income and lower-income areas.

We award startup grants of up to $20,000 to entrepreneurs launching new organizations. We believe the world needs more social impact organizations, and we seed for-profit ventures, NGOs, and charities. We support organizations in any low-or-middle income country where extreme poverty still exists.

We believe social impact organizations are uniquely positioned to distribute an existing product or service known to improve lives where need still exists. View the D-Prize Challenges below and select one of the high-impact products or services in need of greater global access.

Our seed support is meant to be the launching point for your organization that grows to large-scale. Follow our Application Process to design an initial test pilot of your larger vision. Submit your concept to our twice-annual competition. If selected, you will receive seed support to launch.

D-Prize Challenges

Expand the categories below to view high-impact products and services in need of greater global distribution.

+ Health
+ Water
+ AGRICULTURE
+ Livelihoods
+ ENERGY
+ Public Services
+ Education
+ Custom

Benefits of the D-Prize Challenges

Applicants who emerge as top candidates at the end of the final round will receive up to $20,000 in grants to launch and scale their social impact organisations. They will also get support to develop their ideas into successful organisations that transform lives for the better.

ELIGIBILITY – D-Prize Challenge for Social Entrepreneurs

D-Prize is for new organizations. Most of our awardees are first-time entrepreneurs. Most have not yet launched their organization, nor have they raised other funding. We especially encourage those from low-and-middle income countries to apply. See who we recently seeded.

We will consider applications from existing organizations only if your core focus is distributing an existing and evidence-based poverty intervention. We typically will not support organizations with more than 18 months of full time operations or that have raised more than $30,000 USD in outside funding.

TIMELINE

Select a challenge above and be prepared for the following deadlines:

The Global Competition launches on 7 April 2025
Early Submission Deadline: 18 May 2025 at midnight PT (pacific time)
Regular Submission Deadline: 8 June 2025 at midnight PT (pacific time)
Extension Deadline: 29 June 2025 at midnight PT (pacific time)

Evaluation process

Round 1 – Submit your two-page concept note and resume(s). We receive 3000+ submissions per competition.
Round 2 – Top 5% of entrepreneurs are invited to answer short written questions. You will have two weeks to draft and submit.
Final round – Top entrepreneurs have phone and email interviews. The top 1% receive up to $20,000 to launch.
Award & Launch – Spend the next few months piloting your idea and building an organization that soon grows to a large scale